Fitness before or after training?

We all know that conducting a strength work complementary in endurance sports it is essential to prevent injuries, improve performance, withstand higher resistance training load, etc.,

Cardiovascular exercise increases the heart rate and raises muscle temperature, which predisposes the body for further exercise, but if done for a long time it will also cause fatigue that will decrease performance in subsequent training.

The Gym, before or after running, cycling or swimming training?

When is it more convenient to do strength work in the gym? Before or after running, cycling or swimming workouts? is the eternal question.

Our contributor Personal Running has written this article to explain when it is best to do a strength session in the gym.

First, keep in mind that the Cardiovascular exercise increases heart rate and raises muscle temperature, which predisposes the body for further exercise.

Although if it is done during a prolonged time will also produce fatigue which will cause performance in subsequent training to decrease.

The important thing, prioritize the main objective of the training

As a general rule, it should be said that prioritize the main objective and carry out the training on which we want to improve the most.

Both strength work in the gym and cardiovascular work consume a large amount of energy, and consequently, a large amount of glycogen, which causes a decrease in glycogen stores.

Therefore, the training we do right after the otherEither cardiovascular training or strength training, we will start it with less glycogen stores and we will obtain a lower performance than in the one we perform in the first place.

And for endurance sports?

 In sports where resistance prevails such as triathlon, cycling or running, the most appropriate, as a general rule, will be doing the strengthening work in the gym after cardiovascular training.

Assuming that we are following an endurance sport training (triathlon, running, swimming, cycling ...) we can say that the order of training also depends on the goal pursued in each mesocycle or training phase.

In training phases where a work of hypertrophy or maximum force To achieve an increase in muscle mass (which should normally be away from the main competition), on gym training days you should give priority to strength work, it must be done first in order to obtain maximum performance.

In this way we will carry out a muscle work with the maximum possible intensity.

Also in this case subsequent resistance work should be neither too intense nor too long to avoid muscle catabolism, that is, the expenditure of protein by the body during exercise so as to decrease muscle mass.

What if I want to increase muscle mass?

In sports where we seek to increase muscle mass, the order of training will be the opposite,  that is, before cardiovascular training, having to control this so as not to perform an excessive volume.

How to do the training?

In any case, as it is not advisable to start cold-force workouts, in these trainings it would be advisable to do a small part of cardiovascular work (5'-15 ') in the warm up to start with the best possible predisposition.

In the rest of the training phases, such as the adaptation phase, the strength-endurance phase or the specific strength phase of the sport in question, the order should be reversed, placing a greater emphasis on resistance training and leaving the strength training for later, even if the performance in this training does not reach the maximum levels.

In conclusion

In conclusion, to say that order is important, but the really important thing is not to forget to do a good job of strengthening that complements our workouts.

Photo: Enphorma Gym / Personal Running