Cardio before or after?

[NewMuscles]

Am I doing myself a disservice by running(about 30mins) before lifting?

[Chris Rodgers]

At the moment, I am not doing any cardio. If I were though, I would definitely not do it before a workout. It will most likely affect your workout and make you weaker and have less stamina then if you hadn't done cardio beforehand.If you want to do the cardio in the same session, do it after. Otherwise, do it on a different day or a different time of day.

[J-Flyer]

It's better to do cardio on a non-lifting day. AND, if you do cardio at all, try your best to do it first thing after waking up on an empty stomach. This will speed up the fat burning process. After all, when you exercise without eating (after waking up-do not don't eat), the body uses "fat" for fuel, rather than any food that you may have consumed before hand.

[montecristo412]

depends on what your goal is. if you're trying to be a top runner and just using lifting as a complement to your running then you definitely need to run first before lifting. also, if you just want to warm up (30 min warm up is not unheard of) running first with a low intensity will also benefit. if you're trying to burn fat then running after would be best. lifting will deplet glycogen stores in your body. when glycogen is low the body turns to more fat to use as energy.

[Joe Black]

I agree with these guys.....

What is your main focus.. Running or lifting..

I am assuming lifting.. Even if your goal is fat loss I would still consider lifting more imprtant than cardio to burn fat.... The more you can lift, the more muscle you will aqquire and the more fat you will burn naturally...

I would either run in the morning and lift in the evening or schedule cardio for after weights or on no weigh training days.....

[Prince]

If you're goal is "bodybuilding", you should do cardio on a non-lifting day!

[heathj]

*Agreed*

Like if you have a 3 day split, such as mon/wed/fri, you might try doing cardio on tuesday and saturday or saturday and sunday or whatever...When I start my new schedule, I'll only be doing one day of cardio most likely, which will be Wednesday, since I have a 4 day split of Mon/Tue/Wed/Fri.

[YatesNightBlade]

Originally posted by NewMuscles
Am I doing myself a disservice by running(about 30mins) before lifting?

Yes and No !!!!

Depends on the intensity. If you using it to warm up ..... then it's not a probelm, but if your using it for a cardio workout then it is (as the other guys said). If it's a warmup cut it down to 15/20mins max.

[NewMuscles]

Thnx guys, def using it for Cardio/fat burn but still def looking to gain. I'll run on "off" days.

[The_Chicken_Daddy]

I sort of disagree here. notice "sort of"

if you do cardio on your non-weight trainning days, then how many days a week are you gonna have of complete rest? If the answer is at least 2 or 3, then fine. But if you discover you have less than 2 or none, then you shouldn't. If you want fat burn, then just get up in the morning about 30 mins earlier and have a 20 minute jog. This will elevate your metabolism for the rest of the day and by the time you want to weight train, you won't be tired already. Do this for the mornings that you train with weights (approx 4 days) and keep your rest days for rest.