Now that you have your head wrapped around when and how to work out, all you need now is to know: in what order should you do it? Should you be doing cardio or weight training first?
Regardless of whether you have your gym workout ready to go in the comfort of your own home, many trainers and gym-goers alike can be confused as to whether they should be doing cardio or weights to begin their gruelling workout regime.
Some use a gentle jog as a warm-up, some incorporate treadmill sprints into their weights session to boost their heart rate. But what are the consequences of when you do cardio? Let’s turn to the experts to find out.
To weigh in on the argument, online body transformation coach, @jameskewfitness took to Instagram to put ‘when to do’ cardio debate to bed.
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As James suggests, “The general rule I give to people is to prioritise your main goal.” Because after all, if you plan on building muscle, you aren’t necessarily going to focus on running as the main source of your workout.
“If your goal is to improve your cardiovascular endurance, then do cardio first… if your goal is to change your body shape by having more muscle and less fat, then strength training should come first.”
While weight training can generally be more apparent than cardio, and tends to take longer to recover from, James claims that “no amount of cardio will result in fat loss if you’re eating too many calories.”
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“If you want to lose fat, then your main focus should be on creating a calorie deficit through your diet,” James added.
“The stuff we want to lose! If you prioritise cardio, your strength training will be less effective, meaning you put yourself at a greater risk of losing muscle instead of fat.”
If you’re careful (and if they work for you, personally), the Keto or The Carnivore Diet can help with this.
Combine that with a smart workout plan and you are sure to get ripped like the Stenmark Twins or Quade Cooper.