Should you do cardio before or after weights when you're trying to build a leaner physique? If you're trying to learn the basic principles of how to lose weight, today we will answer this popular question for you.
For many years, this was a subject which was usually answered with personal opinion. There was no real proof whether it was more effective to perform cardiovascular activity before or after a workout, so most people would simply do what worked for their own body and pass on their findings to others.
Now science has provided the answers people were previously unable to get. We'll be looking at the findings of two studies in particular and analyzing why performing cardiovascular activity before a resistance workout was recently proven to be far more effective. []
Participants in a study at the James Maddison University were subjected to an exercise program over a number of months where one group followed a cardio/weights spit and the others followed a weights/cardio split. The muscle growth in those who did their resistance training first was substantially lower than those on the opposite routine.
Furthermore, the Journal of Strength and Conditioning recently carried out a study on this topic to discover the fat loss benefits, too. Their findings were similar. Those who performed aerobic exercise before hitting the iron were able to increase fat loss results considerably over the group of case studies doing it the opposite way around.
Those facts may be controversial to many fitness enthusiasts, who opt to perform their resistance training first. The theory behind that method is that they don't want their muscles to be tired by aerobic exercise when they begin pushing out repetitions. This makes sense and it's an approach which does yield results. However, science suggests that switching them around is far superior for both fat loss and lean muscle development.
The main findings of recent studies focus on the effects of two enzymes:
* AMPK
* Mammalian Target Of Rapamycin (also called mTOR for short!)
While mTOR is the enzyme responsible for kick-starting the body into the muscle building process at the end of a tough resistance workout, AMPK gets released during aerobic activity to adjust the body for endurance. For around 60 minutes after a workout you'll have a surge of mTOR, meaning the golden window for nutrition is this period if your goal is to gain lean muscle and burn excess fat. This surge lasts around 6 hours. []
If you finish your weight training and then sit on a bike for 45 minutes you have not only wasted the bulk of your golden nutrition window, you have also made a fatal mistake. When the body releases AMPK, i.e. during cardiovascular exercise, this hormone doesn't co-exist with mTOR and actually kills it off.
Although you can certainly achieve a fitter physique regardless of whether you do cardio before or after weights, recent studies seem to weight heavily in favor of performing your aerobic activity before you begin using dumbbells and barbells. In order to learn how to lose weight, getting past common myths like this is part of the battle. You've just done that today and can now apply this new knowledge to your own training.
For many years, this was a subject which was usually answered with personal opinion. There was no real proof whether it was more effective to perform cardiovascular activity before or after a workout, so most people would simply do what worked for their own body and pass on their findings to others.
Now science has provided the answers people were previously unable to get. We'll be looking at the findings of two studies in particular and analyzing why performing cardiovascular activity before a resistance workout was recently proven to be far more effective. []
Participants in a study at the James Maddison University were subjected to an exercise program over a number of months where one group followed a cardio/weights spit and the others followed a weights/cardio split. The muscle growth in those who did their resistance training first was substantially lower than those on the opposite routine.
Furthermore, the Journal of Strength and Conditioning recently carried out a study on this topic to discover the fat loss benefits, too. Their findings were similar. Those who performed aerobic exercise before hitting the iron were able to increase fat loss results considerably over the group of case studies doing it the opposite way around.
Those facts may be controversial to many fitness enthusiasts, who opt to perform their resistance training first. The theory behind that method is that they don't want their muscles to be tired by aerobic exercise when they begin pushing out repetitions. This makes sense and it's an approach which does yield results. However, science suggests that switching them around is far superior for both fat loss and lean muscle development.
The main findings of recent studies focus on the effects of two enzymes:
* AMPK
* Mammalian Target Of Rapamycin (also called mTOR for short!)
While mTOR is the enzyme responsible for kick-starting the body into the muscle building process at the end of a tough resistance workout, AMPK gets released during aerobic activity to adjust the body for endurance. For around 60 minutes after a workout you'll have a surge of mTOR, meaning the golden window for nutrition is this period if your goal is to gain lean muscle and burn excess fat. This surge lasts around 6 hours. []
If you finish your weight training and then sit on a bike for 45 minutes you have not only wasted the bulk of your golden nutrition window, you have also made a fatal mistake. When the body releases AMPK, i.e. during cardiovascular exercise, this hormone doesn't co-exist with mTOR and actually kills it off.
Although you can certainly achieve a fitter physique regardless of whether you do cardio before or after weights, recent studies seem to weight heavily in favor of performing your aerobic activity before you begin using dumbbells and barbells. In order to learn how to lose weight, getting past common myths like this is part of the battle. You've just done that today and can now apply this new knowledge to your own training.
About the Author:
Next Step: Learn the easy, no-nonsense truth behind how to lose weight with Russ Howe PTI, the UK's most watched Personal Trainer on Youtube. His free guide on whether you should do cardio before or after weights will clear up this common issue for you.
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