Strength training and cardio on same day = less efficient?

I've been building up my free-weight lifting lately, and I probably do 45 minutes of weight training three times a week. I also do at least one hour of cardio 5-6 days a week (one-two days are completely rest days except for walking). My question is, is it less effective for me on those days when I do both cardio and lifting? Am I at risk of losing some of the benefits, such as building as much muscle, because I'm burning off calories too?

I used to think so, but lately I've begun to believe it depends entirely on your nutrition profile - eating right for your body relative to your goals.

 That one-hour post workout window for getting your protein turns out to be about 24 hours, for example - getting leucine+protein pre- and post-workout increases protein synthesis even more, but if you're not chugging protein shakes you're still getting a large benefit from strength training, and you should be eating small meals every 3 hours no matter what your goals are.

 Plus, you're relatively young and have a hayuuge recovery capacity if you're rigorous about nutrition. There's only two real issues that can have an impact on your desicions - it's more effective to only try to maximally develop one or two fitness qualities at a time, and if your workouts are intense and long-lasting you may have trouble eating enough calories!

 So if you're really looking to pack on the muscle you may benefit from cutting down on the cardio so you don't have to spend the majority of the day eating. Otherwise, meh. As long as you get adequate recovery time between workouts so that intensity isn't compromised, use proper periodization of your training, and you stay on top of your nutrition, there shouldn't be much of an issue.

 But keeping a training log and tracking your performance over time will tell you exactly how each variable in your training schedule affects your developement - it's the single most valuable tool you can use :) 

you know melkor is right, it really does depend on your diet and how your body responds to it. I have always beleived your can do both right after each other, cardio should follow weights for better results. Just be sure to eat a carb and protien complex after the workout to recover.

"you may have trouble eating enough calories!"

Had that happen to me a few times, mostly because of bad meal planning. Trying to take in 4000 calories of healthy food in one day, is just not easy.

If your cardio is unavoidable, like commuting between home and work/school/whatever. Then, well, it's unavoidable.

You may feel overall burned out after a while though. That was the case for me, I did some cycling everyday 20 minutes or more and weights 3 times a week. My cycling suffered a bit from that, I sometimes felt lack of strength/energy, or I could not generate the power I wanted like the week before that.

Or maybe it's just me.

Alternating Weight and Cardio days is a good balance. But honestly, if it's a nice and sunny day, I'll be riding my bike on either days.

Ainedb - I follow a similar schedule for workout, but for me it's 4 days working out(@~1 hour, 1:15), and 4 days of at least 45 mins cardio.

I've been advised from both a trainer and a dietitian that it's not bad to work out and do cardio! Working out will essentially gain lean muscle mass, and cardio will burn calories and fat. It may seem that it's less effective on the scale, being that you may not seem to be losing weight, but more than likely you are losing fat and putting on lean muscle mass!

Just be sure that if you're spending more than 1 hour in the gym, to grab something after the gym that incorporates carbs and protein. Say a whey protein shake, and an apple. Or one of those protein bars.

Best of luck on achieving your goals!

I have to agree with Melkor and Bodyscience....I usually do. It's all about nutrition. Eat right and you'll be surprised what the body is capable of.

That being said, you really don't need to be doing as much cardio as you are.  I would recommend taking the cardio down to 3 days a week and doing it on the days you are not lifting.

We all know that the body needs the rest and if you are lifting and doing cardio on the same day, you are likely not as intense and pushing yourself as hard as is necessary on the lifting.  Even if you do the lifting first, you are thinking, maybe only subconscienciously, that you need to leave something in the tank for the cardio.  That can be disasterous.  Give everything you have to the iron and it won't let you down.

Good luck,

Michael

Well, the cardio I'm doing is a whole mix, like rowing and cycling one or two days, elliptical or running another day, and three or four days of martial arts. I don't want to lose the advantages of each (plus I enjoy them! and I've been doing them for years), so I'm probably not going to cut them out of my schedule. But I will try to do less back-to-back cardio/weight sessions and try to allow for enough recovery. Maybe do weights in the morning before work and then after work do my cardio?

That being said... I don't think I'd have a problem with eating too much! ;-) I am looking for a good flavor and not very expensive protein supplement to increase my protein, but otherwise I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. My arms especially are getting nice and muscular! Now if I can do a pull-up I'll be all set...

bodyscience, why is it that cardio after weights is better? is cardio after weights better when you're trying to burn fat?

I think he was trying to say that if you do cardio before your weights, you might be too tired from the aerobic exercise to put full effort into lifting.

Muscles only have one source of fuel (carbs[glycogen]=fast source of energy), cardio uses it too, but it can also use fat (slow source of energy), if you do cardio first it could deplete all the glycogen and there won't be any left for muscles to work.

I found this bit of info too:

weight training will serve as a sort of pre-exhaust for cardio; lowering your blood sugar and allowing you to burn fat immediately after you start cardio. If you do cardio first, it will take about 20 minutes before you really start to burn fat

Thanks vicereine!

If you've been doing some of the cardio-such as the martial arts- for years, then your body should be pretty used to having them in your routine and it won't be such a big deal to be building on top of that. If you were just starting a workout plan that included that much exercise, then you'd probably be pushing yourself too hard. But excercise, from what I've heard, is going above and beyond your normal routine. While these activities still obviously count as exercise, they should be basically part of your bodies normal routine at this point so I think you're safe.

I do lifting 3x a week plus cardio after and cardio 2 other days of the week(taking 2 days off) and I've been doing alright. I was pushing it sort of hard for a while by doing intense cardio right after weights-intense for me being around 500 cals- and I ended up getting burned out. I dropped it down to 30 minutes(about 300 cals) post weights and it seems to be working fine and I still have energy. Just see if your body can handle it, if you start getting tired or feeling worn down, take it down a notch and start eating more fuel.

Your muscles need the time to recover, remember that.

I've just started this exact routine - 5 days cardio, 4 days weights.  I am totally new to all this so from reading this - can someone recommend a protein shake and protein bar(s)?

Spurlinb

I'm not a big fan of heavy protein shakes, but I have found a pretty good product.  It's called IDS Protein Shot.  It's about 3 oz. in what looks like a testtube.  It is available in 25g. and 42g. of protein per shot and comes in 4 or 5 flavors.  I typically take one of the 42g. shots and eat an apple after my workout.

I have seen best prices on eBay, but the stuff is available at most supplement stores or smoothie locations.  You can try them individually in the Smoothie King and Smoothie Factory stores.

Combining the two probably has a reduction in building muscle, but probably not anything major.  I could see this as an issue if you are dependent on your muscularity for your living, but for most people it won't have much of an impact.  The additional fat loss that might occur after combining the two might make the decreased muscle gains a price worth paying.

spurlinb: I would advise to keep it simple with a 100% whey protein, they sell it at most nutrition stores. Just take one serving (one scoop with ~8oz of water, shake hard then drink) within an hour after lifting in the gym. I bought a 6lb. bottle at GNC(which is 94 scoops, or about 3 months worth if you take it every day), but for that price I would recommend finding somewhere else to buy it, although they do have their 30 day money back guarantee if you aren't 100% satisfied, and still have some servings in it! I got to try NANO vapor, returned it, and now am on MRI's Black powder, although i wish i had gone with NO shotgun.

Does the whey protein dissolve well or still taste chalky? Are there flavors that are any good, or are there flavorless ones?

A good brand will probably dissolve better and taste better, I haven't tried mine in water because it's vanilla flavoured, there is unflavoured ones but can't comment though since this is the first time I tried protein powders. I have taken mine with milk (tastes like a milkshake :p), when I put the whole serving in it did have more of a consistency like soy milk (but not chalky or chunky), I have also had it with half a serving and of course the less you use the less you notice it. I wish I could put mine in water and take it to the gym so I could drink it after, but somehow I think it would taste bad with vanilla lol.

I am actually taking gnc's 100% whey protein, the vanilla flavored with water, and think it tastes bareable, and doesn't chunk up with only one serving. I shake it in the bottle i have after working out and drink it fast.

I just went down from 2 servings at a time (16 oz water + 2 scoops) to 1, and noticed that it doesn't chunk up at all. If you take more than 1 serving at a time, it WILL chunk up.

I do run for 50 minutes on the treadmill, 4 ot 5 days a week, and I do light weights, and still keep my muscle and toned up my body, is hard if you dont eat the right carbs and protein during the day or if you eat too little...

I think every body is different, it adapt whatever is the work out if you dont change it....