Should I do cardio first or lift first?

This is a common question and the answer is pretty simple… it depends.

Okay, maybe that doesn’t help.

It really does depend though. It depends mostly on you and your goals. But it also depends on the training intensity of each, your fitness levels, and your preferences. 

And yes, what you enjoy matters.

Here is a quick easy way to think about it: do what you want to improve on most, first.

Generally speaking if you…

Want to build muscle, lift first.

Want to build strength, lift first.

Want to build endurance, cardio first.

Want to lose body fat, lift first.

Want to just keep up on your health and fitness, your choice.

Why?

If you want to build muscle or strength you should lift first.

Lifting to build muscle and/or improve strength is hard work. You want to have all the energy you can muster for your lifts. You need to really push physically and mentally.

If you do a hard 20 minute cardio session beforehand, you’re probably short changing your weight room work. Your lift will feel harder, but you won’t have the same umph you’d have if you were fresh. 

Not what you want when trying to build muscle and get stronger. 

If you want to build endurance you should do your cardio first.

If you want to run faster and farther you want to have as much energy as possible for your cardio session.

If you bang out a hard lift and then try to run, bike, swim, or whatever you do, your muscles are already tired. 

And if you’re trying to improve endurance you want your legs to have the strength and longevity to carry you for miles and miles. Not feel like death after 20 seconds of work.

If you want to lose body fat you should lift first.

When losing body fat a big focus is maintaining as much lean mass, specifically muscle, as possible. Putting in as much effort as you can into your lifts is going to be the best way to do that.

And another bonus, you can put your focus on proper form and feeling the right muscles working. 

If you want to work on general fitness you should do whatever you want to first.

Like doing cardio before lifting? Feel free.

Like doing cardio after lifting? Have at ‘er.

Like splitting it up and doing a bit as a warm up and a bit as a cool down? Go you!

Whichever method you feel good about, do that.

A few things.

The intensity of the cardio you are doing has a big impact. And your cardio fitness has an impact.

If you are doing cardio and lifting on the same day, I’d recommend keeping the cardio lower intensity, like walking or easy to moderate jogging for example.

If you’re doing a harder cardio workout, like sprints or interval training, maybe keep that on a non lifting day, or split your workout up into a morning and evening session to give your muscles some time to recover a bit.

If you’re not doing a ton of cardio and you’re in pretty good cardio shape, say you’re doing 10 minutes of cardio at a moderate or easy intensity, it won’t really matter. You could use it as a warm up even when your goal is to build muscle, increase strength, or lose body fat, because it probably won’t impact the intensity of your lifts.

How much?

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends 150 minutes of moderate intensity cardio per week. Walking, easy biking, dancing, and so on.  Or 75 minutes of high intensity cardio per week. Running, swimming laps, faster bike riding, and so on.

This breaks down to about 20 minutes a day of moderate intensity cardio or 30 minutes 5 days per week.  And you can break this up however you please! 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes after super, all 20 minutes at lunch, 30 minutes 5 days a week? It all works. 

Getting in at least one session, 10-20 minutes, of higher intensity cardio a week is excellent for cardiovascular fitness, not 100% needed, but still pretty great if you can manage.

For strength training they recommend 2 days per week hitting all major muscle groups. I’m going to be bold and say that 3 days a week is going to reap you a lot more reward for not a lot more commitment. 

BUT 2 is better than 0 so if you can get 2 lifts in a week, I’d always rather have you do that than do none because you can’t get in 3 or more. 

Main thing.

Whatever is more important to you, do it first. 

Rule of thumb, lift first unless you’re trying to improve cardiorespiratory endurance, then cardio first. 

Most important: get a bit of each in throughout the week!