Which first aerobics or weights

It takes a lot of energy to move heavy weights; don't zap it all by treadmilling beforehand! To achieve "shreddedness," your body needs to use your stored fat as fuel for exercise.

In order to do this, you must burn off your glycogen stores first. When you weight-train, you typically use glycogen as fuel. By doing weight-training first, you can burn the majority of your glycogen stores. Knocking out your cardio after you crush the weights will burn more fat! After a workout, your body continues to burn additional calories up to 48 hours. This is known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. EPOC occurs because your body needs energy to repair your muscles after you've challenged them.

The researchers who performed this study also stated that daily training without a recovery period between sessions or training twice a day is not optimal for neuromuscular and aerobic improvements. So ideally, if you want to get stronger, you should separate your cardio and strength workouts by more than six hours.

Now, this seems straightforward for someone like Lindsey who is mostly interested in running and is doing strength training because she is a smart runner who understands the value of pre-hab.

But what if the event you are training for requires that you perform strength and cardio simultaneously? Like an obstacle course race , the CrossFit Games , or even a killer hike with a big pack on your back? Or perhaps your goal is simply to lose body fat. Well, that changes everything. Cardio: Keep Them Separate or Combine? Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only.

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See more conditions. Request Appointment. Healthy Lifestyle Fitness. Products and services. Free E-newsletter Subscribe to Housecall Our general interest e-newsletter keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics. Sign up now. Is it better to do weightlifting before or after an aerobic workout?

Answer From Edward R. With Edward R. Show references Davitt PM, et al. The effects of a combined resistance training and endurance exercise program in inactive college females: Does order matter?