The answer to the question is essentially relative to your goals. Every well-balanced fitness regime will require cardiovascular and strength training exercises.
If you’re trying to figure out the best way to incorporate a cardiovascular activity like running and strength training like lifting weights, first consider what you’re trying to accomplish.
Running before or after lifting weights will depend on your fitness goals. Let’s take a look at some different combinations.
Run Before Lifting Weights
If you have goals like logging in more miles, improving speed, or preparing for the Boston Marathon, it makes total sense to run before lifting weights.
If you lift before running, your muscles will already be tired to some extent and can have an impact on your speed and the long distances you want to cover.
If you’re training for a marathon, you will also have to find ways to improve your energy levels and figure out what works best for your body.
Run After Lifting Weights
Yes, it’s ok.
If your primary goal is to increase muscle mass and enhance your strength, you should run after lifting weights. It makes sense as you’ll have more energy to lift heavy weights before you start to experience some muscle fatigue.
Running after lifting can also help you improve your strength by supplying oxygen and nutrients to tired muscles to help them recover.
Run Before and After
If the primary goal of your fitness routine is to lose the pounds and burn more calories, running before and after lifting weights by incorporating them in the same workout will help you achieve your target.
It can be as simple as a 30-minute workout where you run as fast as you can for 60 seconds and then recover by lifting light weights for another 60 seconds.
If you keep doing this for about half an hour, you will certainly burn a lot of calories.
Alternate Days
If you want to spread it out and do strength training on one day and cardiovascular exercises on another day, make sure that you do an appropriate amount of both as we do at the drug rehab center with our patients
Ideally, you should get at least 2 and a half hours of cardiovascular exercises each week. But don’t lift weights more than 2 to 3 days a week.
If you want to get the most out of each workout, this can be a great approach.
For those looking to bulk up, here are the key benefits to running after lifting weights:
- As the body uses stored muscle energy called glycogen, your strength training will be affected if you run before you lift.
- The body will use up this preferred source of energy while running, so increasing muscle mass while burning a lot of calories will prove to be difficult.
- Cardiovascular exercises will cause a significant afterburn effect. It can even burn more calories for a couple of days after your workout. However, it’s an excellent way to enhance your cardiovascular health.
- Running before lifting can make you feel tapped out of energy. Because of your body’s perceived exertion, strength training can seem a lot harder.
- If you’re not physically or mentally exhausted, you’ll have fewer chances of getting injured while lifting heavy weights.
As you can see, the best workout for your fitness program will depend on your goals. So, if you choose to run after lifting weights, make sure you only do so if your fitness goal is to increase muscle mass and improve your physical strength. Also, remember to wear the correct type of clothing before your workout, as some clothing can affect your performance.
Written By : Amy Rothermel
As Financial Director and co-owner of Alpine Recovery Lodge, Amy is very involved in the finances and marketing operations. A graduate of Nevada State with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration, Amy also took Masters level math, finance and economics classes at UCSD. She is committed to the business end of daily operations and strives to use her knowledge of business processes to encourage the continued growth of Alpine Recovery Lodge. She works with insurance companies to get the most possible coverage available for the residents.