Today’s hotel breakfast featured the greasiest scrambled eggs, which oddly enough, are my favorite of all the scramble eggs they serve.
Extra cheese is fine by me! The eggs also have small pieces of sausage and bacon thrown into the mix.
As someone who typically prefers sweet (or sweet + savory) breakfast, I’m surprised at how often I find myself gravitating toward eggs at the hotel breakfast buffet.
Maybe I typically opt for sweet breakfasts because they involve less cooking? Smoothies, yogurt bowls (or yogurt pudding!) and banana sandwiches don’t require cooking like eggs and omelets do. Hmm.
I enjoyed my scrambled eggs with a side of peanut butter-topped oatmeal.
Quite the satisfying breakfast!
Moving right along to some fitness talk…
Cardio Before or After Weights
When I finally realized the importance of incorporating strength training into my workout routine, I quickly learned not to train the same muscles two days in a row (they need time to repair and recover) and picked up other tips and tricks that I took to heart.
One question that has always eluded me? If you’re going to do cardio and strength training on the same day, which should you do first?
I’ve researched the answer to this question, read many articles and talked to various fitness professionals to try to come to one conclusion. Eventually I realized that everyone has a different theory and recommends different things. There are valid arguments for doing cardio first just as there are valid arguments for doing strength training first.
After all of this information overload, I’ve come to two conclusions:
- If your fitness goals revolve around cardio, do cardio first. If they revolve around muscle development and strength, do weight training first.
- Do whatever one you’re more likely to skip first so you’re less likely to bail on it at the end of your workout.
Since I currently do not have any real fitness goals other than improving my overall health, I adhere to conclusion number two.
On days when I do strength training, I typically also do about 20 minutes of light cardio. I do this before strength training because if I don’t I’m 5,000 times more likely to skip it.
If you’re a fitness professional (or even if you’re not!), I’d love to hear your opinion on this in the comments section of this post.
Question of the Morning
- If you do cardio and strength training on the same day, which do you do first? Why?
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Hey Julie! I didn’t read every above comment (bad blog reader I know) but I believe that no matter what your goals are that weights are the place to start.
Weight training takes more mental focus and is a more intense movement. You’ll want to preserve your glycogen stores so you can maximize your muscle building capability. Also weight training is where you build all important lean muscle. Lean muscle burns more calories at rest than fat, so even if your goal is to only lose weight then strength training is still where it’s at!
After you’ve focused your fresh energy on lifting then hit the cardio and burn out what’s left. Be sure to eat some protein ASAP after to facilitate muscle repair and protein synthesis!
I love that you brought this up! My boyfriend got me in the habit of doing cardio after and I really don’t know why, but reading everyone’s comments really got me thinking. Lately, I have actually been trying to run a mile, do some lifting, run another mile, do some lifting, etc. to break it up! It helps get the cardio over with as well as keeping your heart rate up!
I tend to do weights first, I feel like it loosens up my muscles. I enjoy Cardio workouts better and feel like if I get the stuff I don’t want to do out of the way then I can look forward to some speedy cardio action later!! 🙂
I always do cardio first because it warms up my muscles so they are ready to lift heavy weights! And like you, if I did weights first, I probably would skip the cardio after!
I always thought you were supposed to get your heart rate up before strength training in order to get “lean muscle” – I suppose it depends what end result you are going for. And I agree, cardio first or its not happening!
I’m also a certified personal trainer and currently working on a nutrition certification also.
I always recommend strength training before cardio unless you are training for some sort of race or endurance sport. You want to be able to put your maximal effort into what’s going to get you the most bang for your buck, and no matter what your goals are (fat loss, muscle building, or general health) weight lifting trumps traditional cardio. Besides, if you’re lifting correctly, you’re getting a cardiovascular workout too!
Regardless of which you ultimately decide to do first, you should always do a 5-10 minute warm up of light cardio or dynamic stretching.
I have always done my cardio first. And even if I’m not doing cardio on ST days, I do at least a 10 minute warmup first to get the ol’ ticker going. I have tried doing cardio after ST, and felt WAY too fatigued to get the desired outcome of the cardio session.
I usually do cardio first… or I am pretty much a write-off!
Since you should warm up before doing strength training, I always do cardio first so I don’t have to take extra time to warm up.
I always do the weights first (after a 5-10 min cardio warmup), because if I’m tired from a run, its harder to keep proper form, I might get lazy, and even worse hurt myself!!
Love the pic of you on the treadmill. That’s definitely a keeper!
This question has always made me wonder too. In the end, though, it’s pretty great if you incorporate both cardio and strength in your workouts!
I like to warm-up a bit than hit the weights ending with some cardio. I don’t like being all hot and sweaty if I’m going to use the machines. My big cardio (spin class) I do on days all on its own!
I agree that form is important with weight training, so if you don’t NEED cardio first it’s best to do lifting at the beginning.
That being said, there are times when it’s all moot. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and I feel fantastic when I keep up with workouts (although I need to take it easy now, I’m rather exhausted lately) but I CANNOT do both weight training and cardio in the same session. Or at least not yet. It takes all my available energy to put 100% effort into weight training. So, I split weight training days with cardio days.
I think what you said sounds about right! I try to switch it up to keep my body guessing and keep myself from getting bored 🙂
great post julie! you did a good job getting the right research up there 🙂
I always do strength before cardio – i love cardio so much that if i dont do the strength before i wont get it done 🙂
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I do cardio first because I think it is very important to Flex the muscles and after that I would feel very comfortable to do weight training and in a way as it would have been more effective for burning calories.
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