CARDIO BEFORE OR AFTER WEIGHT TRAINING?

none of these options is a good choice. cardio should be done on its own as a workout. let me explain you why:

-if you do it before weight training, you won't have the energies to do your best during the weightlifting session. weights should be your priority, not cardio! also, if you are investing more time in cardio than in iron, you are doing it wrong. cardio doesn't build muscle (except in very rare cases), cardio burns down muscle. weightlifting makes the muscle grow and the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be and the more fat you will burn. very simple.

-if you do your cardio after your weight lifting session, your body won't use fat as energy, as many people mistakenly believe. due to high cortisol levels generated by weightlifting and due to low glycogen stores, your body will start breaking down muscle and transforming it into glucose that serves as energy. we were programmed to store fat. that's in our nature. our body will burn down everything else before it will start burning fat. of course, it's not that our body uses fat for energy or muscle or food.. these processes are all run simultaneously. our job is to nourish our body and give it what it needs in order to preserve muscle tissue for as much as possible and make the body use fat and food for energy.

some people like to do liss (steady state cardio) first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. here again you get the same scenario as if you'd do cardio after weights.. high cortisol levels due to night fasting and low glycogen stores will make the body use muscle as energy. yes, you can kinda prevent this by taking BCAA to blunt the effects of cortisol but this will not interfere with GH production. ok ok, sounds complicated... all i want you to know is that IF you MUST do cardio, do it on its own and choose HIIT over LISS. liss lowers down your metabolism and not only your body will start burning fat after 20 minutes or so, but once you get off that machine, the fat burning effect stops there. HIIT, on the other hand, rises your metabolism, doesn't burn muscle (but it can actually build it), you spend less time in the gym and the EPOC (the afterburn) is so much higher. studies show that after a HIIT session the metabolism can stay elevated for up to 48h.. not sure about that, but for the next 12 hours or so you'll definitely burn more calories during your everyday activities.

do not exceed 2-3 sessions of hiit per week. focus on weights and a healthy and balanced diet.. those are your priority!

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