I'm lifting to put some weight on, but I also want to get some cardio in. Is this smart or will it hinder building muscle? And when in the workout should I be doing my cardio?
Lifting and cardio on the same day a smart thing to do?
- Thread starter enwar3
- Start date
Its not the best idea, but if someone was to do so, do the weights first when your muscles are fresh, cardio after..
Megatomic
Lifer
- Nov 9, 2000
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If you are going to do cardio after a weight training session, go with HIIT. Long cardio workouts will likely work against you if putting mass on is your goal. When I have time I do some cardio following my weight/core session, but I am not looking to bulk up at all. I'm trying to maintain my weight at 165 whilst reducing my %bf to less than 10%.
HIIT and a heavy lifting session on the same day is not a good idea. The only time I could see it used is on leg day and ideally it should be done in the morning and weight lifting in the afternoon or vice versa. HIIT is quite a leg workout and will hurt recovery if done on other days.
As long as the calories burned are compensated for in your diet, it won't hinder progress. In fact, some low to moderate instensity will help recovery by increasing blood flow to muscle tissue and burning off accumulated lactic acid. Doing SS right after a lifting session will also burn off FFA's mobilized during the lifting session and likely reduce DOMS the following days.
In conclusion - SS after a workout can actually be very beneficial. HIIT does have its place but should be used much less and ideally on a day of its own.
Megatomic
Lifer
- Nov 9, 2000
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Drew, I guess we're just fated to disagree. 
I've seen scientific evidence supporting each of our views, but what I said has been true from my own experiences. I personally don't do much HIIT, I used it to get my cardio fitness up quickly and then began SS cardio work to prepare for triathlon competitions. I don't want to be big, it'll slow me down during races.
I've seen scientific evidence supporting each of our views, but what I said has been true from my own experiences. I personally don't do much HIIT, I used it to get my cardio fitness up quickly and then began SS cardio work to prepare for triathlon competitions. I don't want to be big, it'll slow me down during races.
presidentender
Golden Member
- Jan 23, 2008
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The danger of doing cardio is lactic acid buildup, which would hinder your muscles' ability to repair themselves. I tend to do a quick jog after lifting, which gets my heart pumping to remove the lactic acid that builds up from lifting, but doesn't put any back. HIIT certainly builds lactic acid; if you're going to do it, do it while lifting (circuit training), before lifting, or do some light jogging or biking afterward.
SociallyChallenged
Elite
- Mar 22, 2002
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Are you crazy? Doing HIIT before lifting will make lifting practically dangerous. Don't ever do HIIT before you lift. Your muscles, including your stabilizers, may very well be fatigued which increases the likelihood of injury a serious amount. Also, I believe the OP is looking to train his cardio, so I don't think a quick jog isn't going to help with that.
1. You will continue to add weight so long as you eat more calories than you burn. So, if you're burning more calories by adding cardio, you'll have to eat more.
2. In general, I'd recommend doing cardio on alternate days from lifting. Yes, steady state cardio has some tendency to burn up muscle along with fat and may slow your progress a bit. You could instead do HIIT, but that may slow your muscle recovery time a bit. It's a bit of a trade off and my personal preference is typically HIIT.
3. If you absolutely must do cardio on the same day as weight lifting, the general rule is to do it after the lifting session. If you do it before you lift, your muscles may be too burned out to do any heavy lifting and you might slow your gains overall.
4. No matter what kind of cardio you pick or when you do it, add it in gradually. You need to give your body adequate time to adapt, or your progress will be seriously slowed and you may burn yourself out. Initially, add a small amount of cardio once per week. For example, a 15 minute HIIT session on an off day from lifting. If after 2-3 weeks, you see no ill effects from this, add a second short cardio session in somewhere else. Again, if your progress is unaffected for a few weeks, either add a 3rd cardio session, or, alternatively, increase the duration/intensity of one or both of the existing ones. Stick with this gradual build up and adjust your diet accordingly, and you should see good results.
2. In general, I'd recommend doing cardio on alternate days from lifting. Yes, steady state cardio has some tendency to burn up muscle along with fat and may slow your progress a bit. You could instead do HIIT, but that may slow your muscle recovery time a bit. It's a bit of a trade off and my personal preference is typically HIIT.
3. If you absolutely must do cardio on the same day as weight lifting, the general rule is to do it after the lifting session. If you do it before you lift, your muscles may be too burned out to do any heavy lifting and you might slow your gains overall.
4. No matter what kind of cardio you pick or when you do it, add it in gradually. You need to give your body adequate time to adapt, or your progress will be seriously slowed and you may burn yourself out. Initially, add a small amount of cardio once per week. For example, a 15 minute HIIT session on an off day from lifting. If after 2-3 weeks, you see no ill effects from this, add a second short cardio session in somewhere else. Again, if your progress is unaffected for a few weeks, either add a 3rd cardio session, or, alternatively, increase the duration/intensity of one or both of the existing ones. Stick with this gradual build up and adjust your diet accordingly, and you should see good results.
I'm mainly looking to gain muscle, but I'm trying to keep the fat off while I do so. It might just be futile since I'd be on a calorie surplus, but if it can be done I want to try. (Is there any benefit to heavy weight lifting without a calorie surplus? Weight loss maybe? Any muscle gain at all?)
I'm open to doing cardio on off days though.
SociallyChallenged
Elite
- Mar 22, 2002
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To gain anything, your body has to have extra = calorie surplus. To lose anything, your body has to have too little = slight caloric deficit. Either gain or lose. Don't eat like a slob and eat ~500 of the right calories more than your body needs and you'll gain muscle with little fat.
presidentender
Golden Member
- Jan 23, 2008
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Quick jog is to get rid of lactic acid. Which I said.
Lifting causes muscle fatigue. Unless I'm mistaken, that's the point.
Just don't over-eat too much an you should be fine. You shouldn't be gaining more than 1 pound a week unless you're a complete beginner.
SociallyChallenged
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The point I was making was that the OP was probably looking to get in better cardio shape, not just purge his muscles.
It works great for me I lift then do 20-25 minutes of light-medium cardio. It has been a large part of my 150 pounds weight loss. The way I see it I burn my energy stores on the weights then burn fat after. The key is to have your diet dialed in with proper pre and post work out meals.
presidentender
Golden Member
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I realize that. Quick jog purges the lactic acid that you built up by doing HIIT. Which allows your muscles to repair themselves. Which is important if you're lifting. Which he is, given the title of the thread, and his posts.
SociallyChallenged
Elite
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I don't agree with you. I agree that recovery days are good, BUT that entails doing light aerobic work the day after heavy weight work. Doing a light jog does not, most likely, change the lactic acid build up from anything that day. Your body doesn't quite work like that. If anything, it gets the blood flowing and either keeps the lactic acid level the same or maybe even increases it. Where did you hear this info?
presidentender
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Originally, here. Weider's full of crap about a lot of things (the book seems to pretend that Arnold, Lee Haney, Frank Zane et al got that big without steriods- riiiight), but there's good stuff in there. Specifically for this conversation, a light aerobic exercise such as jogging or even posing(!) after a workout helps eliminate lactate (I've been using the term 'lactic acid,' which isn't strictly accurate).
This is a link you can readily read. The information is under the heading "during exercise recuperation." To paraphrase, pumping more oxygen into your body eliminates lactate, but doing higher intensity workouts will put it back.
This is technical and I didn't read the whole thing, but it seems to go into the actual biochemistry behind the whole "lactic acid" (again, actually lactate- makes it sound like we're breast feeding our muscles, don't you think
). The idea is that you end up with too many H+ ions, which makes your blood more acidic than normal, and that oxygen binds to the ions and neutralizes the acidity. At least, I think that's the idea.Lastly, many people take cool-down jogs after workouts. I didn't know why this was important, but the XC team and the track sprinters told me that it was to eliminate lactic acid, making this type of thing pretty common knowledge.
Essentially, for maximum recovery, we should do very low intensity (even as light as just flexing in a mirror) aerobic exercise - talking should still be easily possible. Not that you should talk while cooling down, but that you could if you want to.
TallBill
Lifer
- Apr 29, 2001
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After reading the first 3 posts I"ll skip the rest of the bullshit and just put what I was originally going to post.
A few minutes of light cardio is perfectly fine to warm up with. Any other cardio that you want to do during the same session, you'll probably want to do at the end, after lifting weights. Lifting weights is highly tiring and not something that you want to do after wearing yourself out on the treadmill.
Dont worry about what "type" of cardio you get in if you choose to do it afterwards. I just usually hit the eliptical for about 15-20 minutes at a medium level.
A few minutes of light cardio is perfectly fine to warm up with. Any other cardio that you want to do during the same session, you'll probably want to do at the end, after lifting weights. Lifting weights is highly tiring and not something that you want to do after wearing yourself out on the treadmill.
Dont worry about what "type" of cardio you get in if you choose to do it afterwards. I just usually hit the eliptical for about 15-20 minutes at a medium level.
SociallyChallenged
Elite
- Mar 22, 2002
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Originally posted by: presidentender
Originally, here. Weider's full of crap about a lot of things (the book seems to pretend that Arnold, Lee Haney, Frank Zane et al got that big without steriods- riiiight), but there's good stuff in there. Specifically for this conversation, a light aerobic exercise such as jogging or even posing(!) after a workout helps eliminate lactate (I've been using the term 'lactic acid,' which isn't strictly accurate).
This is a link you can readily read. The information is under the heading "during exercise recuperation." To paraphrase, pumping more oxygen into your body eliminates lactate, but doing higher intensity workouts will put it back.
This is technical and I didn't read the whole thing, but it seems to go into the actual biochemistry behind the whole "lactic acid" (again, actually lactate- makes it sound like we're breast feeding our muscles, don't you think
Lastly, many people take cool-down jogs after workouts. I didn't know why this was important, but the XC team and the track sprinters told me that it was to eliminate lactic acid, making this type of thing pretty common knowledge.
Essentially, for maximum recovery, we should do very low intensity (even as light as just flexing in a mirror) aerobic exercise - talking should still be easily possible. Not that you should talk while cooling down, but that you could if you want to.
Hm, alright. Thanks for the info. I stand corrected.
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