Cardio before or after lifting weights? (vein/artery health)

[moonbogg]

I usually do cardio before since it makes a nice warm up, but I read that a Japanese study learned that veins stiffen due to weight lifting stress and this can damage them over the long term. Doing cardio after lifting weights counters this negative effect, so the conclusion was to do cardio after lifting weights for healthy veins and arteries. Thoughts?

 

[ArchAngel777]

Cardio After for practical reasons. That said, warming up hardly seems like Cardio... You don't need to hit 140 HR to warm up for weights. You just need to losen the joints and gradually load them (hence, warm-up sets with the exercise you are looking to do).

Also, doing cardio before can risk an injury, since you will likely be more fatigues when entering the weight training session and if not for injury, your lifts won't be quite up to par.

That said, probably isn't the end of the world, but anything but a short low duration LISS cardio session prior to weightlifting is a mistake, IMO. Not a wise decision. That said, a 10 minute jog hardly could be considered a 'cardio' workout. So, that could be decent warm up, but you'd still need to warm up the joints that correspond to the lifts you will be performing and the only way to do that properly is warm-up sets.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I always do my cardio after lifting weights. Mostly it's because the weight lifting part is what I like the least, so I want to get that over with.

My cardio consists of a brisk walk on my treadmill at maximum incline in front of a tv, so it's the part I get to just chill and kind of zone out during. Don't get me wrong, I work up a decent sweat walking between 3.5 and 5 mph at a 15% incline, but I still get to stare at a TV playing game of thrones or the like, so I always look forward to it.

 

[iluvdeal]

Link to that study?

 

[Zivic]

always after. what you do before lifting is a warm up, not cardio.

if done properly cardio can aid in recover, but always after (or separate from)

 

[deadlyapp]

Depending on what your reasons for cardio are, usually you'll get the most benefit after lifting. After lifting you should already have a partially elevated heart rate and will burn comparably more calories for the same cardio session.


With that said - my best lifting sessions have been after extensive cardio (~5mi runs) since I assume my endorphins are through the roof and i'm quite warmed up.

 

[Mai72]

I do 15m of cardio before lifting weights.

 

[moonbogg]

I just did 20 minutes of jump rope/jumping jacks...after doing LEGS. I jumped rope until I lost my form and kept tripping over it, tossed it aside and did jacks. Holy jesus that was hard. I feel like a million bucks though. I will try to find the link to the Japanese study. It was mentioned in last week's chapter of my kinesiology textbook. That's why I asked but I'll look up the source. It has to be in the book.

 

[slag]

Depending on what your reasons for cardio are, usually you'll get the most benefit after lifting. After lifting you should already have a partially elevated heart rate and will burn comparably more calories for the same cardio session.


With that said - my best lifting sessions have been after extensive cardio (~5mi runs) since I assume my endorphins are through the roof and i'm quite warmed up.

Ditto. I feel I can lift more after I run a few miles. The adrenaline and everything is a nice feeling to have.