Should I do strength or cardio first in my workout? This is a common question trainers hear all the time. There’s no hard and fast rule, although there is an answer based on conventional thinking. But as with anything in your training, it truly depends – on your goals, your priorities, and how much time you have available. Read on for some scenarios to make it easier for you to decide in your next workout whether to do strength or cardio first.
Conventional Wisdom
What most trainers learn, and what they will most likely pass on as advice, is your choice should reflect your training priority. If your goal is to increase lean muscle mass, for example, then strength training is your priority. In that case, you would strength train first, then finish with cardio. A runner training for a race would run or do cardio first, then strength train. Using this approach makes sense. You stay focused on your primary goal and get it done first, when you have the most energy. However, there are some situations in which you may want to switch it up, and make a different choice.
What Will Serve Your Goal Best?
Let’s say you’re training for an endurance event, like a marathon, an ultra marathon, or a triathlon. For these kinds of events, even though they consist of cardio activities, strength training is going to be essential for maintaining your lean mass, and preventing injury. When you’re training for goals like these, something you don’t experience fully until race day is the overwhelming feeling of dead tired legs, and a body that just doesn’t want to move anymore. If you’ve run a marathon or a long-distance, you would know this as ‘hitting the wall’. Triathletes train for this feeling by doing ‘brick’ workouts, which are back-to-back workouts of a swim and bike, or a bike and run, designed to mimic this heavy legs feeling. (They’re called brick workouts because your legs feel like they’re as heavy as bricks!).
You can test out this feeling of pushing through when you’re super tired, by doing strength first before your cardio training. You could do a heavy strength workout to begin your workout, then run (or bike, or swim, or cross train) afterward, when you’ve pushed yourself hard. I think we all know the feeling of the day after leg day – so utilize that for your benefit!
Strength or Cardio When Training for Speed
When your goal is speed or power, you want to maximize your fast twitch muscles fibers. This ensures you’re fresh and ready to bust out everything you have, in your workout, and your goal. You might be a powerlifter, a sprinter, or any athlete that requires short bursts of hard effort. For these goals, it may be wisest to separate your cardio and strength days. That way, you’re 100% ready for your short, heavy, or explosive lifting. You can do cardio as your active recovery separately.
However, it’s not always feasible to work out every day. You may just have limited time in general for your workouts. If you do need to combine the two, think of how the cardio can mimic and benefit your strength workout. Maybe you could split your workout in two, and do a brief cardio HIIT workout in between. That will keep your heart rate up and utilize that short burst of power you’re trying to achieve in your lifting.
When Your Goal is General Fitness
What if your priority is not event-based, and you just want to be fit, strong, and ready for anything? In this situation, I would recommend my clients choose to do their strength training first. This ensures focus and concentration on correct form for their lifting. Using weights requires technique, and looking at and listening to your body for form cues. If you’re already tired from cardio when you start your strength training, you may not be physically or mentally in the game. But, if your cardio plan is for some easy cardio, then you could use that as your extended warm up. Gauge it on whether you think it will impact your energy level or focus.
There is no hard and fast rule for whether to do strength or cardio first in your workout. So long as you’re listening to your body, and you feel like you’re achieving the goals you’re setting for yourself, no need to switch it up!
What do you try to do first when you work out? Have you noticed a difference when you’ve switched up the order of your workout?
Reach out if you have any questions you’d like to get a trainer’s insight on!
