When you are trying to build lean muscle in the gym, should you do cardio before or after weights for maximum results? This is a question often asked and rarely answered with anything more than personal opinion. If you are trying to figure out how to lose weight or build muscle, you're about to discover the facts on this topic.
Only in recent years has science shed any light on this topic. Until as recently as five years ago, the entire answer to this question was based on theory. This led to people being told different information by everybody they asked for advice.
That's no longer the case. Today we'll be looking at a few recent studies and talking about why science has now shown cardiovascular activity to be more effective when performed before resistance exercises, as opposed to afterwards. []
That's not to say you can't get results the other way too, obviously. But recent studies at the James Maddison University found that case studies doing their resistance workout first were unable to keep up with case studies who were getting through their aerobic exercise first. When it came to building lean muscle, the 'weights first' group found that their progress was substantially blunted in comparison.
When it came to fat loss, the results were very similar. The Journal Of Strength And Conditioning recently commissioned a study which discovered that fat loss results were substantially higher by performing aerobic activity prior to resistance training.
Most folks at the gym base their opinion on this subject on what works for their own body. While there is nothing wrong with that approach at all, science suggests that those who insist upon working out with weights as soon as they hit the gym could increase results further by switching up their routine a little.
There are two key enzymes which play important roles here:
* Adenosine Monophosphate-Activated Protein Kinase (also called AMPK for short!)
* mTOR
You may have heard of these before. AMPK is the enzyme responsible for helping the body adapt to endurance exercise, while mTOR is considered an 'on' switch in the muscle building process. After you finish a weights workout, your mTOR levels surge for around one hour. This means consuming quality nutrition at this point will ensure quality lean muscle gains. After around six hours, levels of mTOR return to normal. []
The two enzymes aren't exactly the best of friends, in fact AMPK switches off mTOR substantially. So by staying in the gym after the end of your resistance workout to jog on the treadmill for half an hour you are missing most of your golden post-workout window for nutrition and also turning down the body's spike in mTOR.
Learning how to lose weight is a journey often shrouded in myths and opinions. However, thanks to the benefits of modern science you now know the true facts behind whether you should do cardio before or after weights to maximize your fat loss results in the gym.
Only in recent years has science shed any light on this topic. Until as recently as five years ago, the entire answer to this question was based on theory. This led to people being told different information by everybody they asked for advice.
That's no longer the case. Today we'll be looking at a few recent studies and talking about why science has now shown cardiovascular activity to be more effective when performed before resistance exercises, as opposed to afterwards. [
The video today will explain whether you should do cardio before or after weights in the gym.
That's not to say you can't get results the other way too, obviously. But recent studies at the James Maddison University found that case studies doing their resistance workout first were unable to keep up with case studies who were getting through their aerobic exercise first. When it came to building lean muscle, the 'weights first' group found that their progress was substantially blunted in comparison.
When it came to fat loss, the results were very similar. The Journal Of Strength And Conditioning recently commissioned a study which discovered that fat loss results were substantially higher by performing aerobic activity prior to resistance training.
Most folks at the gym base their opinion on this subject on what works for their own body. While there is nothing wrong with that approach at all, science suggests that those who insist upon working out with weights as soon as they hit the gym could increase results further by switching up their routine a little.
There are two key enzymes which play important roles here:
* Adenosine Monophosphate-Activated Protein Kinase (also called AMPK for short!)
* mTOR
You may have heard of these before. AMPK is the enzyme responsible for helping the body adapt to endurance exercise, while mTOR is considered an 'on' switch in the muscle building process. After you finish a weights workout, your mTOR levels surge for around one hour. This means consuming quality nutrition at this point will ensure quality lean muscle gains. After around six hours, levels of mTOR return to normal. []
The two enzymes aren't exactly the best of friends, in fact AMPK switches off mTOR substantially. So by staying in the gym after the end of your resistance workout to jog on the treadmill for half an hour you are missing most of your golden post-workout window for nutrition and also turning down the body's spike in mTOR.
Learning how to lose weight is a journey often shrouded in myths and opinions. However, thanks to the benefits of modern science you now know the true facts behind whether you should do cardio before or after weights to maximize your fat loss results in the gym.
About the Author:
Next Step: Learn the easy, no-nonsense facts behind how to lose weight with Russ Howe PTI, the UK's most popular Personal Trainer on Youtube. His free video on whether you should do cardio before or after weights will clear up this common issue for you.
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