Which goes first and why? - Cardio & Strength training

[April]

I always do my cardio work before I work with weights. When I first started exercising about 2.5 years ago, I hated cardio, so I did it first, because I knew if I did the weights first, I might be exhausted and just not do the cardio, esp. since I was eager to have a way to get out of doing it. I always have the energy to lift weights after cardio, so that's what I've been doing. Nowadays I don't hate cardio or weights, so I'm certainly more flexible. Are there any benefits to doing cardio and weights in a particular order?

[SeaSiren]

I work-out 5-6 times per week and I really hate cardio. I do 10 min mild to intense before weights to warm up muscles. Do an intense weight lifting routine (strength not speed) and finish with intense to mild cardio for cool down. Finish with stretching. Once per week I do 30 min hard core cardio sometimes changing machines.

I may change this later, if my body gets used to a routine, it starts to settle and I won't have any gains.

[remilard]

YES

The four things you can train are skills, speed, strength, and endurance and you should do them in that order. Skills go first because they degrade as you get tired, and the other three are in decreasing order of the ratio of fast twitch to slow twitch muscle fibers used. So in other words, since your fast twitch muscle fibers need more recover time, you do the things that require them first. So you aren't working on skills or speed so you should do weights and then cardio.

[Minmo]

Haha I love cardio and hate the weight training part! I always do cardio first so I know I've done it in case I run out of time. The trainer I talked to at the gym said it doesn't matter what order you do it in, though.

[zoebird]

weight training requires skill, precision of form and alignment, even though you're working strength and endurance (muscle instead of cardiac) with it.

usually, weights first, cardio second.

[bethann]

I really think it's most important to do them in whatever order gets you to finish your workout, but I do cardio first because that way my heart rate stays elevated while I lift, whereas lifting takes a lot longer to get my heart rate up if I start with it.

[GTChick01]

I've always heard you should do weights first, otherwise you won't be able to get as good of a workout in because you'll be tired from the cardio.

I do weights 3x a week and run 5x a week. I do weights on my "off" run days, except for Wednesdays in which I do both and then I split up my workout and do cardio in the AM and weights in the PM. :)

[rabid_child]

I've heard you should do cardio first, otherwise your muscles will be tired from doing weights and you won't be able to do your cardio as well to get your heart rate up.

[Christy]

I do weights (which I don't hate, but...) first because I'm always too tired to have good form and endurance after cardio (which I hate). I always do a warm up first. I've never had a problem doing it in this order, but reverse order never works for me. I do an intense full body weights workout that is one hour long on some days. In that case, no cardio that day, but my heart rate actually gets pretty elevated during that one.

[Eden]

Weights first, then cardio. For better efficiency, and possibly to reduce the risk of injury during weight training due to already fatigues muscles. This way also facilitates fat burn, if that's a benefit you're interested in also. Good luck!