I have recently just joined one of the big gym chains, here in the UK.

One of the things that I am surprised about is the number of people who still go and do their cardio training and then go and lift weights, when it should really be weights before cardio.

I’ve talked about this before but it is worth reiterating.

You really are better off doing your weight training first as by definition lifting weights is a high intensity task and doing cardio is a low intensity task.

By doing your cardio first you are using up the valuable and limited sugar supplies that the body needs to lift weights.  You can do cardio on either sugar or fat but only sugar can be used for the weight training element.

Also it takes 15-25 minutes (depending on fitness level, the fitter the quicker) to move fat from where it’s stored to the muscles where it can be burnt up.  So by warming up and lifting weights first you are releasing the fat and then have it available to start burning as soon as you start your cardio training.

Until next time, train hard, train smart, make every rep count.

Alex

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