A great friend of mine recently asked me if it is more productive to do cardio before or after resistance training. I immediately thought back to my playing days as an amateur and collegiate athlete. We always did cardio post-resistance training or post-practice. I tried lifting after cardio in the past and I noticed that I didn’t have the energy to push myself as hard as I normally would. So my conclusion was cardio after. After I answered the question I realized that I didn’t know exactly why cardio after lifting was the right answer, so I did some research and this is what I found.
It makes sense to do Cardio after resistance training for several reasons. Lifting before cardio is much better for fat loss and workout energy efficiency. It takes a lot of energy to move heavy weights, so don’t drain yourself with cardio.
Your body needs to use your stored fat as fuel for exercise. In order to do this, you must burn off your glycogen stores first. When you weight-train, you typically use glycogen as fuel. By doing weight-training first, you can burn the majority of your glycogen stores. Knocking out your cardio after your resistance training will burn more fat.
My conclusion is if you do steady-state cardio before you lift, you won't have the energy to work as hard as you can.
Challenge: Complete 30 minutes on the stair master, then attempt an intense resistance session. Let me know how it goes