Which Comes First – The Cardio or the Conditioning?

I get this question all the time: “Which should I do first, cardio or conditioning?” My answer has always been two-fold; 1) you absolutely need both, and 2) it’s best to do cardio second. Let me first expound on why I believe both are necessary. Cardio  is paramount to your health and longevity, and provides improved blood circulation and heart rate which is essential for strength training. I am not, however, a proponent of cardio alone, and the reason is this. While cardio is excellent for the reasons mentioned above, and is a great way to slim down and burn fat, it also burns muscle. When a great cardio regime is practiced along with strength training and conditioning, you build, maintain and protect muscle mass. I also advise strength training as a priority because the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest, therefor making yourself a more efficient fat burning machine.

Until very recently, I always advised my clients to do cardio second knowing that a good strength conditioning session got the heart rate up, began the fat burn process, and put the body in prime position to stay in the ‘fat burn’ zone when you then turn on the cardio by going for a run, hop on the elliptical, or go for a bike or spin class. I have always followed this protocol myself.

This week, however; a new study published by a research team at the Department of Biology of Physical Activity at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland tells a different story. Over a two year period, they studied 200 healthy men and women and endurance athletes who performed either supervised cardio immediately followed by strength training, or vice versa, 2-3 times per week for 24 weeks. Their hypothesis was also that strength training first would be the best option, but for a different reason. They theorized that the immediate anabolic effects of performing cardio first would potentially “weaken” exercise muscles, thereby impairing ability to lift weights in a strength training session. While their theory proved true after just one session, the overall results were much different. After the 24-week period, the results showed that both groups increased physical prowess and muscle size at about the same rate.

So just like the old chicken egg question of which came first – this research seems to suggest “it just doesn’t matter.” As long as they are done back to back, you can start your day with a run, and follow with a session in the gym, or vice versa.