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Cardio before or after Strength?

Posted By: Blair on 08/01/2011

There's an ongoing debate about when to do your cardio--either before or after your workouts--which one will allow you to burn more fat, that is.  A lot of research has gone into this topic lately and as it turns out the best option is neither!  New science is telling us that the best way to exercise to burn fat is to incorporate cardio training within your strength training workout.  This is referred to as concurrent training.  An example of a concurrent training workout is as follows:  After the usual 5 to 10 minute cardiovascular warm-up, begin your strength workout by performing several compound exercises in a row, maybe 4 to 5 different exercises.  Then using a bike, elliptical, treadmill, or simply a jump rope, perform 1 to 2 minutes of high-intensity cardio.  Repeat this circuit several times.  Oh! No need to do this for any more than about 30 minutes--if you can make it longer than that, you're probably not working hard enough to get the full impact of your fat burning capability!