Reader Question: When Should I Add My Fat Loss Cardio Workouts?
For most people, when they approach their fat loss goal they are going to use a combination of both strength training and cardio training to help get themselves to the finish line. As you go about trying to schedule all this cardio and weight training though, you may run into some problems.
That was just the case for this reader who e-mailed me their question recently. Let’s have a quick look at this issue.
Question:
I’m just starting up my fat loss program but am not really sure on a couple of things. First, should I be doing my cardio before I do my weight lifting or is it better to do it afterwards? Or, maybe it’s better to do it on the days I don’t lift instead?
Answer:
Getting the right mix of cardio and weight workouts with your program will be one of the more important things to look at as you figure out your program design.
Now one thing I want to stress right off the bat is that you should never rely on cardio training to make you lose body fat. If you did, you’re going to be doing a great deal of cardio in the coming future.
Instead, I’d advise you to give a really good look at your fat loss diet program and make sure it’s going to be doing most of the work for you when it comes to fat loss. Individuals who aren’t following a good diet aren’t going to see good results – period.
Now, that said, you should always be performing your cardio training after any weight workouts. The reason being that for your weight workouts you want to be as fresh as possible so you can give the most intensity. If you’re burning up energy doing cardio, you aren’t exactly going to be ‘fresh’.
Therefore, cardio has to come after.
Doing that cardio training on another day altogether is also a smart plan, but also keep in mind that you do need to have at least one day off completely each week and that you still shouldn’t be doing some form of high intensity training the other six.
So if you’re weight lifting 4 days a week for example and plan to do HIIT cardio (high intensity interval training) on the other two days, that’s a very high demand for your body – one that it likely will not be able to fill. As time goes on you’re going to find yourself more and more fatigued and eventually completing the usual workouts will seem like a monstrous challenge.
In that case, I’d advise you to place your HIIT cardio on days you also lift. Yes they will be intense, but it will then allow you to have more days off where the body can recover. If you happen to only be doing moderate intensity cardio, then you could do that on the off days from weights since it’s not as stressful for the body, but do make sure you still have that day off.
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July 11th, 2009 at
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