I remember seeing a thread here once that explained it really well, but I cant seem to find it. I think it explained why it isnt good to do cardio after a lifting session, and why it isnt good (maybe efficient is a better word) before. My cardio is done on a an empty stomach, so if I was to do it after my lifting, I wouldnt be able to take my PWO shake right after. But I cant think of a reason why doing it before wouldnt be a good a idea.

Personally, I think it's fine. I hardly do cardio, but when I do, it's often right after lifting, like it was today.

Anyway, here are the reasons people don't like it:

Before lifting (the only one I agree with) - Since you use all your energy for cardio, your weight-lifting session's intensity will suffer, and lifting is the more important activity of the two. Also, you deplete your glycogen stores during the cardio which is essential for your lifting workout.

After lifting - Your glycogen is depleted, so you will burn muscle and intefere with recovery from the lifting session. (I have never found this to be a problem when keeping my cardio workouts after lifting under 20 mins.)

Personally, I think it's fine. I hardly do cardio, but when I do, it's often right after lifting, like it was today.

Anyway, here are the reasons people don't like it:

Before lifting (the only one I agree with) - Since you use all your energy for cardio, your weight-lifting session's intensity will suffer, and lifting is the more important activity of the two. Also, you deplete your glycogen stores during the cardio which is essential for your lifting workout.

After lifting - Your glycogen is depleted, so you will burn muscle and intefere with recovery from the lifting session. (I have never found this to be a problem when keeping my cardio workouts after lifting under 20 mins.)

let me add that I have never had a problem (have not lost lean muscle) while doing up to an hour of LISS (low intensity steady state) cardio after lifting... just don't do HIIT after weights or you could do harm to your muscle gains... I absolutely agree with NOT doing cardio before you lift though, you need those glycogen stores for the lifting effort... however you could do a five to ten minute warm up before lifting. ;)

I guess it might be bad for some people. I've heard this, too, but it's never been an issue for me, and I know a lot of very fit and lean individuals and natural body builders who do it.

Jeremy

yeah I just dont understand what people do about PWO if they do cardio after weight lifting. Do they just take the shake, and do cardio on a full, PWO'd stomach?

yeah I just dont understand what people do about PWO if they do cardio after weight lifting. Do they just take the shake, and do cardio on a full, PWO'd stomach?

I wait until after my cardio and then have my PWO shake

I wait until after my cardio and then have my PWO shake

That's cool that it works for you. I could never do that personally. I need my PWO shake immediately after lifting. I'm always starved after an intense workout. Unless it is leg day when I'm starved but also sick to my stomach. :lol: I feel like I recover better too when I take my shake immediately after and have a whole foods meal shortly after that.

My plan was to do cardio at about 8am on empty stomach, then eat a good meal at 9 and do my lifting at 10. I'm thinking meal would give me back the energy used on the cardio.

My plan was to do cardio at about 8am on empty stomach, then eat a good meal at 9 and do my lifting at 10. I'm thinking meal would give me back the energy used on the cardio.

Chances are you'd be fine. Only one way to find out...

My personal program is cardio mon.-sat. in the morning and then Mon, wed, Fri I lift at night as well. I always wind down my lifting sessions with 20-25 minutes of cardio...works well for me.

That's cool that it works for you. I could never do that personally. I need my PWO shake immediately after lifting. I'm always starved after an intense workout. Unless it is leg day when I'm starved but also sick to my stomach. :lol: I feel like I recover better too when I take my shake immediately after and have a whole foods meal shortly after that.

when do you do cardio?

Right now I'm playing lacrosse for my school, and our practices typically don't start until 5:00 (but sometimes 3:30). Either way, I get my lifting in beforehand after school. I haven't had any problems with it.

Also, when I'm not playing a sport, I run on days when I lift. I don't think it's bad necessarily, but it just might not work for some people.

when do you do cardio?

Right now during this bulk, I'm doing very little cardio. But in the past, I've done three HIT, full-body workouts per week. Sometimes even two. So I would do scheduled cardio at least three days. (one off-day from both weights and cardio). Often, cardio would be a game of pick-up soccer or another sport. But if not doing sports I would either do a 45-minute interval workout with warm-up and cool down or a 45-minute, moderate intensity steady-state workout.

Right now my HIIT follows my weight training 2 days a week (out of the 5 lifting.) If I run late on lifting, I get a small meal in between, but in general it follows directly after. I haven't noticed a problem.

Im trying to do something a little different. I will lift in the morning and then when I get off work I do cardio. Then off to bed.
On non lifting days its cardio in the morning and then after work.
This of course winds up being more than 14 hrs apart for the morning and then afterwork and then 9 hours between the going to bed and lifting\cardio in the morning. Worked great for me before and should do the trick again. :tu:

Im trying to do something a little different. I will lift in the morning and then when I get off work I do cardio. Then off to bed.
On non lifting days its cardio in the morning and then after work.
This of course winds up being more than 14 hrs apart for the morning and then afterwork and then 9 hours between the going to bed and lifting\cardio in the morning. Worked great for me before and should do the trick again. :tu:

Sounds good. When I have done cardio and lifting in the same day, I've always done one in the morning and one in the evening like this. Some people don't have time though. I don't necessarily think that running and lifting on the same day are bad. As Jeremy said, many highly trained athletes do it. I just think it can be a lot of stress on the body when actively cutting. As a competitive runner, I would run and lift on the same day all the time. Sometimes we would need to lift and do two running sessions-a junk mileage session and a moderate workout. But I wasn't cutting by any means. At 70 miles a week and thousands of calories a day, fat loss was the furthest thing from my mind. More recently when just running for fitness with SIGNIFICANTLY less mileage and an actual conern for fat loss and much fewer calories (cutting), I found that cardio and lifting on the same was bordering on overtraining. Beyond that I just didn't feel it was necessary. The fat came off quite well just doing cardio on non-lifting days. But providing one feels good and the calories aren't too low, I think both in the same day are ok. And I assume there might be some people who would really benefit fat-loss wise from the extra cardio.

That's cool that it works for you. I could never do that personally. I need my PWO shake immediately after lifting. I'm always starved after an intense workout. Unless it is leg day when I'm starved but also sick to my stomach. :lol: I feel like I recover better too when I take my shake immediately after and have a whole foods meal shortly after that.

Same here. In fact, on days I do deadlifts, I actually need to start my PWO shake about halfway through the workout or I'll be on my knees before the end. If I tried to do cardio immediately after a back or leg day, I'd be getting a ride to the emergency room. It's obviously relative to how intensely you lift, but there's just no way at all I could do it.

I'm a freelancer so I get to set my own schedule and that makes it easy - I bike 45 minutes of LISS every morning at 9am and hit the weights three days a week around 2pm. Four hours and two meals between cardio and lifting are enough that my energy is fine. I also bought a bike to do my cardio at home and I lift at a gym, which makes the split possible without too much time in the car.

Keep in mind that PWO is a recent phenomenon. It may be beneficial, but it certainly isn't necessary. All you have to do is google classic bodybuilding images to see that awesome physiques were built long before the PWO became popular.

Jeremy