Fit Villains: Selfish, Shameless, Sassy, Fitness.

Hey there,

Great question! (I get this one a lot).

I’ve done both, prescribed both and seen people do both. Verdict? 100% entirely up to you. 

When it comes to fitness, many trainers & experts often ignore individual personality. While strength before cardio might have a slight edge for overall burn, there’s a LOT more that goes into it. At the end of the day, what you put into your training will always count for more and you should always pay attention to how YOU react & respond to different methods.

Strength Before Cardio

Pros

1. You tend to burn slightly more calories during the cardio part.
2. You might find yourself less fatigued during your strength training, and therefore can do more (i.e. lift heavier, do more reps, push yourself harder etc.)
3. You GET to your strength training (sometimes we’re too tired post cardio and skip it).
4. The cardio section might feel more like a ‘break’ than ‘work’: not a bad way to end the day at the gym.

Cons

1. You MAY feel too tired to get to the cardio after.
2. Depending on the machines/equipment you’re using, you may spend a longer time waiting. (An easy thing to fix planning wise, but still. If you lose momentum, you may not feel like sticking around).
3. You lose out on the cardio ‘warm-up’ beforehand. Nothing like that adrenaline!

Cardio Before Strength

Pros

1. Regardless of what you get done in the weight room, you still feel like you’ve got a good workout.
2. You benefit from warming up and getting the ‘motor’ running before you hit the weights.
3. There tends to be less thinking involved in cardio, specifically on the treadmill/bike/elliptical etc. Sometimes, it takes time for your mind muscle to warm up too.
4. You have the time to plan out what you’re going to do in the weight room.
5. Cardio beforehand can reduce your stress and improve your mood before you hit the weights - ideal for those who still ‘dread’ strength training.

Cons

1. You might run out of gas before you even get to the weights (very common to feel like you just want to get out of there).
2. If you feel like you’ve already gotten your workout in, you might not do nearly as much in the weight room as you could have.
3. Depending on your intensity, cardio may deplete your glycogen stores, and you won’t have much left for the strength part (I suggest a mid workout snack or juice before you start the strength part if that happens).

Ultimately, you should pay attention to what you TEND to do and how you feel: if you notice you’re always skipping out on your strength training after cardio, it may be beneficial to get it out of the way first. If you notice it takes you longer to mentally & physically warm up at the gym (i.e. the second part of your workout is better than the first), cardio first might be your best bet. You can also stay flexible: if the cardio machines are all filled when you get there, do your strength training first. If you’re energy is low, you may want to start out with some easy strength stuff to get your energy up: sometimes even 5-10 minutes of squats, pushups and crunches is enough to spark our workout lust.

I certainly encourage you to switch it up from time to time & experiment! You never know what will work until you give it a fair shot. Many people also alternate their strength & cardio days (no need to do them both on the same day), or put a heavier focus on one or the other (75% cardio, 25% strength or vice versa). H.I.I.T training is a fabulous way to shorten your cardio while still burning tons of calories. Supersets & compound exercises (training alternating 2 moves with no rest in between or training more than one muscle group at a time) are a great way to shorten & get more out of your strength training without adding time to your workout. I prefer to switch it up from workout to workout or from week to week to keep my body guessing. :)

Play around! What works for one person, might not work for another.

xo