Should you do cardio first, or weights first? That is the question. But before you can answer it, you need to know your goals.
Goal: You want to lose weight.
If weight loss is your goal , weight training before cardio is your best option.
After 24 workouts, each in a different exercise order, researchers found that starting with weights resulted in a higher heart rate, meaning you burned more calories doing cardio.
While having more energy to lift heavier weights, which increases your metabolic lean muscle mass.
Goal: You want to look slim.
Whether you're looking to show off your seriously strong abs and arms in a swimsuit on the beach or on stage at a bikini competition, split your cardio and strength training onto separate days.
Why? “In the pursuit of a lean, athletic physique, you need to be able to perform both types of exercises 100 percent,” says Kim, a certified personal trainer based in Paris.
"When you divide the goal of an individual workout, you divide the amount of energy you can devote to each activity."
However, if you do a full strength session on Monday and an interval cardio session on Tuesday, your body can recover overnight so it can perform at its best during Tuesday's session.
If you must do a mix of workouts, Berg suggests doing weights first, then cardio.
Goal: You are training for a race.
Whether you're doing a century of cycling or running a half marathon, do your cardio first. In this case, if you cycle or run first, the muscles needed to excel in a faster race will be stronger.
Basically, order your training by prioritizing your goal.
Goal: You simply want to be healthy.
When your goal isn't peak performance or maximum weight loss, you have a lot of leeway.
In fact, when exercise is moderate—say you work out three times a week doing both strength training and cardio—the order of the exercises doesn't affect your results, according to Kim.
This means that if you prefer to hit the gym before your spin class, go for it. After all, the best workout is the one you actually do.
The Best Exercises of All Time
Everyone wants to find the latest exercise craze, the one that will blast fat like never before. But it turns out that the best exercises are timeless.
Can You Take the 'Game of Thrones' Workout Challenge?
Get your sweat on while watching your favorite characters work hard in Westeros. Don't forget: Summer is coming.
We all know that Brienne of Tarth didn't learn to wield Slytherin without some crazy upper body strength. Here's a workout worthy of her (and the other less cool knights of Game of Thrones).
Our friends at Reebok have put together the moves below to help you get some exercise while watching Thomas scorch the earth with his dragons.
While the Lannisters win and die and you wonder about the fate of Jon Snow, you can perform these moves triggered by the events of the series and get a full-body workout.
When it's all over, you'll feel like you can take on the Mountain - and win (sorry, Oberyn).
So clear some space in your living room, have a wall and a chair within reach, and remember the HBO Go password you used.
Check out more fat-burning workouts and full-body circuits, or relax if you need to stretch to recover after your workout.
Game of Thrones Training Rules
1. Every time someone gets pierced or stabbed:
- 5 Burpee Tuck Jumps
- Burpee Tuck Jump
2. When HBO Go goes into buffering mode:
- Plank Towel Crawl forward and backward until the show resumes.
- Plank Towel Crawl
3. Whenever someone says "Your Grace", or Varys inexplicably knows something:
- 10 Jazz Hand Pop-Ups
- Jazz Hands Pop Up
4. When you see a dragon egg or a dragon:
- 5 Insulated Towel Slide Lunges
- Towel Slide
5. When you see a white walker:
- 3 Fancy Plank-Ups
- Fancy Plank Up
6. Every time someone says "Winter is coming" or refers to Game of Thrones:
- 5 Push-Ups to Slides, with towel
- Push-Up on the Slide
7. Whenever someone enters a brothel, or Bran has a vision:
- 5 Power Step-Ups at Lunges
- Power Step Lunge
8. Every time Tyrion drinks:
- 5 Inchworms Walking Towel
9. Whenever a major character dies:
- Chair Dips to Core Crunch
- Chair Dip Crunch
10: Every time you see The Wall:
- 1 Wall Walk
- Squats
Your lower body—and we mean your entire lower body—loves squats.
“They work all the major muscles in the lower half of the body, making them incredibly effective for building muscle and burning calories,” Jeanne says.
Plus, since we all crouch down to pick something up off the floor, play with our nieces and nephews, or lower ourselves into a hover over a public toilet seat, they're incredibly functional.
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower your body as far toward the floor as possible, keeping your chest high, a slight curve in your lower back, and your knees behind your toes.
- Pause, then slowly push back up through your heels to return to the starting point.
Burpees
Burpees are as much a cardio exercise as they are a strength training exercise.
"When you do a burpee, you go through a plank, a push-up, a squat, and a jump," Kim says. "All of these exercises require a lot of strength, and if you move with a lot of speed, they'll send your heart rate through the roof."
How to do it:
- Stand up straight with your feet hip-width apart and place your hands on the floor in front of you, just in front and inside your feet.
- Next, jump your feet back into a plank position, keeping your body in a straight line from head to ankles.
- Immediately lower your torso to do push-ups.
- When you return to the top of the push-up, jump your feet towards your hands, and jump as high as you can.
Deadlifts
“Deadlifts are great for working the back of your body, especially your glutes, hamstrings, and back,” says Kim. (Basically, everything people will see when you leave them in the dust during your next run.)
Additionally, because deadlifts work so many muscles at once, they save you a lot of time performing individual isolation movements.
How to do it:
- Stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart and step onto a loaded barbell so that your shins just touch the bar. (You can also use two dumbbells.)
- Push your hips back, bend your knees slightly, and grasp the bar so that your hands are just outside your legs and your palms are facing your body.
- Keeping your back straight and chest up, push through your feet to stand up with your weight, hips forward and shoulder blades back.
Skull crushing
Don't let the name scare you. Skull crushes are great for targeting traps, which many women overlook, Kim says.
And besides balancing out your biceps and keeping your arms strong, fit traps look great in a strapless dress.
How to do it:
- Lie on your back on a bench holding two dumbbells or a short weighted barbell in the air, your hands directly above your shoulders.
- Keeping your upper arms perfectly stable, bend your elbows to lower the weights near your head.
- Pause, then straighten your elbows, again keeping your upper arms still, to return to the starting point.
Pull-Ups
It's a move every woman should aspire to conquer. "Pull-ups are fantastic," says Jeanne.
“They work so many muscles in the back, chest and biceps, which makes them very efficient and effective.”
Not to mention you'll feel like a rock star when you master your first exercise.
How to do it:
- Grab a hanging pull-up bar, so your palms are facing away from your body, and let your body hang.
- Next, contract your shoulders to pull your elbows down along your torso until your collarbones reach the bar.
- If you're new to this move, you'll probably need to use an assisted pull-up machine to practice the full movement.
- All you have to do is adjust the weight using a pin, then place your shins on a movable bench before attempting to pull yourself up.
- The bench will help carry some of the weight until you can master the movement solo.
The Boards
Planks work your deep core muscles, including your transverse abdominis, to stabilize your spine, add power to your workouts, and sculpt your core, Brennan says.
How to do it:
- Get into a push-up position, then lower your upper body so that your weight is on your forearms and your elbows are on the floor directly below your shoulders.
- Your body should form a straight line from head to ankles.
- Tighten your core, as if you were about to be punched in the stomach, and hold on.
Reverse leg curls
After sitting in front of a computer all day, you need to make sure your back stays strong, Kim says. As if working your lats and mid-back weren't enough, this move also works your shoulders and biceps to sculpt your upper body.
How to do it:
- Standing with a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing your torso, bend your knees slightly and bend at the waist so that your back is straight and almost parallel to the floor.
- The dumbbells should hang directly in front of your body.
- Next, contract your back muscles and lift the dumbbells towards your sides.
- Take a break, then slowly lower yourself back to the start.
- You can also use a bench and row one arm at a time.
Bench presses
Aside from the aesthetic benefits of the bench press, this exercise will train your body in a functional movement pattern, which will help you improve your performance in other exercises in the gym as well as in everyday life.
How to do it:
- Lie on your back on a bench press station and grasp a loaded dumbbell with your hands shoulder-width apart.
- Straighten your arms and lift the weight so that it is just above your chest.
- Bend your elbows to lower the weight until it almost touches your chest, then raise it back up to the starting point.
Walking Lunges
This ultra-functional exercise strengthens your quads, hamstrings, and glutes in one move, says Jeanne. With all those muscles working at once, expect to burn a lot of calories.
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
- Take a step forward with one foot, then bend both knees to lower your hips toward the floor.
- Stop when your back knee almost touches the ground and your front knee is directly above your ankle.
- Press through your front heel to move your back foot forward as if you were walking.
- Push yourself into another slot
If you liked this article and it helped you structure your training, namely choosing between starting with cardio or with free weights. Leave me in the comments, if you were already aware of these concepts and what is your experience on the subject.
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