cardio before or after the iron?

[solo47]

Why, exactly, do bodybuilders insists cardio should be done after pumping iron? On leg day, it has been my custom to do 20-30 minutes on the stairmaster and the leg & abdomen weights afterwards. Now I'm told I've been doing it back-asswards for these many years. Does it really matter?

Solo

[toughguy99]

i know when i do cardio after legs it really helps the ache .... i think it has something to do with the lactic acid your muscles store after lifting

[aragorn1500]

I've always done it after if at all on workout days.
One thing is, it feels like it robs me of the energy if I were to do it before a workout.

[dennis]

On leg day I warm up on stationary bike then maybe 10 minutes on tread mill...then I pound the legs..all I can do at that point is get to the truck/get home and then eat.There is NO WAY I could do legs and then do cardio or do much cardio at all on leg day.When I work upper body I will always start work out with cardio if I am cutting,never the other way around.When I finish upper body I am heading out the door to eat..not walk on treadmaill..just my 2 cents.

[xxjaredxx]

Hey Solo,
Cardio work, in my opinion, should be done after your lifts, because doing cardio beforehand can hinder your workouts. This is because when you are hitting a lot of heavy loads and lifts - you are using energy from your glycogen stores to fuel you - Hence why it is recommended sometimes for a pre/during/post-workout meal with some carbs. This is to fuel your workouts.
Now, after you have completed a really intense lift, all (most?) of your glycogen stores become depleted - so then when you switch over to H.I.I.T. (high intensity intervals) you have no more glycogen stores to be consumed. Guess what starts getting burned next for fuel? If you said fat...you are correct. I am not 100% sure but this is just the way I have trained for the past year and have had very pleasing results.

So I guess the point I am trying to make is that cardio before your lift will kill your glycogen stores - and you will not be able to optimize your lifts. Doing the opposite of the aforementioned will greatly increase your workout productivity, as you are getting a great pump, building your muscle, and then burning fat at the end of your lift.

This is just my understanding of things, I don't claim to be 100% correct - just the way I have been doing things, and seems to work pretty good for me

I hope this helps bro!

[powerhungry1]

I think it depends on your goal, big = after, lean = before. I've done both. I prefer before (but of course I'm on the eternal quest for leanness as I care less about being big than being cut). Again I prefer before and optimally shoot for a 1000 calorie cardio output, which is about 55 mins eliptical on a high level. It increases my body temp greatly and allows me to carry this through my weight routine. I usually take my vits/supps and a thermogenic near the end before moving into weights, this gets me really pumped as I move through my routine.

[PAPY2000]

wow you finally asked a question...
shazy my dear friend let me give you some sound advice that is true.
You know i'm working out to and i do my research.
1) working out should be no more the 90 min. After 90min you will just be wasting you own muscles protein and that is what we call 'over doing it'. Instead of building up you will be tearing down and you work-out was a waste.
2) you have to consume a supplement from GNC to help you either gain or lose the weight.
3) eat healthy a lot of veggies to lose weight, and a lotof carbo, and protein to gain.
4) ok after every set of weights, rest 90 sec, then do the next of 6 sets.
what im saying is we sometimes think we have to go further and do more, but that what messes us up and tear down our body. keep up the good time paste you was doing in the beginning, just add more weights, but same same same time. and let yer body rest at least 2 days. Eat bananas to potassium help rebuild muscles
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methadrostenol
dvd distribution

[StrongandFit]

I think most people want to use their maximum energy on the leg workout, then do cardio later.

But a cardio workout before legs could serve as an extended warmup.

In short--if it is working for you, don't worry about it.

[great one]

cardio after workout , because your heart rate is already up

[StrongandFit]

If you wanted you could try afterward and see if that works better for you. But like I said, don't worry about it what you are doing is working. Just my 2 cents.