cardio: before or after weights... or not at all?

when you workout does it matter the order in which you do your training?

one of my concerns are that when I do weights first I get too sore afterwards to get in a good cardio session, and I like to run! Somedays I will do some weights after my run, but usually I dont have enough time.

I've heard a lot of people that do weight training first and then cardio... but does it matter what order you work out?  should workouts be split up? (ie cardio one day, weights the next, or mornings and evenings)

I rarely get in a decent weight training day, and usually most of my focus goes to running.. but I feel as though I am not getting all the results I could be by neglecting the dumbells

any insights?

(this is going to be one of those "it's your own preference" topics, isn't it?)

My trainer wants me to at least warm up before my weights.  I put in all of my cardio before (30min. minimum).  I think the other option she gave me was 15 min. before and after.

After I do cardio, I have no energy to do weight lifting. After I do weight lifting, I have no energy to do interval training.

My solution was to do them either at different times of day such as cardio in the morning and weights at noon or do them on separate days.

If I had to, I would do weights before cardio because I'm less likley to kill myself using a cardio machine than running out of energy and dropping a weight on my head or having a weak workout because of the cardio.

The 15 minutes before and after option sounds ideal! I might try that one.

i do 15 mins before and 15 mins after as well...but i also have one day a week i devote entirely to cardio and do a full hour. How long do you have in the gym each day?

I have Monday, Tuesday & Thursday designated as weights days. My cardio days are Wednesday (3:1 cardio intervals) & Friday (boot camp class). On M, T, Th, I start with a 10 min warm-up, do my weight sessions while keeping my heart rate up and then run for another 10 mins afterwards, if I feel like it.

So, in short, I have designated "cardio" and "weights" days but on the weights days, there's still a cardio component. I wouldn't do a full cardio routine AND a full weights routine in one day.

I am a runner too, and force myself to weight train.

Every third day I do weights. I warm up for 13 minutes on the eliptical. Then I do my weight routine. After that I do 30 minutes running. Not as hard as I usually do, but I do bump up the incline on the treadmill by 0.5 to make up for the shorter time.

On cardio days I run 60 minutes which equals about 5.5 miles. That's all I can do for cardio days.

It's actually a question of your training goals, not preference.

 If your goal is increased cardio performance you'd do that first and then have a weights program afterwards that's sports-specific. It's what marathoners, endurance bikers and cross-country racers do. Swimmers too, IIRC.

 But that's rooted in improving sports-specific competitive performance for high level endurance athletes; everyone who has the goal of fat loss are better served by doing strength training or other high intensity exercise first, followed by some relatively non-intense steady state workouts.

 It depends on the performance parameter that's most important to your desired results, in other words. Do that first, then any supporting activities afterwards. So unless you're actually a competitive endurance athlete weights->cardio will be most effective for your goals.

What Melkor said.

Keep this up, Melkor, and we won't be able to argue any more.

My trainer just put me on a specific schedule for my workouts. He has me running 2 miles before weight training, and 1-2 miles after. He said that I need to be focusing on the milage and not the minutes. I am sure though however, that any time of cardio before and after your workout will be beneficial. Especially before, because your muscles need to warm up in order to work to their full capacity. 

Original Post by trhawley:

What Melkor said.

Keep this up, Melkor, and we won't be able to argue any more.

Sorry about that, I'll try to think of something to disagree on ;)