Today's question is one of the most popular among those who are trying to learn how to lose weight, should you perform cardio before or after weights? Today you'll discover the factual answer to this often debated 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.
Now science has provided the answers people were previously unable to get. We'll be looking at the findings of two studies in particular and analyzing why performing cardiovascular activity before a resistance workout was recently proven to be far more effective. []
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.
Of course, it is highly important to remember that if you are regularly training with weights and getting a good deal of cardiovascular activity into your life then you will still see positive results no matter which order you perform them in....
The main findings of recent studies focus on the effects of two enzymes:
* AMPK (aka adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase)
* mTOR (aka mammalian target of rapamycin)
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. []
If you finish your weight training and then sit on a bike for 45 minutes you have not only wasted the bulk of your golden nutrition window, you have also made a fatal mistake. When the body releases AMPK, i.e. during cardiovascular exercise, this hormone doesn't co-exist with mTOR and actually kills it off.
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.
Now science has provided the answers people were previously unable to get. We'll be looking at the findings of two studies in particular and analyzing why performing cardiovascular activity before a resistance workout was recently proven to be far more effective. []
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.
Of course, it is highly important to remember that if you are regularly training with weights and getting a good deal of cardiovascular activity into your life then you will still see positive results no matter which order you perform them in....
The main findings of recent studies focus on the effects of two enzymes:
* AMPK (aka adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase)
* mTOR (aka mammalian target of rapamycin)
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. []
If you finish your weight training and then sit on a bike for 45 minutes you have not only wasted the bulk of your golden nutrition window, you have also made a fatal mistake. When the body releases AMPK, i.e. during cardiovascular exercise, this hormone doesn't co-exist with mTOR and actually kills it off.
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:
Get more advice: Uncover the easy, no-nonsense facts behind how to lose weight with Russ Howe PTI, the UK's most watched Personal Trainer online. 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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