Cardio or Weights First? Four Ways to Get the Best of Both Worlds

A lot of people dismiss the benefits of cardio.

I do not have anything against it. I perform low impact cardio daily.

Cardio, for me, consists of walking as much as I can.

I don’t walk for the health benefits — it’s more for relaxation and the emotional boost I get.

If I were doing it to maintain my physical fitness, I would have lost interest a long time ago.

Cardio can make you feel pretty good on the inside too, and can become as addictive as weight training!

The problem we encounter with cardio and building muscle is that sometimes people perform far too much high-intensity cardio more often than they need.

Some can get away with this, but it may not be a good idea if you struggle to put on muscle.

Performing HIIT a few days a week is not the same as doing it every day.

Working out at high intensity daily increases your cortisol levels, which weakens your immune system, and puts you at risk of losing muscle mass and gaining fat (especially around the belly).

This is one form of stress on the body that results in negative consequences.

Exercise can be stressful on the body in both good and bad ways.

You don’t want to risk being in this position when building muscle.

It will feel like you are playing a game of cat and mouse.

My suggestion to you is that when work or home life becomes stressful for some time, scale back on your training enough so that you can spend the time focusing on rest, recovery and sleep.

Exercise does play a big part in eliminating stress, but know your limits and don’t overcompensate.

Listening to your body increases your chances of retaining your muscle mass as well as your sanity!

Now, you can’t argue with that one.

From my experience, if you intend to build muscle (and if you are serious about doing it), you must prioritise your weight training over cardio sessions.

So how can you do this?

Let me give you a rundown of my strategies to help you along.

One: Perform cardio after weights

It’s a much better option to lift your weights before doing any cardio.

Save your energy for weight training.

Use the session’s closing to cool down with some light walking on a treadmill.

There is no need for intensive cardio training.

Cardio is the finisher here.

Two: Train cardio in the evening, weights in the morning

If you are short on time, split your strength and aerobic training.

You don’t have to go to the gym to do cardio.

You can choose a light walk in the afternoons or evenings — whenever suitable.

Three: Stagger your aerobic training through the day

Don’t have time for a second session?

Your best solution is to stagger the activity during the day by going for a walk at lunch, using the stairs instead of a lift, getting up and talking to people instead of using phones and email.

What if you took the long way to buy a coffee, ate lunch at your desk and went for a walk during your break?

This is what I do to get my cardio in during the day.

Think about some creative ways to get cardio into your daily life more often.

Four: Why not make one of your sessions circuit based?

Don’t have time for weights or cardio, but want to do something?

Why not challenge yourself through a rough circuit-based training program?

Compile 4–5 exercises back to back and perform them without a break.

Then, rest for only a 15-second window after the last exercise, and fire up again.

This is a great way to build muscle endurance and get in your cardio.

It’s a huge fat burner, and you are getting two benefits with one training program.

You could even do this once per week to break up the cardio and training monotony.

Key Take Away

You don’t have to spend lots of time training in the gym to compensate for your cardio. Instead, you could keep it simple by walking or riding a bike.

If time is not on your side, try circuit training for stress relief and an increase in energy.

Using these suggestions, you can build a training program week by week while also enjoying yourself.

These options are great when travelling.

Prioritise your goals and make that your first focus on training.

Anything else is secondary.

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