More workout questions...

[misskitty100]

Assuming I do 45 minutes of cardio and some weights is there a correct order to do them in? Is it better to do the cardio first or 2nd?

If weights are first, should you "warm up" before the weights? If so, what type of warm up is necessary besides stretching?

[CompassRose]

If you are doing serious weights -- lifting to the best of your ability and not tossing around some five or ten-pound "toning" dumbbells, then you should do weights first, followed by cardio. Not only can you give full effort to the weights, but lifting while already tired is a good way to injure yourself.

To warm up for weights, one of the best ways, I think, is to do lower-weight sets of the same exercise you are about to do -- that is, if I was about to do a deadlift, aiming for sets at 200 pounds, I might warm up by doing five pulls at 120, three at 150, and one at 180... If I'm trying for a lift that I find challenging, I might warm up in similar steps, but add a warmup lift that's a bit over my intended rep weight -- that is, for above sets at 200, I might precede them with a single pull at 220. Which makes the 200 go up much more easily.

There are also warmup lifts you can do for specific issues (face pulls, shoulder horns, for instance, to loosen shoulders) that are done at very low weight. I've also found sessions with the foam roller good before weights.

[Jezebelly]

It's actually best to split them up. Do cardio in the morning to help boost metabolism after a night of sleeping. Then do strength training in the evening because sleep will restore the tiny muscle tears caused by this work out. It also keeps metabolism humming all night long.

[ChristyMarie]

Weights first.

I will say this though - I split my days. After a weight session there's no way I have ANY energy left to do cardio. Heck, I can hardly make it up the stairs to get out of the locker room. :p

[aggie94]

Every trainer will give you a different answer. From what I've learned, if your primary goal is weight loss, do the cardio first. If your primary goal is building muscle mass, do weights first.

[ChristieinMB]

I also split mine, no way can I do both well on the same day.
I do twenty minutes of high intensity intervals three days a week. The point is to do work hard, I shouldn't be able to do weight training afterwards.
Three days a week I do weight training, alternating upper and lower body.
I get to rest one day a week.

[CompassRose]

When I was working with my kickass trainer last year, there were several points at which I was doing morning cardio, evening weights, and MORE cardio after the weights...

I didn't lose any weight (sigh) but I did have a pretty high percentage of muscle mass going and I looked pretty tight. Until my knee gave out. :rolleyes:

But yes, a split is certainly the most pleasant way to do it, IF you have the life to spare. Tends to work best if you don't actually go to a gym twice, I thought (run outside or whatever); I mean, go to the gym for a forty-five-minute tedium on the dreadmill, and you can add half an hour at least to that, can't you, to find parking and get your stuff into the locker room and whatever.

The very best way to do it (in my humble) is to do weights three days a week, and cardio three days a week, and make them DIFFERENT days. Because I have spent enough of my life working out already, I think. (Although I might be taking that a little far at the mo'. I no longer have my Dungeon, and haven't lifted anything (other than all my furniture and books) in weeks, and the only cardio I've done is biking to work and back once last week (followed by snow) and once this week (which I'm assured will also be followed by snow). :mad: )

[aggie94]

The very best way to do it (in my humble) is to do weights three days a week, and cardio three days a week, and make them DIFFERENT days.

I have to agree with this. I recently started working out with a kickass trainer, who I meet three times a week for strength training. We do a "cardio" warmup before our sessions, but they are by no means the same type of cardio I do on my own. I'll spend 20-30 minutes on the treadmill, bike, or elliptical as a warm up, but it is not intense and doesn't get my heart rate up really high. It's more to loosen up the muscles. On other days, I will do a "real" cardio workout -- 60 minutes of lap swimming, a 45-60 minute run, etc.

[MaryH]

Christie,

I was wondering how your plan is working for you. (I assume it is BFL given your description.) I am just restaring it, after having done it a few times in the past couple of years and fnding that it, combined with the eating, is the ONLY thing that actually gets me to lose sizes.

[ChristieinMB]

Christie,

I was wondering how your plan is working for you. (I assume it is BFL given your description.) I am just restaring it, after having done it a few times in the past couple of years and fnding that it, combined with the eating, is the ONLY thing that actually gets me to lose sizes.
Yes, I am a diehard BFL fan, I get bored and do other things, but I always come back to BFL. 3 days HIIT cardio, 3 days weighttraining. Five meals a day works for me.

[misskitty100]

Yes, I am a diehard BFL fan, I get bored and do other things, but I always come back to BFL. 3 days HIIT cardio, 3 days weighttraining. Five meals a day works for me.

What are BFL and HIIT?

[MaryH]

Sorry,

BFL= Body for Life (Bill Phillips)
HIIT = high intensity interval training; this is a term people who use BFL use to describe the cardio component; basically a 20 minute interval session