Warm Up With Cardio, Then Go To Weights. Right? Wrong.

caddo man
caddo man Members Posts: 22,476 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited April 2011 in The Weight Room
Warm Up With Cardio, Then Go To Weights. Right? Wrong.
Wednesday, April 20 2011 8:25 AM Written by: Kaitlin Sandeno

Having been an athlete for most of my life, I figured I knew my way around the gym. On a typical day, I'd hit the treadmill or elliptical machine for 30 minutes, then move to the weight machines. And that's what I started to do when I recently joined a gym. Then I got my assessment -- you know, the review of your habits a lot of gyms do. And the review told me I was doing something wrong.
Hit the weights hard, the assessment said. Then go to cardio.
What?
"The body needs to burn through its sugar source first before it taps into the fat," says Iman Nikzad, who runs the fitness program at my LA Fitness near Irvine, Ca. "You burn the sugar while doing the weights then burn the fat while doing the cardio."
I did some more research and, turns out, he's right and I was wrong. The optimal workout is a 10-minute warm-up on a low-impact cardio machine followed by 30 minutes of weights and then 30 minutes of intense cardio.
Yes, really.

"Efficiency is the key when structuring any workout, so long-duration cardio should not be done in the beginning of the session," says certified strength and conditioning specialist Jim Smith. "The most intensive training should be done first in the workout, when you are at your best."
By starting with weights, you alert your muscles to trigger the proteins that churn through calories while you train. So even though you're probably spent after 30 minutes of weights, your body is ready to eat fat faster than it would if you started by "telling" the body to attack sugar.
A lot of people get this wrong, thinking weight training diminishes the effect of the cardio work. It's the opposite. Just remember the phrase: "Muscle eats the fat." If you want to lose the flab -- and who doesn't? -- you want your muscles as active as possible. That means starting with weights.
And if you only have 30 minutes total, go for weights instead of cardio. That sounds counterintuitive, since we feel sweating is "proof" we're losing fat. But you will lose a lot more fat by pushing and pulling weights and then going on a brisk walk in your neighborhood (or even at the mall). The guy or gal who is dripping buckets on the Stairmaster is getting a good workout, but you're likely getting a better one by getting sore and not getting soaked.
Nick Bromberg contributed to this story.

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/training-day/201104/warm-cardio-then-go-weights-right-wrong

Comments

  • Nthngis4vr
    Nthngis4vr Members Posts: 2,171 ✭✭
    edited April 2011
    I'm gonna try this tonight.

    *sn: I was gonna post this but forgot after I read it. lol
  • leftcoastkev
    leftcoastkev Members Posts: 6,232 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2011
    It's pretty much common sense. If you don't already know, you're gonna learn the hard way because your body is going to teach you.

    Of course you're gonna do something to warm up and get the blood pumping and muscles warm before you start lifting. If you don't, in time you'll learn the hard way due to stiff muscles and possibly joint pain during your workout. This is especially true if you lift heavy. You can't go in "cold". I do 5 minutes of low impact cardio (i.e., elliptical with the arm bars to work the entire body) before lifting anything.

    Of course if you do a whole cardio session before you start lifting you're gonna have less energy for lifting.

    I really don't think the person who wrote this trains with much intensity, because if they did, they wouldn't have had to make a discovery and write an article on it.
  • truth spitter
    truth spitter Members Posts: 3,845 ✭✭✭
    edited April 2011
    It's pretty much common sense. If you don't already know, you're gonna learn the hard way because your body is going to teach you.

    Of course you're gonna do something to warm up and get the blood pumping and muscles warm before you start lifting. If you don't, in time you'll learn the hard way due to stiff muscles and possibly joint pain during your workout. This is especially true if you lift heavy. You can't go in "cold". I do 5 minutes of low impact cardio (i.e., elliptical with the arm bars to work the entire body) before lifting anything.

    Of course if you do a whole cardio session before you start lifting you're gonna have less energy for lifting.

    I really don't think the person who wrote this trains with much intensity, because if they did, they wouldn't have had to make a discovery and write an article on it.

    I thought everybody knew this...common sense..? my body would tell me that maybe I should do cardio last so I can lift with 100%
  • Nthngis4vr
    Nthngis4vr Members Posts: 2,171 ✭✭
    edited April 2011
    When I used to go to the gym with my husband, we would do like a 10 min cardio warm up together and then I'd do 30 mins on the treadmill or elliptical, he'd go to the weights. then, while he's still on the weights, i'd hit the leg machines and then we both finish up with 15 mins on the treadmill.

    Looking back and according to this article, I see why he got better results. I really just don't like to lift weights. I incorporated them in my routine more w/in the past few years but still did weights after 30 mins of cardio.

    After seeing this article, I will switch it up from now on..
  • Blue Virgo
    Blue Virgo Members Posts: 7,092 ✭✭✭
    edited April 2011
    I read this on yahoo this morning.

    I do a light cardio for warm up for 10 mins

    Weights for about 20-30

    Abs for 10

    Then finish up on the elliptical for 10-15.
  • TheBoyRo
    TheBoyRo Members Posts: 13,647 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2011
    this really does make sense, i always warm up, then hit the weights, but is it really better to do cardio right after the weights or do it on a separate day?
  • opiie562
    opiie562 Members Posts: 962 ✭✭
    edited April 2011
    i usually would do the cardio after my weight lifting workout. go run for 15 or 20 min.

    to "warm up" i just stretch for about 5 min.
  • Zona
    Zona Members Posts: 32
    edited April 2011
    5 min of cardio, then lift. I do cardio on different days
  • whatevathehell
    whatevathehell Members Posts: 4,015 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2011
    I thought weights built your blood pressure up and cardio was a good way or bringing it back down?