When you are trying to build lean muscle in the gym, should you do cardio before or after weights for maximum results? This is a question often asked and rarely answered with anything more than personal opinion. If you are trying to figure out how to lose weight or build muscle, you're about to discover the facts on this topic.
For many years, this was a subject which was usually answered with personal opinion. There was no real proof whether it was more effective to perform cardiovascular activity before or after a workout, so most people would simply do what worked for their own body and pass on their findings to others.
That's no longer the case. Today we'll be looking at a few recent studies and talking about why science has now shown cardiovascular activity to be more effective when performed before resistance exercises, as opposed to afterwards. []
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....
Two enzymes released during exercise will play an important factor here:
* AMPK
* mTOR
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.
For many years, this was a subject which was usually answered with personal opinion. There was no real proof whether it was more effective to perform cardiovascular activity before or after a workout, so most people would simply do what worked for their own body and pass on their findings to others.
That's no longer the case. Today we'll be looking at a few recent studies and talking about why science has now shown cardiovascular activity to be more effective when performed before resistance exercises, as opposed to afterwards. []
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....
Two enzymes released during exercise will play an important factor here:
* AMPK
* mTOR
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:
About the author: Learn the easy, no-nonsense facts behind how to lose weight with Russ Howe PTI, the UK's most popular Personal Trainer on Youtube. His free video on whether you should do cardio before or after weights will help you to get started now.
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