Cardio Before or After Weights? Here’s the Real Answer
Walk into any gym and you’ll see the same scene: One guy’s hitting sprints on the treadmill before touching a dumbbell, another is grinding out deadlifts and then trying to jog it off. Meanwhile, someone else is scrolling TikTok warming up on the bike.
Everyone has a theory. Everyone has an opinion.
But here’s the truth:
Whether you do cardio or strength training first doesn’t matter nearly as much as people think.
Unless you’ve got a specific goal, you’re splitting hairs and wasting mental energy that could’ve been used to get your ass under a barbell or out on the trail.
Let’s break this down the c.r. purz way with performance, efficiency, real-life strategies, and science leading the charge.
First, Define the Goal
Before you worry about sequencing your workouts like you’re programming a robot, ask yourself
What am I training for:
Running a race, Cardio comes first
Trying to PR your squat or deadlift, Weights go up front
Why Fatigue ruins performance
If you do a heavy lift after exhausting your legs on the treadmill, your force output drops. Same goes for cardio. Running intervals after leg day You’ll be crawling.
Fact:
A 2016 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research showed that performing endurance exercise before strength significantly reduced squat performance, with up to 19 percent lower 1RM in trained athletes.
The bottom line:
Lead with what matters most to your goal!
Strength AND Cardio Do Both, But Don’t Stack Them If You Can Help It
Your schedule’s tight. You want to be strong, lean, fit, and look like Michelangelo’s David by summer.
But when you cram both lifting and cardio into one session, the risk isn’t just fatigue. It’s form.
“Fatigue makes cowards of us all” – Vince Lombardi
Fatigue also makes your squat look like Bambi on ice.
Even if you’re training different muscles, like shoulders and then going for a run, your nervous system, core, and glutes are still taxed. Coordination drops. Injury risk rises. Recovery takes a hit.
Fact:
According to the American College of Sports Medicine, combining resistance and endurance training in a single session can interfere with strength adaptations, especially when cardio comes first.
If possible, split them across the day or alternate days. You’ll get more out of both.
Smart People Warm Up. But Not How You Think
If you’re hitting cardio just to warm up for lifting, save your energy.
Fact:
A 2025 meta-analysis found no significant improvement in strength or endurance from traditional cardio warm-ups before weight training.
Warm up your movement pattern, yes. But don’t waste energy trying to break a sweat before you even touch a barbell.
Try:
One to two sets of light reps of your first lift - 2 is my fav!
Dynamic mobility like bodyweight squats, lunges, or band pull-aparts
Activation drills if you’re stiff from sitting all day
Cardio is great, but don’t make it a ritual if your only reason is to feel warm. Train with intent, not tradition.
Hack Your Behavior Not Just Your Physiology
Let’s be real. Most of us aren’t elite athletes. We’re busy humans juggling work, kids, injuries, and leftover meal prep containers.
Sometimes, the smartest move isn’t what burns the most fat or builds the most strength. It’s what you’ll actually stick to. So if you always intend to do cardio after lifting but never make it to the treadmill, start with cardio. If you dread lifting and treat it like broccoli, knock it out first so you don’t run out of time. The number one predictor of fitness success isn’t program design. It’s compliance.
Fact:
A 2022 review from the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity found that consistency was more predictive of long-term fitness success than intensity, workout order, or even total training volume.
The PERS Takeaway Just Don’t Skip the Workout
You can obsess over order, reps, recovery time, and the latest wearable tracking your HRV.
But none of it matters if you’re inconsistent.
If you’re skipping lifts.
If you’re ghosting your cardio because you didn’t know which one to do first.
Here’s the gold
Train the thing you care about most first
If possible, don’t stack cardio and lifting
Warm up smart, not long
Know yourself. If you usually bail on cardio, do it first. If you hate lifting, do it first. Don’t lie to yourself
This isn’t about perfection. It’s about persistence.
You’re not chiseling a masterpiece in a single session.
You’re chipping away, every rep, every run, until the raw block of marble starts to look like the version of you you’ve always envisioned. Be Tyler Durden.
That’s how transformation happens.
Not all at once.
But one disciplined, intentional session at a time.
Let’s get to work.
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