I’m sure you’d love to have enough time in a day for separate workouts dedicated to cardio and weight training, but the reality is that – unless you’re a professional athlete or an actor playing a superhero – you probably don’t have the time. If you do a single workout each day, it’s crucial to make that session as effective as possible.

This brings us to an important decision: should you start your workout with cardio or weights? This article will help you understand the pros and cons of each approach, can help you make the most of your limited workout time, and ensure you’re on the right path to achieving your goals.

Doing Strength Training Before Cardio

If your primary objective is to get stronger and build muscle, focusing solely on weight training and skipping cardio might be tempting. However, maintaining a healthy cardiovascular system offers many benefits — not only for your workout regimen but also for your overall health and well-being in the long run. However, the order in which you do these exercises can significantly impact your results, depending on your fitness goals.

I will come out and say it: this is almost always the right move, and the science backs me up. I’ll get to the exceptions later, but the reality is that whether your primary goal is to get stronger or burn fat, doing your cardio last makes the most sense. Here’s why:

More Energy Means More Hypertrophy

Doing weightlifting and other strength training before cardio may improve muscle growth (or hypertrophy). Cardio, like any exercise, leads to muscle fatigue and will decrease your strength gains if you do it first. By leaving cardio until after your strength training, your muscles will be less tired and will have more energy available (more about that energy in a second), allowing you to generate more mechanical tension – the force that muscles develop when they contract – to lift heavier and experience more significant gains. Your muscles will also have enough energy to fully engage your fast-twitch (Type 2) muscle fibers, which experience more muscle growth when subjected to heavy loads. Starting with strength work also maximizes the release of the anabolic hormones testosterone and growth hormone, which are involved in muscle growth. This is especially true for compound movements like squats and deadlifts – two staples of any serious strength training session. Should you squat or deadlift first? Well, that’s another question!

It Burns Fat Longer

Time for a little nurtitional science: When you consume carbs, your body turns them into glucose and stores them as glycogen, which your muscles burn for energy during exercise. Only once your glycogen stores are depleted do your muscles start to burn body fat in a process called fat oxidation. How quickly your muscles use glycogen depends on the intensity of physical activity. Typical cardio sessions that involve low- to medium-intensity aerobic exercise like jogging or cycling deplete glycogen relatively slowly, using mostly oxygen instead. On the other hand, high-intensity anaerobic activities like weightlifting use glycogen significantly faster, so you’ll be burning more fat in less time. The best part? When you move onto cardio after your strength training, your body hasn’t had time to recoup its glycogen stores, so you’ll get continued fat burn.

Coach’s Tip: To burn more glycogen while weightlifting, make sure your workout intensity is above 75% of your V̇O2max —even just a minute or 2 of exercise at that intensity can deplete a huge amount of glycogen.

Lower Risk of Injury

Weightlifting carries some serious safety risks even if you’re fully energized and focused. Generally, you’re pushing your body beyond its normal limits, so you need to be extra careful to follow the correct form so you don’t injure yourself. If you’re on a tight schedule already, you’re probably feeling some time pressure anyway, making focusing more challenging. Add to that a cardio session beforehand: now your muscles are more tired, and you’re in a hurry, which means you’re less focused – and your injury risk just increased. On the other hand, doing cardio after weightlifting might feel like a chore if you’re pumped from a heavy lifting session. However, the low-intensity nature of cardio means you’re much less likely to make a mistake that will cause you a severe injury.

Doing Cardio Before Strength Training

Until now, not much has favored doing cardio before strength training. However, that doesn’t mean there’s no place for cardio at the start of your workout – it just needs to fit your goals, and you need to be smart about how you plan it. First, if you want to challenge your body by lifting once you reach a fatigued state, you can obviously do intense cardio before a lifting session. The downsides I mentioned above – higher risk of injury or smaller strength gains, to name a few – will still apply, but if you’re prepping for an endurance race and want to see what you’re capable of, this could work. Also, a short bout of low-intensity cardio before your weight training can lift your heart rate and warm your body up, which preps your body for what’s about to come – not a bad thing. But weight training is pretty good at getting your heart rate up on its own, so don’t go overboard – save it for the sets!

Combining Cardio and Strength Training

We haven’t talked about combining your cardio with your strength training. Studies have shown that High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and circuit training are great for losing weight and getting stronger – and anyone who’s done can testify that you get an effective muscle pump while sweating and panting at the same time. If you’re short on time, there’s nothing wrong with killing training two birds areas with one stone session.

Frequency and Recommendations

The American Heart Association recommends that adults aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity cardio a week, and strength training should be done 2-4 times per week. You can do low-intensity cardio daily but try to space out your high-intensity cardio sessions if you separate your strength and cardio sessions, alternate days to maximize benefits without fatiguing your muscles. If you have time in the day to do two sessions, do cardio in the morning and strength in the evening. Listen to your body and adjust intensity based on how tired you feel from either activity.

Some Practical Tips from Zing’s Experts

It’s not always easy to put recommendations like these into practice – but Zing Coach is all about making your fitness journey as frustration-free as possible. So, besides using the app to generate a workout plan that incorporates the amount of cardio you need, here are a few more tips from our fitness science experts to help you program the ideal mix of cardio and strength training:

Keep a training log to track progress, including how different workout orders affect your energy levels, sleep, and overall performance.
Proper form is crucial, so learn the correct techniques with Zing Coach before you push yourself.
Choose cardio exercises that you enjoy to maintain consistency.
Start with lighter weights or body-weight exercises if you’re new to strength training.
Progress gradually by increasing effort by about 2% with each workout.
Always include rest and recovery in your routine to avoid overtraining and injury.

So, now you know. Incorporating cardio into your workout plan is essential, but how you do it depends on your specific fitness goals. Whether you’re aiming to build muscle, improve endurance, or simply stay fit, understanding the role that cardio plays in your routine will help you make the most out of your limited time. Balancing intensity and recovery, choosing the right exercises, and structuring your sessions effectively can lead to better results and long-term success in your fitness journey. Remember, it’s not just about how much you do, but how smartly you plan your workouts to align with your personal objectives.