Toning and Cardio

[Dia Minha]

My workout for next week includes cardio and toning on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Which should I do first?

Dia

[natickgirl]

I am certainly not a fitness expert, but I prefer to do cardio first. That way my muscles are nice & warm, but not fatigued, and ready for toning. The whole point of toning is to work the muscles just to the point of fatigue. You're basically creating tiny tears in the muscle which then repairs itself by building more muscle. (That's why you shouldn't do toning / strength training two days in a row. Your muscles need time to repair themselves.)

A bit of advice...start slowly with the toning. If you do too much too fast you'll really feel it! I just re-started my toning/sculpting routine after taking the summer off. Thought I could just pick up where I left off. WRONG. Boy am I stiff and sore. The cardio didn't stiffen me at all.

Hope that helps. Good luck & keep up the hard work!

[5ft Diva]

If I remember right, Finnican suggested doing toning then cardio because the way the calories are burned. I can't remember the thread but it's on here.

[Dia Minha]

Thanks Natick. I'm taking it slow. Even taking it slow I could hardle walk for about 4 days after my first workout. I feel great now. I feel tighter and stronger and it has only been two weeks.

Diva, I thought I had read something. I'll try and look it up.

I was thinking I needed to start with toning so that I could do all of my reps. If I do cardio frist I won't have the strength to finish my sets. I do just cardio of Tuesdays and Thursdays so I can have a longer harder cardio workout then.

Dia

[Dia Minha]

I found it. Here it is. I guess I should have just looked harder.

Originally Posted by finnican

Hey 5th Diva,

That is a good guestion. Hopefully I can write it down in an understandable way.

First of all we all have 'immediate' energy in our muscles (depending on the nutrition we have taken) and when we exercise we use it (it lasts approximately 20 minutes) and after that we start to burn stored fat.

If both anaerobic exercise (strength) and aerobic exercise (endurance) are combined during the same time anaerobic should be done first and aerobic last. Because strength exercise uses fast twitch muscle fibers which will last a shorter time than endurance exercise which uses slow twitch muscle fibers.

So, you can do both on the same day but if you want to have both of them at the same time, you should first do lifting and and then running (or any other aerobic exercise). In that way you will ensure that you will have enough energy for the whole exercise and you will get the best results.

[natickgirl]

Guess I was wrong. Thanks for the thread. I'll try toning 1st & see how it goes.

[5ft Diva]

It probably doesn't matter in the long run, just as long as you're doing something but this sounds like the ideal method. Good luck to you two!

[finnican]

Thanks for all of you for your helpful answers.

I just have one thing to add...

When you tone (strength exercise) your muscles grow and expand, which means that you might feel your body get "thicker" and that is a good thing.

When you do 'aerobic exercise' you burn the stored fat with the muscle mass you already have. And as much muscle you have that much fat you will burn.

So it is sort of like a roller coaster, you gain muscle mass thru strength exercise which makes you gain weight (possibly) and when you do cardio exercise your weight goes down.

Both are as important for you to get a body that look good and feel good.

I hope I was clear enough,

Finnican

[Dia Minha]

Thanks Finnican. That just assures me that I am doing what I need, to get what I want.

I have felt that "thickening" and it was kind of scary. Thanks for letting me know. I won't be scared any more.

Dia