Whether your fitness goal is to burn fat, shed weight or get a lean build while maintaining muscle mass, cardio must be part of your workout schedule. There is no doubt that cardio is an essential part of our exercise since it helps in improving our endurance, stamina, burning fat & preventing us from heart diseases.
The question arises when should we be doing cardio? Before weight training or after weight training. Most of us find time to do a brisk walk or jogging during morning hours. However office folks generally prefer having a walk( steady state cardio) during evening hours. Fitness nerds assume that there is no “best time” for doing cardio. Some combine it with weight training.
So what is correct workout strategy? Should you do cardio standalone? Combine with weight training? Should it be done before or after weight training?
Let’s dig deeper into this!
When you are doing cardio empty stomach, you do not have enough glycogen stores & hence you will instantly burn fat. However when you are full/have food in stomach or have consumed some sort of carbohydrates, you burn fat not during exercise but hours after the session.
However, if your cardio is less than 30 minutes, doing cardio empty stomach will lead to fat burn while exercising & less fat during the day. This happens because your body does not have enough glycogen stores & your body would have to find energy somewhere else. Therefore while doing cardio empty stomach, your body will resort to fats stores to perform the workout. On the other hand, if your cardio empty stomach is longer( in excess of 30 minutes), it shall impact your muscle mass. If you are doing cardio for little longer than 30 minutes, prefer having a snack before. This will help you avoid catabolic state.
So what is a catabolic state?
It is a state when your body runs out of energy & uses muscle tissue ( muscle breakdown) to generate energy. You should certain avoid entering such state. Always consume nutrient rich food before & after workout.
Cardio before Weight Training
If you are someone who does intense weight training workout(45 minutes to an hour), doing cardio before weight training in excess of 30 minutes will deplete your glycogen stores( muscle energy). Ideally if you are doing cardio before weight training, do it for 10 to 15 minutes followed by intense weight training.
Cardio after Weight Training
Doing weight training before cardio does not deplete glycogen stores as bad as does cardio. If you are doing high intense weight training or if its a leg day, doing cardio/running post weight training will not be a good idea.
So when should you do cardio? Before or After weight training? It depends upon your fitness goals.
If your fitness goal is fat loss, you start with weight training when you have food(carbs) in your stomach. This helps in depleting your glycogen stores. Finally when you have done with your weight training, you are in fat burning state & it makes sense to do cardio post weight training.
