What should you do first: Cardio or resistance training?

MUMBAI: Should you begin with cardio exercises and then follow it up with resistance training? A group of researchers from the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland studied 200 endurance athletes to find an answer.

The researchers concluded that the training order of combined cardio- and resistance training does not seem to have an effect. But, in the early days of training, the recovery of the group starting with cardio was longer. The researchers hence said that care should be taken while performing high amounts and/or a high frequency of training.

In a press release put out by the Academy of Finland, the researchers set a limit for the combine exercise regimen: performing 2-3 combined cardio- and resistance training sessions per week, of 90 to 120 min each, does not lead to differences in the adaptations of overall fitness and body composition between the two training orders.

The participants of these studies were 18-40 years old men and performed either supervised cardio- immediately followed by strength training or vice versa for 24 weeks (2-3 combined cardio- and resistance sessions per week). "As prolonged aerobic performance may 'weaken' the exercised muscles and essentially reduce the ability to lift heavy loads during the subsequent resistance training session, the researchers expected to observe less favorable anabolic effects resulting in compromised adaptations in muscle strength and mass in the "cardio first" group compared to the group which started each session with resistance training," said the release.

The study expectedly revealed that the anabolic responses of one single training session seemed to be less favorable in the training group starting with cardio. However, this initial difference was no longer observed after the 24-week training period and both groups actually increased physical performance and muscle size to about a similar extent.