Workout Order: Should You Exercise or Run First?

Should I exercise first or run first?

The optimal order for your workout, whether prioritizing strength training or cardiovascular exercise like running, hinges entirely on your primary fitness objectives and how you structure your overall training.

Understanding Your Fitness Goals

Before determining the ideal sequence for your exercise session, it's crucial to clarify your specific fitness goals. Are you aiming to maximize strength gains, improve endurance, enhance power, optimize fat loss, or simply improve overall health? Your answer to this question will dictate the most effective approach. Exercise science provides clear insights into how different training modalities interact and influence physiological adaptations.

The Case for Running First (Cardio Before Strength)

Placing your cardiovascular activity, such as running, before strength training can be beneficial under specific circumstances.

• Prioritizing Endurance Performance: If your main goal is to improve your running performance, endurance, or cardiovascular health, performing your run first ensures you tackle it with maximal energy and fresh muscles. This allows for higher intensity and volume, leading to greater adaptations in aerobic capacity.
• Enhanced Fat Oxidation (Potentially): Some studies suggest that performing cardio in a fasted state or before strength training may increase the reliance on fat as a fuel source during the cardio session, particularly at lower intensities. However, the long-term impact on body composition is more complex and influenced by total calorie balance.
• Effective Warm-up: A light to moderate run can serve as an excellent dynamic warm-up, elevating heart rate, increasing blood flow to muscles, and preparing the cardiovascular system for more intense activity, whether it's continued running or a subsequent strength session.
• Reduced Injury Risk for Running: For runners, completing their primary running workout while fresh can help maintain proper form and technique, potentially reducing the risk of fatigue-induced injuries compared to running on already fatigued muscles from strength training.

Potential Drawbacks:

• Compromised Strength Performance: Running, especially at moderate to high intensities or volumes, can induce significant fatigue in the muscles and nervous system. This pre-fatigue can negatively impact your strength training performance, reducing the number of repetitions you can perform, the weight you can lift, or your overall power output. This is particularly relevant for compound lifts like squats and deadlifts.
• Reduced Muscle Hypertrophy Gains: If strength and muscle growth are your primary goals, consistently pre-fatiguing your muscles with cardio may blunt your ability to achieve the necessary training volume and intensity for optimal hypertrophy.

The Case for Exercising First (Strength Before Cardio)

Conversely, performing your strength training session before your run is often recommended for those with specific objectives.

• Maximized Strength and Power Gains: Lifting weights requires significant neural drive and muscle recruitment. Performing strength training when your muscles are fresh and your central nervous system is unfatigued allows you to lift heavier weights, complete more repetitions, and maintain better form. This translates to greater gains in strength, power, and muscle mass.
• Improved Form and Reduced Injury Risk: When muscles are not pre-fatigued by cardio, you are more likely to maintain proper lifting technique throughout your strength workout. This reduces the risk of injury associated with compensatory movements or breakdown in form due to fatigue.
• Optimized for Muscle Hypertrophy: For individuals focused on building muscle mass (hypertrophy), prioritizing strength training ensures that the target muscles receive the maximum stimulus for growth without being compromised by prior cardiovascular exertion.
• Glycogen Preservation for Lifts: Your body primarily uses glycogen (stored carbohydrates) for high-intensity, anaerobic activities like weightlifting. By lifting first, you ensure ample glycogen stores are available for your strength session, which is crucial for high-intensity efforts.

Potential Drawbacks:

• Reduced Endurance Performance (Post-Strength): If your strength workout is intense and targets the same muscle groups used in running (e.g., leg day), your running performance immediately afterward may be compromised due to muscle fatigue and glycogen depletion.
• Increased Perceived Effort for Cardio: Running on fatigued muscles can feel significantly harder, potentially leading to a lower quality cardio session or reduced motivation.

The Hybrid Approach: Concurrent Training Considerations

Many fitness enthusiasts engage in both strength training and cardiovascular exercise, a practice known as concurrent training. While generally beneficial for overall health, there can be an "interference effect" where one modality might blunt the adaptations of the other, especially when performed in close proximity.

To mitigate the interference effect and optimize results from both training types:

• Separate Sessions: The most effective strategy is to separate your strength and cardio workouts by at least 6-8 hours, or ideally, perform them on different days. This allows for adequate recovery and ensures each session can be approached with maximal effort.
• Vary Intensity: If you must combine them in one session, consider the intensity. For example, a high-intensity strength session followed by low-intensity, steady-state cardio (LISS) is generally less detrimental than following it with high-intensity interval training (HIIT).
• Prioritize Your Goal: On days when both are performed, always do the workout that aligns with your primary goal first. If strength is paramount, lift first. If endurance is key, run first.
• Nutritional Support: Ensure adequate carbohydrate and protein intake before and after concurrent training sessions to replenish glycogen stores and support muscle repair and growth.

Warm-up and Cool-down: Non-Negotiables

Regardless of the order you choose, a proper warm-up and cool-down are critical components of any exercise session.

• Dynamic Warm-up (Before): Begin with 5-10 minutes of light cardio and dynamic stretches (e.g., leg swings, arm circles, walking lunges). This prepares your muscles, joints, and cardiovascular system for the upcoming demands, reducing injury risk and improving performance.
• Static Stretching/Cool-down (After): Conclude your workout with 5-10 minutes of static stretching, holding each stretch for 20-30 seconds. This helps improve flexibility, reduce muscle soreness, and aid in the recovery process.

Listening to Your Body and Individualization

There is no universal "best" answer. Your body's response to training, your energy levels, recovery capacity, and even your daily schedule will influence what works best for you.

• Experiment: Try both approaches for a few weeks and observe how your body responds. Track your performance in both strength and running.
• Assess Fatigue: Pay attention to signs of overtraining or excessive fatigue. If one approach consistently leaves you drained for the other activity, it might be time to adjust your strategy.
• Consider Time Constraints: If you have limited time, doing the most important activity first ensures you get it done, even if you have to shorten the second activity.

Conclusion: Tailoring Your Training for Optimal Results

Ultimately, the decision of whether to exercise first or run first depends on your individual fitness goals. If your priority is strength, power, or muscle gain, perform your strength training first. If your primary objective is endurance, cardiovascular health, or running performance, start with your run. For those engaged in concurrent training, strategically separating sessions or adjusting intensity can help mitigate the "interference effect." Always ensure a comprehensive warm-up and cool-down, and listen to your body to tailor your training for optimal, sustainable results.