<h1><font color="green"><marquee direction="up">Aerobic Exercise Versus Weight Training: Which Should I Do First And Why?</marquee></font></h1>

Thursday, September 6, 2012 | Unknown at 11:42 AM |

The age old question: What comes first? Weight lifting or cardio training?

Athletes have been asking this same question to themselves for years when trying to plan out a proper workout program. If you feel slightly confused about the order in which you should be performing the components of your workout program, it's important that you keep a few key points in mind.

The training order you use when you hit the gym is important and is going to impact your long term results, so this isn't something to just brush off and not pay attention to.

Let's look at what you should take into account so that you can make the right decision.

What Are Your Primary Goals

The very first thing to ask yourself is what your primary goals are. If you're an endurance athlete and the number one thing is that you improve your cardio performance, then chances are you will want to do your aerobic training at the start of the session.

Since it's going to be vital that you perform your best during this element of the workout, you want to be at your most fresh and when you have the most energy.

If you do weights first, your performance is going to suffer.

On the flip side of the coin, if the primary goal of your workout session is to improve your strength, power, or speed, then you will want to begin with the weight training. Doing too much aerobic training before weight training will definitely reduce your total strength output, and that element of the workout will suffer.

What Type Of Session Is It?

Second, also check in what the nature of the session is. Are you planning just a simple bodyweight resistance workout? If so, you can likely do your aerobic exercise first. Especially if the aerobic exercise you're doing has any type of anaerobic element to it. That will be incredibly demanding, so you should do it when you're most fresh just like above.

If it's an easy cardio session however and you want to achieve some personal bests in the weight room, weights must come first. A light cardio warm-up will be important to do to prepare you for your weight lifting session, but you should not go doing 20-30 minutes of cardio training. It'll just have a negative influence on your ability to lift heavy.

So there you have the main two things to take into account when deciding the order of these workout elements. Whenever you're in doubt, place weight training first. It's the type of exercise that requires the most balance, agility, and strength output, so you should be doing it when your nervous system is at its best.

Only when you have very specific goals related to aerobic training or the weight workout really isn't all that demanding in the first place should it come second.