Is Cardio Better Before Weights Or Afterwards?

By Russ Howe


At some stage, everyone who wants to know how to lose weight finds themselves in a situation in the gym where they are getting conflicting advice from everyone they talk to. One of those situations involves this question - should you do cardio before or after weights?

The facts behind this question are very clear so today you will discover the answer.

Conflicting information is everywhere, particularly on the gym floor. What works for one person might not work for the next person and this causes confusion. Most people falsely believe that doing aerobic activity after a training session is a superior way to increase fat loss and lean muscle growth. Today you will discover the answer based upon scientific research, rather than gym opinions.

Pre workout aerobic activity certainly sounds better when you consider hitting the gym with your legs already zapped from cardio, of course, but the latest scientific research on the subject puts a whole different spin on this topic.

During aerobic and anaerobic activity, the body is forced to make several internal changes to help you adapt to your heavy workload. One such change is the release of two very important enzymes which play a vital role in both the effectiveness of a resistance training workout and your ability to perform cardiovascular exercise. The first enzyme we will look at here is m-TOR.

The more gym savvy readers here will notice this word from many protein supplements on the market. That's because this enzyme is thought to be responsible for switching on the body's muscle building recovery process following a gym workout. It is released in a spike which can last for up to six hours and, naturally, you want to enjoy the maximum benefit from this spike if your goal is to build more lean muscle tissue.

During aerobic activity, such as a bike or treadmill, the body adapts by releasing an enzyme called AMPK.

Despite being perfectly natural, AMPK has one flaw - it kills off m-TOR!

So now you should be beginning to see that the last thing you should be doing following a hard resistance training session is jumping on an upright cycle and peddling for an hour! In doing so, your body will be forcing itself to wipe out much of the increased m-TOR release you caused by training with weights.

Further studies have since gone on to reveal that pre workout cardiovascular activity does not zap your muscles of strength either. It impacts only the muscles which are involved during the cardio itself, so for example a bike would impact your legs. To get full benefit from increased m-TOR, common sense would decree that you should be avoiding post workout cardio and to avoid ruining your ability with weights on leg days simply drop cardio from your routine here.

So, should you do cardio before or after weights for maximum fat loss results? The latest science on the subject points heavily in favor of doing your aerobic work before you hit the weights and skipping it on leg day. Figuring out how to lose weight can be a very confusing affair, so when you have the benefit of real scientific research at your fingertips, it makes perfect sense to use it.




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