How long should I wait to do cardio after lifting weights?

How long should I wait to do cardio after lifting weights? 1
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Give it at least 6 hours between lifting and cardio, and lift first, lift fresh for optimal results.

Great cardio sessions if your primary goal is aesthetics are just a matter of burning some calories, higher intensities are 100% optional.

Nothing wrong with doing cardio before lifting if those six hours in between and some nutrition are present, it’s just slightly worse.

It’s MUCH worse on leg day, I’ll tell you that.

But will you burst into flames if you do your cardio right after lifting? NOT AT ALL, it’s just not OPTIMAL.

Protein synthesis and glycogen reuptake start to ramp up right after you put the weights down, the second you stop lifting, not only that, it PEAKS a bunch of hours later, so burning a significant amount of calories and nutrients in your bloodstream in a cardio session will just make it tidbit harder for your body to generate the highest quality adaptation.

The worst scenario would be doing cardio RIGHT BEFORE lifting, that’s where I get a bit meatheady, that shit is a BIG NO-NO.

Getting tired before lifting heavy weights is stupid, don’t do that, you’re ramping up your risk of injury, and you’re getting physically and mentally fatigued before doing the activity that only generates results if you do it with sufficient EFFORT and INTENSITY.

People do it though, for generations, and a lot of them reach a pretty ok physique, most of them end up on roids, and who would blame them? Imagine training for several years always looking meh, I bet it sucks HARD.

Me, I love running first thing in the morning, it’s my ritual, the days I do it just flows and everything seems to work slightly better throughout my day, later in the afternoon after I break my fast with a big lunch, I lift weights on my lunch break.

But the thing about running first thing in the morning is, that there’s a feeling of accomplishment that comes with it, there’s nothing like it that I’ve ever experienced.

I love the feeling of knowing that it’s 7 am in the morning, and I’ve already done something to improve myself both mentally and physically, whatever happens in the rest of the day, I at least managed to get myself ONE VICTORY.

So whatever you do, just make sure you’re punching the card as often as possible, focus on your fitness and your health.

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