cardio before weights?

Soldato
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ive been told its not a good idea to do cardio before weights. is this true? is so whats the reason behind it. Currently i do some cardio before starting weights.
 
Man of Honour
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Also remember for building muscle over stretching your muscle before performing the exercise won't actually help. Stretching AFTER exercise is far more important - but I tend to do it later when i get home.
 
Associate
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Also remember for building muscle over stretching your muscle before performing the exercise won't actually help. Stretching AFTER exercise is far more important - but I tend to do it later when i get home.

You mean...dont do any actual muscle streching before training???

I always do. I just think that im more prone to injury if I dont.
 
Soldato
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There's all sorts of theories behind all of these things.

There's 2 schools of thought with the cardio before weights.

Some people believe that if you do weights before cardio then you deplete the energy stores from your muscles which means that when you come to your cardio workout your body will have to produce more energy which will elevate your metabolism and therfore burn more calories.

The second school of thought is that if you do your weights program before you will be more tired and so not able to put the effort into your cardio workout meaning a less effective workout and less total calorie deficit.

The stretching thing! Again, different people believe different things.

Some people believe that stretching beforehand is a must to avoid injury. These stretches, however, should not be held for longer than 6 seconds. They are maintenance stretches not development ones.

Others think that stretching before weights weakens the muscles and can have an adverse effect on your workout leaving you less able to lift.

As a trainer I have found that different things work for different people. No one is the same. For instance, when I train one of my ladies she cannot eat breakfast before our session or she is sick, whereas if I don't eat breakfast before training I feel weak and cannot do the workout effectively.

My advice would be to try both cardio before weights and then vice-versa and find out which way works best for you.
 
Soldato
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You mean...dont do any actual muscle streching before training???

I always do. I just think that im more prone to injury if I dont.

Technically you reduce the explosive power of your muscles by lengthening the fibers prior to training, and there's talks in the fitness world these days about there being any benefit to prestretches if you're weightlifting for hypertrophic effect :)

Stretches during (as the muscle shortens over the duration of a session) and after (to avoid semi-permanent shortening) can be much more effective.

It's always a personal choice thing however. What I would recommend is to stretch as soon as possible after training, whilst freefallers physique might bely this fact, it's safer and more effective to stretch whilst blood flow is high, the muscles are warm, and there's still plenty of synovial fluid floating about.

I'm a true believer in warming up and warming down properly, to avoid injury and to keep you feeling limber.

As for cardio prior to weighlifting, it depends on your goals. If you're lifting for muscular endurance, or general fitness, then incorporating weights after cardio can be very useful. On the other hand, if hypertrophy and thus mass gain is your goal, I wouldn't recommend anything more than a moderate ten minute warm up :)

Ant :cool:
 
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