Should you run before strength training or lift first, then run?

If your training plans include aerobic activity, or you simply want to burn fat, this prolonged, endurance-type activity should always come after strength training.

We’re all familiar with the philosophical puzzle “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Ask people, and the answers split into two camps. Some say the egg came first, because chickens hatch from eggs. Others think the chicken came first, because eggs are laid by chickens. And so the debate goes on. A similar divide often appears when you ask “which should you do first, strength training or aerobic training?” The answer depends on two main things: your priorities and the exercises/activities you plan for the session.

Whatever else is in your session, aerobic activity should always come last. Why? The order of exercise/activity types in a session should run like this: technique (technical skills), speed and/or coordination, strength, and finally endurance. The central factor in developing all the earlier abilities, and at the same time the limiting one, is the state of the central nervous system and muscle fatigue. The central nervous system gets tired when the body is overloaded with too much stress (heavy weights and/or sprints at maximum speed). A fatigued central nervous system, in turn, is extremely detrimental to learning and acquiring technical skills. For that reason, any exercises aimed at learning and refining technical skills should always come first in a session. That way the nervous system is fresh and we pick up coordination-heavy skills better.

Translator’s note: at the same time, it doesn’t tire us out too much for the speed training or strength training that follows.

Learning technical skills should be followed by speed development. This puts a serious demand on the central nervous system. In fact, speed exercises and plyometric exercises/activities, when performed optimally and correctly, shouldn’t tire the muscles themselves very much at all. High-intensity sprints, reaction exercises and plyometric exercises should be done after technique work, but before heavy strength training and before prolonged aerobic activity. In the gym, the classic lifts, if they’re planned, should always come before other activities. Classic lifts require good technique and good speed (acceleration/explosiveness).

Exercises/activities aimed purely at developing strength should follow those aimed at developing speed. Strength exercises also stress the nervous system, but besides the nervous system, the muscle component also takes a serious training load. Although we know that squatting is hard, the squat still doesn’t place the same demand on the nervous system as the speed and coordination exercises mentioned above.

And finally, aerobic activity or activity aimed at developing endurance should come last, because speed (explosiveness) or strength is very hard to develop even with minor fatigue. On top of that, when endurance-type activity comes at the end of everything else, we get a bonus from the depleted glycogen stores and force our body to tap into its fat stores as well.

We know that we need protein to build muscle, but we need carbohydrates and fats for energy. Carbohydrates are always the preferred energy source during physical activity. Strength training done before aerobic or endurance-type training needs carbohydrates. A proper strength training session depletes the muscles of carbohydrates quite thoroughly, but not completely. The body can use the carbohydrates left over from strength training in the aerobic session that follows, combined with energy from body fat stores.

Translator’s note: remember, fats burn in the flame of carbohydrates?

All in all, it’s important to know what the focus of your training is, and to load it in the right volume and at the right time. If your training plans involve developing different abilities in one session, aerobic activity or training aimed at developing endurance generally goes at the very end.

Translator’s note: a very good article, clear and highlighting an important problem. If you plan a session that develops absolutely all abilities, with activities of different character and exercises relying on different energy production mechanisms, the order would be as follows:
1. General warm-up
2. Technique training
3. Plyometric jump exercises and/or interval training
4. Classic lifts (snatch, clean)
5. Strength training
6. Aerobic training or endurance training

Original article: Run Before You Lift or Lift Before You Run?

Author: Janar Rückenberg (translation)

Source:Turg.Fitness.ee

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