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If you’re on a weight loss journey, you want to make the most of your time in the gym. Studies have shown that the more muscle you have, the more you maximize your fat burning potential. A great approach to your workouts is to do your weight lifting BEFORE you do cardio exercises. Here’s why:
From BodyBuilding.com
Doing cardio right after weights is way better than doing it before weights. The reason being is that weight lifting doesn’t deplete your glycogen stores as bad as it does in cardio workouts depending on how intense you go.
So you still will have some of your glycogen stores left meaning that you can still get an alright cardio session. But for a more effective cardio session right after a workout, I recommend waiting at least 2 hours even more (If you have the time to do this) before doing your cardio.
In between this time it is important you replenish your glycogen stores quickly, and stop protein breakdown as fast as possible. But if you don’t have the time it is still alright to do it right after weights. Just be prepared to have a less effective cardio session.
For best results in your cardio training, try to do schedule your sessions separate from your weightlifting program. So if you lift weights 4 times a week, then do running on the other three days that you’re not lifting weights.
Just remember try to schedule your cardio session as far away as possible from your leg lifting schedule, because running on super sore tired legs basically sucks. Doing cardio on separate days than weight lifting ensures that you have the proper energy to perform your best in either your cardio or lifting session.