Weights or cardio: What should you do first for weight loss?

If you are trying to lose weight and hitting a gym, then you’ll know the two main types of exercises you have got to do – cardio and weight training. Most people incline towards the one they like the most. Some people might only come to attend the zumba sessions while others could only be seen around the weights area. So which of them should you hit first to achieve better weight loss results? Read on to find out.

Cardio is super effective to burn calories. If you lift weights versus do any other cardio activity for the same amount of time, you will burn more calories from cardio. So if burning calories is your goal, you can start your workouts with cardio at a steady intensity to burn fat. After a sweaty cardio session, you can move onto lifting weights, which will help you to burn calories even after you're done exercising.

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Lifting weights first, especially heavy weights, will tire you out enough that it might get difficult to do cardio later. So you may not be able to complete your workout and will not get the calorie-burning benefit of cardio. However, in theory, doing weights first would put your body into aerobic mode, and so by the time you get your cardio, you will already be in a fat burning state. If you are training with light weights, then this will help to increase your heart rate and prepare you for an intense cardio workout.

The best way to find out is to see what works best for you. So next time you go to the gym, you can start with cardio and another time you can try lifting weights after your warm-up. Whatever you pick first, doing both is clearly beneficial for your body. Studies have shown that doing a combination of the cardio and weight training is best for your overall health, increasing muscle and reducing body fat.

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If you want to give your 100% to both cardio and weight training, then you can do them on different days as well, This will also allow your body to recover in between. Another easy way of deciding is seeing what mood you are in, as this way, you won’t be forcing yourself to do something you are not quite interested in at that moment. So, if there is a zumba class going on, you may join and do weight training after the class. If you prefer weights more, then you can also go for a quick cardio warm-up and then spend a larger chunk of your time doing weights.