Which part of your workout routine should come first – cardio or strength training? It’s an ancient question with no right answers. Exercise order really depends on what you are trying to achieve.

Here’s a guide we’ve prepared for you to follow plus a Herbalife Exercise Meal Plan to help you with your diet.

If You Want to Shed Calories to Lose Fat

If your goal is to exercise to burn fat, it’s best to do cardio first and lift weights next. Cardio is the best way to lose weight as most people burn more calories in a single workout session when they do cardio first. We recommend the following cardio exercises to lose weight - aerobics, biking, running, swimming and using an elliptical machine.

Undoubtedly, strength training burns more calories per minute but the usual problem is that when we lift weights we tend to exhaust fasterforcing us to cut our exercise session short.
 

If You Want to Build Muscle Mass and Boost Strength

It’s best to strength train first when the body’s glycogen (source of energy for muscle contraction) is high. Doing cardio before strength training reduces glycogen making the workout useless.

To increase strength, you want your body to change into “repair and rebuild” (anabolic) mode as soon as possible after you strength train and the best way to do that is to eat rather than doing cardio. A light cardio workout before strength training would be better BUT don’t do rigorous strength exercises once you’ve already drained yourself out with cardio – that’s dangerous.
 

If You Want to Enhance Cardiovascular Endurance

Perform cardio exercises first if your goal is to increase your cardiovascular strength, when you still have ample energy for long-distance workout routines. Then include strength training exercises (e.g. lifting weights, squat jumps, lunges and plyometrics) 2-3 times a week either after or separate from the cardio workouts to develop muscular strength and decrease your risk of injury.
 

If You Want to Improve Your Overall Health

If this is your goal, whichever routine you do first doesn’t matter. You can do endurance training first then strength train next and vice versa. You can even do both at the same time with circuit or interval training or on different days if you want.
 

Here Come’s Our Herbalife Exercise Meal Plan

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1. 30 Minutes Before Gym & During Gym: Take Liftoff, you don’t have to finish it all and you can drink it while exercising for continuous energy supply.
2. Post Workout (within 30 minutes): Take Rebuild Endurance (if you only did cardio). Take Rebuild Strength (if your workout included strength training).

• Take this product right after your workout as your body is drained with everything, so it will take in all the good nutrients completely.

    3. 3 Times A Day: Take Herbalifeline Omega 3 Fish Oil with meals. But DON’T take it during your pre and post workout sessions (you don’t want to add the fat that you’ve just burnt off back to your body).

• Herbalifeline Fish Oil (Omega 3) - A vital supplement for individuals who work out. We often typecast fish oil is only beneficial for the heart but it’s a great fat burner too (but it only works if you exercise). Bodybuilders taking fish oil lose more fats unlike those who don’t. You can learn more about this product here: "Is It True that Fish Oil is The Best Fat Burner?"

       4. Before Bed: Take Niteworks. If you’re drinking Formula 1 Sport before bedtime, you can add Niteworks to your shake.

• Niteworks - Taken before bedtime, ideal for recovery. Niteworks has Nitric Oxide (NO) – an essential ingredient to prompt a “pump” to your exercise by boosting blood circulation in your body (getting more oxygen to the muscle faster). Muscles create lactic acid when discharging energy and the build-up of lactic acid can cause exhaustion and muscle ache after vigorous exercise. Taking Niteworks will certainly help relieve these issues. Generally, NO supplements are consumed pre-workout to give you a pump when exercising. But, Niteworks is made to be taken before bed, so it will work more like a recovery supplement so you’ll feel active and less sore the next day.
• Keep in mind that recovery is as essential as exercising. Without a good recovery, your exercise efforts will be useless.

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Cardio or strength training first? The answer is entirely up to you. Knowing your goal will help you decide which method works best.

Shoot us an e-mail if you have questions.

Rooting for you,

~ The HSO Team ~

Simply Awesome.

Featured Image Source:

http://vigourandvitality.wordpress.com/

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