According to sports experts, cardio and strength training go hand in hand. Those who want to build significant muscle mass should therefore incorporate them into their daily workout.
Additionally, weight loss through strength training also requires cardio. However, there's one point that most athletes struggle to decide on. It's the exact time to do cardio. Should you do cardio before or after strength training?
Cardio and Strength Training: Understanding the Two Concepts
No matter how much you know about cardio and strength training, it's important to understand them better. This will help you better understand the importance of cardio in achieving your goals through strength training.
What is cardio?
Thus, several types of sports fall into this category. Among others, there are:
- The jump rope
- The walk
- The trail
In some cases, playing soccer can be considered cardio. It's important to understand that it's a multitude of sports that allow you to work on your breathing in a progressive manner.
Those who practice this practice are usually people who want to eliminate excess fat from their bodies. Their breakdown produces adenosine triphosphate, one of the energy sources for cells.
What is bodybuilding?
Strength training is a set of physical exercises that promote the increase and strengthening of muscle mass. These exercises involve a lot of effort. This is often explained by their nature and the quality of the equipment and accessories that allow them to be performed.
The principle of strength training remains quite simple. It involves exerting strong pressure on the muscles to force them to take shape and gain volume. Strength training makes muscles stronger and more resistant to possible injuries. Therefore, the larger your muscles become, the stronger they become.
During weight training, anaerobic exercises are performed, meaning they break down glucose without oxygen. A sufficient amount of force is required to contract the muscle. Muscle fibers are therefore heavily stressed. They benefit from the help of adenosine triphosphates to successfully strengthen muscles.
Cardio or Weight Training: Which to Choose?
To answer this question, it's important to rely on research. Science supports the combination of these two sports. Each offers its own set of benefits and helps you achieve specific goals. Scientists believe that combining cardio with strength training gives you the best chance of achieving perfect physical and mental health.
So, there's no question of choosing between these two sports. Moreover, practicing them well requires careful planning. Decide early on which one to do first. While cardio is recognized as a practice that promotes heart rate control, it goes far beyond that.
A German study has proven that cardio training promotes improved overall health. Specifically, cardio allows the body to regulate the length of leukocytes and telomeres. It also helps stabilize telomerase activity on a temporary basis.
Strength training isn't just physically beneficial either. In addition to playing a major role in sarcopenia and osteopenia, it also provides mental stability. For example, by doing strength training, participants are no longer exposed to the risk of injury.
Its mental effects are also significant. People who regularly do weight training develop excellent self-esteem. This is all thanks to its main function: helping you maintain good posture.
Cardio before or after weight training: A matter of objectives
When determining the right time to do cardio, it's important to consider your goals. If your goal is to lose weight, it's recommended to do cardio before your strength training session. On the other hand, if your goal is to gain muscle mass, do your cardio after your strength training session. In this case, it's important to emphasize the stress your muscles are putting on.
This last recommendation is supported by studies. According to these researchers, to ensure you're working on your physical strength, it's best to start with strength training. Then, you need endurance exercises to complement it.
Why do cardio before weight training?
There are a multitude of reasons why you might want to do cardio before strength training. As mentioned above, it all comes down to your goals.
Cardio before weight training to warm up
Doing cardio before weight training offers several benefits to the body. It's worth noting that in most cases, cardio prepares your muscles to respond effectively when lifting weights. From this perspective, cardio can be considered a warm-up. Over 10 to 15 minutes, gradually increase your heart rate and blood circulation.
Cardio to make your weight training session longer
Doing cardio before weight training also helps maintain endurance during weight training. It provides enough energy to last throughout the session. Better yet, do cardio before weight training to make the session last longer. Conversely, understand that due to the physical effort required for weight training, all your energy is used up once the session is over.
Cardio before weight training to lose weight
To lose weight through strength training, do cardio. This prepares the body for fat burning. Indeed, since cardio is an aerobic exercise, its effect on fat is quite remarkable. When doing these exercises, the body shifts more quickly to burning excess fat.
Why do cardio after weight training?
As you can understand, cardio before weight training is much more recommended for people looking to lose weight. However, when you're looking to build muscle mass, make weight training a priority. Therefore, cardio is only used to allow your muscles to relax. The more you focus on weight training, the more your body will develop.
Indeed, for a successful weight training session, you need your glycogen reserves. By doing cardio before weight training, you risk wasting them, which can impact the progress of the weight training session.
It's also worth noting that doing cardio beforehand can reduce your performance. Since the goal is to work and build muscle mass, you need to be at your full physical and mental capacity.
Indeed, cardio exercises like squats, bench presses, and deadlifts require all of your energy. Moreover, since they involve lifting heavy weights and always aiming to do more, give yourself every opportunity to achieve this goal.
Doing Cardio Before or After Weight Training: Some Factors to Consider
Whether you're doing cardio before or after weight training, you need to consider certain factors. These include certain safety criteria that will help you perform your movements more effectively.
The intensity
The question of intensity in both disciplines is quite important. Indeed, it's important to note that cardio and strength training are two activities that practically go hand in hand. However, if the intensity of the former is quite high, this greatly impacts the feasibility of the latter. Keep this rule in mind to make your sessions more consistent.
For example, after a strength training session lasting more than an hour, your cardio performance is likely to be limited. Similarly, if your cardio session is of a certain intensity, your strength training session may be affected. Whether or not you're taking dietary supplements, pay attention to these two points to ensure you achieve your results.
Risks of injury
When you're looking for results, combining cardio and strength training is sure to bring satisfaction. However, be careful, as injuries can occur at any time. As mentioned above, intense exercise can hinder your results. Likewise, it can lead to injuries.
With certain exercises, you must therefore be careful to avoid injury. Whether you're doing cardio or strength training, handling equipment can also cause tears. Therefore, depending on the type of equipment you're using, do cardio before or after strength training.
Cardio before or after weight training: In summary
In conclusion, incorporating cardio into your strength training workout is by far the best recommendation. However, plan carefully based on your basic goal. It's also up to you to consider your safety.
