Should you do cardio before or after you lift weights? Does doing endurance training while working on strength training decrease your gains? Can you do strength training and cardio/endurance training in the same training session and still build muscle? Does concurrent training work?
A lot of fitness influencers claim things like “cardio is killing your gains” and “endurance training decreases muscle growth”, but what does the research actually show? Let’s answer all of these questions and find out. Throughout this article, I will use endurance training and cardio interchangeably.
Concurrent Training
Simultaneously training both strength and endurance is known as concurrent training. Many people participate in concurrent training because it seems like a way to get the best of both worlds: bigger muscles and better endurance. Sadly, concurrent training may not work as well as you would like unless certain parameters are followed. Let’s dive into the research. (Don’t want to read what happened in the study and just want to see the results? Click here.)
Researchers performed a study on concurrent training by separating people into 3 groups. One group that only did strength training, another that only did endurance training, and a last group that did both strength and endurance training (aka concurrent training). To measure improvements in endurance, researchers tested VO2max, which is how much oxygen a person’s body can utilize during maximal exercise. So, the higher the VO2max, the better the endurance of the individual. To measure improvements in strength, researchers tested the leg strength of the participants.1
The researchers found that the group that did just endurance training and the group that did both endurance and strength training had significant increases in VO2max. So, the first two groups had improved endurance. The only strength training group had no changes in VO2max.1
As expected, the strength training group experienced an increase in leg strength, but the endurance training group did not. Interestingly, the strength and endurance training group had similar gains in leg strength as the strength training group for the first 7 weeks of the study, but then leveled off and actually experienced a decline the following three weeks.1
To Summarize
To summarize, doing cardio will lead to better endurance even when paired with lifting weights, but lifting weights and doing cardio concurrently will not always lead to better strength. Participating in concurrent training can even lead to decreases in strength over time. In this study, strength training and endurance training simultaneously did affect overall strength gain, but is this true in every case? Is there a way to get, as Hannah Montana so beautifully said, “the best of both worlds”?
Cardio Before or After Weights?
After looking into the research, the answer is kind of unhelpful: it depends. Since I want to be a little more helpful than that, let’s talk about different scenarios and get you a better answer.
It honestly comes down to what is the biggest priority for you. If you want to have better endurance, do cardio first. If you want to gain strength, train strength before cardio. You are more likely to have greater energy at the beginning of your workout session, so use that energy on what is a greater priority for you. Train your priority first.
You might be thinking something along the lines of, “didn’t the last study you just talked about show that you can’t do cardio and strength training at the same time and gain strength?” And you would be right, I did say that, so let’s check out other studies and discuss some ways it is possible to do strength training and cardio concurrently and still gain strength.
Goal of Strength
If you have a goal to gain muscle and get big and strong, you should train strength before doing cardio.
Researchers in a review found that the lower body one-repetition maximum (1RM), a way to measure strength, was significantly higher when people did strength training before endurance training in a session.2 Okay, so this might be true, but in the last study it took 7 weeks before the group that did both strength and endurance training started to see a decline in strength. It is possible that the researchers in this review didn’t look at studies that were long enough to have an effect on strength.
Beginners Can Get Away With Concurrent Training
Interestingly, no negative effects were seen from concurrent training in untrained and moderately trained people, whereas trained individuals did experience negative effects.3 So, if you are a beginner, concurrent training is a great option for you!
How Can Trained Individuals Get Away With Concurrent Training?
Research has shown that the negative effects from doing concurrent training only happen when the strength training and endurance training are completed in the same training session.3 More simply, if you do both strength training and cardio every time you go to gym, you won’t gain as much strength over time.
If possible, separate strength training and cardio by at least 3 hours. This gives your body time to turn on and off certain signals it needs for muscle growth.4 During these 3+ hours make sure to refuel your body by eating a good meal. For example, when you wake up in the morning you can do 30 minutes of cardio, and then in the evening do a strength training session.
I realize that it’s not realistic for everyone to workout twice a day. That is a huge time commitment and we live busy lives. If gaining strength and having good endurance is one of your biggest priorities in life, then working out twice with at least a 3 hour break in between is your best option. If you just want to exercise to stay healthy, doing strength training and then cardio in the same training session will work just fine.
What We Learned
- – Train your priority first
- – If you have a goal to build strength and you only have time for one workout: do cardio after strength training
- – If possible, split cardio and strength training into two session in a day with at least a 3 hour break between sessions
- – Do what works best for you
If you have any further question, feel free to leave a comment!
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