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Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners
Is it better to work out muscles first before cardio or vice versa?
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In what order should I do my regular work out routine… first cardio and then muscles? Or muscles first followed by cardio? Is there any difference? -
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AnonymousHealthShare Member
You should always perform a short warm up of some light to moderate cardio first before weight training, as this will warm up the muscles and get the blood flowing and ready for the weight training.
After warming up, if your goal is weight/fat loss, my preference is to do weight training first. The reason for this is that the weight training will get your metabolism started and engage all of the muscle groups in your body (provided you are doing a full body routine), so that when you commence your cardio activity, your heart rate is already elevated to a higher level, allowing you to burn more energy right from the start.
Also, if you perform cardio first, you will pre-fatigue your muscles before actually training them. This will prevent you from being able to lift as heavy a weight as you may otherwise have done. Even if you are aiming for weight loss or toning, you should still lift a weight that becomes difficult to manage by the end of your sets. There is no point in doing weight training if you do not feel at least some sort of difficulty when training.Report this post
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