Weights/Cardio - Which One First??

(A comment on a friend's journal led me to post this topic - I'm not sure if it has been posted before, but I didn't find it - if it's out there, I apologize!)

What should be the order of weight training/cardio workouts??

Personally, I think it depends on what your goal is: if you are trying to increase your muscle mass and strength, then do your strength training first when your muscles are fresh (after a warm-up, of course).. if you are training for a road race or just trying to improve cardiovascular endurance/drop weight, then you probably want to do your cardio workout first, and lift after.

Another option is to split your workout - run in the morning before work and then lift weights after (that's obviously not feasible for everyone) - or try to pair upper/lower body activities (pair treadmill running with an upper body strength workout, or do a lower body leg workout and then go swimming..).

I also think it doesn't pay to get too caught up in the order of the workout. For most people, if you end up doing cardio first one day but strength training first a different day, oh well.. the important part is that you get it done!!

If you are doing weight training and cardio on the same day, which do you usually do first?

I don't know the "science" behind it, and I'm sure there is some. I always do my cardio first, then weights - because I like it that way. In my mind I end with weights, so if I did those first it would be hard to motivate myself to stay at the gym for cardio. Just how it is. I'd say the best order for things is the way you'll stick with them.

I read somewhere that weights are better first. However, for me, if I do weights first, then I will have a hard time staying motivated to do cardio. So, cardio goes first for me.

My understanding is that when you do weights first, you deplete your glycogen (readily accessible energy stored in your muscles) so that when you do cardio afterwards,you have to rely more on fat stores for energy. I don't know if you actually burn more calories, though- seems unlikely.

Gnat is 100% correct, I do 5 minutes to warmup then hi the weights for 60 to 90 min depending if I'm lifting heavy or more of isolation high rep work. I don't do cardio everyday either.
Most of my cardio consists of two nights a week playing competative volleyball burns about 700 for a couple of hoursmi. On day a week I do interval training for 20 min, 30 sec fast as I can 60 sec jogging and repeat. Burns calories for hours after you are done.

I agree with the OP on this: it depends on your goals.

Personally I am a believer in splitting your strength training days and your cardio days, and going 100% on each day.

So when you do a strength routine, you should leave all you have on the gym floor, and not have the energy for a cardio workout. If you have that much left in the tank, you didn't lift hard enough.

The same goes for cardio: When I do cardio, I want to hammer it, not just do a "leftover" workout after I've blasted my muscles.

I will say that I do about 10-15 min of light cardio just to warm up prior to either type of workout, so I can stretch then hit it hard. You should never stretch a cold body, so the warm up is one of the most vital parts of your workout, but it shouldn't be taking away from the energy you have to either crush the weights or the cardio.