Cardio Before Or After - Part I

Ok, this is a question I get all the time and I usually find myself going on a long rant about not just when to do your "cardio" (what does that word mean anyway), but what types of cardio you should be doing.

Instead trying to put these long winded rants about this subject on paper (or on your computer screen), what I'm going to do is break down this highly debated "cardio" subject in a 2 part series. In part one I'll give you the quick answer to your question (when to do cardio), with a reason why. Then in part 2 I'll go into detail about what" cardio" really means, and what types of cardio you should be doing to lose fat efficiently.

So here we go;

Part 1 - When to do Cardio, Before or After Your Weight Training?

Ideally, It would probably be best to do your cardio on your non-resistance training days or after your workouts (the short and sweet answer). I say on your non-resistance training days because how we do our cardio at Optimal Performance is a workout of its own (more on that in part 2). However, if you can't make it to the gym on non-resistance training days due to busty schedules or whatever and you have to do both then it's better to do your cardio after your resistance training workout.

Now, it is important to realize that there are exceptions to this rule. And the main exception comes largely based on what your overall goals are. Remember I'm talking about a fat loss training goal.

So we know when to do our cardio training, now we need to go over why.

In terms of fat loss training it is better to do your cardio after exercise because when you do your weight training you will deplete a significant amount of stored glycogen (stored energy). I know what you are thinking "why should I deplete all my energy on my weight training workout only to have nothing left in the tank for my almighty cardio workout". Well, to be honest your weight training is actually more beneficial to your fat loss than you think, (more on that later) it's actually a more important piece of the fat loss puzzle.

In addition, doing your cardio after you have already depleted your muscle glycogen stores is actual a good thing. See, the beauty in depleting your glycogen stores followed by some type of cardio training (preferably interval based - you'll see in part 2) is with glycogen depleted your body is more likely release fat from cells to be used as energy. When you do cardio without weight training before, it takes around 20-25 minutes for glycogen levels to fall (depending on the intensity of exercise).

The moral of the story is that if you want burn fat effectively and efficiently - You should be doing your cardio after your weight training.

But what about doing it on your non-resistance training days?

Like I mention earlier, this is my preferred method. Reason being is that when done correctly you will increase you fat loss productivity by up to 9 times!!!

Want to know how? - Stay tuned coming next week I'll go into more detail about this cardio cardio thing, then I'll give you the secret fat burning strategy.

Until then - go lift some weights and then do cardio.

Seed Newsvine

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