Movement and Exercise

Should You Do Cardio Before or After Weights?

Q: Is it better to do cardio before or after weights to lose belly fat?

If your goal is to lose belly fat , aim to combine cardio and weight exercises. Doing both cardio and weights is best for maintaining weight loss. But the research is mixed on whether doing cardio or weights first is better for sustained weight loss. So, when it comes to sequencing your exercises, go with what feels best for you.

Written by Elizabeth Millard, CPT, RYT | Reviewed by Farzon A. Nahvi, MD

Updated on March 20, 2026

Featuring Holly RilingerReviewed by Mandy Armitage, MD | November 6, 2025

Key takeaways:

Including strength training and cardio in the same exercise session can make your workouts more efficient. Start with whichever type of exercise is most important for your fitness goals.
Doing weight training before cardio may help you increase muscle strength.
If you want to improve endurance, doing cardio before weights is the better approach.

Featuring Holly RilingerReviewed by Mandy Armitage, MD | November 6, 2025

If, like most people, you don’t have hours to hang out at the gym, you probably want to make your workouts as efficient as possible. Even if you only have 30 minutes, using your time wisely can help you get results, especially with a routine focused on gradual progress.

Maximizing your time often means combining cardiovascular exercise and strength training in the same session. But should you do cardio before or after weights? There are some important factors that can help you decide.

Is it better to do cardio before or after weights?

There’s no definitive answer to whether you should do cardio before or after weights. It depends mainly on your fitness goals.

Here are a few expert tips to help you decide based on your priorities:

Increase your endurance: Do cardio before weights.
Build muscle strength: Do weights before cardio.
Improve your overall fitness: You can do either cardio or weights first.

When it comes to losing weight, the research on exercise order is mixed. But recent research favors doing strength training before cardio.

One small study found doing weights before cardio burned more fat. In another small study, researchers found that doing strength training first increased heart rate more than doing cardio first (in the same workout). Because a faster heart rate is associated with higher energy needs, it’s possible that starting your workouts with strength training could help you burn more calories.

But some research suggests that cardio works better for weight loss than strength training. And a combination of the two is best for maintaining weight loss.

Exercise order is less important if your goal is more general, like staying active or improving your overall health. You can try swapping out doing cardio and weights first to find out what order you prefer. That might mean starting with the exercise you enjoy the least to get it out of the way.

Whichever order you choose, try to start with a short, low-intensity cardio warm-up. A 5- to 10-minute warm-up with dynamic moves will prepare your muscles for exercise. That might mean walking on a treadmill, using an elliptical at a low intensity, or taking a slow ride on a stationary bike.

What are the benefits of doing cardio before weight lifting?

Doing cardio exercise before lifting weights can:

Improve endurance
Help prevent injuries

What are the benefits of doing cardio after weight lifting?

Doing weight training before cardio is the optimal approach for building strength, especially in lower-body muscles.

“The primary fuel source for weight lifting is stored sugar in the muscles, called glycogen,” King said. “You will have your best performance if you do [weight lifting] when you have the most fuel available. If you do cardio first, you will deplete some of that glycogen, decreasing your energy. And that will make weight lifting more challenging.”

Cardio relies on a mix of glycogen and fat for fuel, he added. You burn glycogen when you lift weights, so if you do cardio afterward, your body has to burn more fat for fuel.

What are the benefits of separating cardio and weight lifting?

One study found that doing cardio and strength training in the same workout didn’t impair muscle growth or strength. So the benefits of separating cardio and weight lifting depends on your goals.

You might want to consider separate sessions if:

You have sports-specific training goals. The same study found that a combined workout may lessen explosive muscle strength. This might not be ideal if your sport involves explosive movements, such as Olympic lifting, basketball, or football.
You practice endurance sports. Research suggests that doing strength training before cardio may hinder endurance performance in activities like long-distance running.
You have schedule limitations. There’s only so much time in the day. Break up your cardio and strength sessions if it works better for your schedule and helps you stick to a workout routine.

How often should you do weight lifting and cardio?

Adults should aim to do 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous cardio each week. Brisk walking or riding your bike counts as moderate cardio. Running or cycling during a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) class is vigorous.

Adults should also do total-body strength training at least 2 days a week. These workouts should target all the major muscle groups.

You can combine these any way you want to. And keep in mind these are the minimum recommendations. Doing more than the minimum may enhance results, like building muscle and improving fitness.

How do you combine strength training and cardio in one workout?

Several types of workouts combine strength training and cardio in one routine. Many people like this because they find it’s more efficient.

Two common types are HIIT and circuit training. They’re very similar and involve doing a mix of cardio and strength exercises back to back with little rest in between.

A sample workout might include:

These are body-weight exercises. But you can also do a circuit or HIIT workout with weights. There are many ways to organize this type of workout. For example, you might do each exercise for 30 seconds, take a 10-second rest, then go to the next exercise. Typically you do one set of each exercise then repeat the sequence a few times.

The result is that you build muscle and strength, and your heart rate stays elevated throughout the workout to improve cardio fitness and burn calories at the same time.

How to build a cardio and strength-training routine

You don’t have to incorporate cardio and weights into the same session. But if you do, these nine tips from physical therapist and functional movement coach Chad Walding, DPT, can help.

1. Start with body-weight exercises or light weights

Many people are overly ambitious when they start a new weight-lifting routine. But beginners should avoid doing too much too soon as it could lead to muscle strain or joint injury, Walding told GoodRx Health.

Use light weights or try body-weight exercises to help you get started with strength training.

2. Learn proper weight-lifting form

Choose a few types of lifts for each session and learn to do them well. That’s more important than adding a range of strength-training moves you don’t know how to do.

3. Consider hiring a personal trainer

Working with a personal trainer is helpful if you’re unfamiliar with weight lifting or don’t know where to start. With a trainer, you can learn proper form and get help creating a program that includes cardio and strength training.

4. Progress very gradually

Walding suggests increasing your effort by about 2% with each new workout. That might mean doing one more rep than you did the last time, for example.

5. Choose free weights rather than machines

Although strength-training machines can be useful, Walding said that free weights or resistance bands tend to improve movement quality more quickly.

6. Pick cardio you love

Hate the treadmill? Don’t use it. Love dancing? Crank up the tunes and bust a move.

Walding said you’re much more likely to stick with a cardio routine if it’s fun and you enjoy it. Keep playing around with different options until you find what fits best for you.

7. Switch it up

Try strength training first and cardio second for a month, then switch the next month. It takes time to notice how your body adjusts to a new routine. After 2 months, you’ll likely know which order you prefer.

8. Keep a training log

In addition to recording your workouts, jot down other variables in your training log, Walding suggests. These variables might include overall energy during the day, sleep quality, stress level, and unwanted food cravings. All of these can be affected by the quality of your workout.

9. Always build in rest and recovery

Be sure to take breaks during your workout and to take recovery days. And, if needed, split your cardio and strength training into different days, Walding said.

You may like lifting weights in the gym but going outside for trail running, for instance. If you can’t fit those activities into the same day, it’s better to create a routine that allows you to do one or the other. In general, try to do strength training 2 or 3 times per week and cardio 3 or 4 times per week, Walding said.

Frequently asked questions

When you do cardio or aerobic exercise, you use large muscle groups throughout your body.

The word aerobic means “with oxygen.” Your muscles need oxygen when you exercise. You breathe harder as your lungs take in more oxygen. And your heart pumps faster to get that oxygen to your muscles. That oxygen serves as fuel for your muscles.

If your goal is to lose belly fat, aim to combine cardio and weight exercises. Doing both cardio and weights is best for maintaining weight loss. But the research is mixed on whether doing cardio or weights first is better for sustained weight loss. So, when it comes to sequencing your exercises, go with what feels best for you.

Doing 20 minutes of cardio after weights will certainly support your overall health. In fact, just 10 minutes of cardio per day is enough to raise your heart rate and benefit your health. Exactly how much cardio is “enough” for you will depend on your fitness and health goals. Aim to get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio or 75 minutes of vigorous cardio per week. Consistently staying physically active is more important than the order of your workout sessions.

The bottom line

There’s no hard-and-fast rule about whether you should do cardio before or after weights. It’s helpful to try both approaches and see which works better for you. The key is to include both cardio and strength training in whatever weekly exercise routine you put together.

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Written by:

Elizabeth Millard, CPT, RYT

Elizabeth Millard, CPT, RYT, is a Minnesota-based freelance health writer with 25 years of experience. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, apps, and patient education materials.

Edited by:

Alex Eastman, PhD, RN

Alex Eastman, PhD, RN, is a California-based registered nurse and staff medical editor at GoodRx, where he focuses on clinical updates and Latino health.

Reviewed by:

Farzon A. Nahvi, MD

Farzon Nahvi, MD, is an emergency medicine physician and author of “Code Gray: Death, Life, and Uncertainty in the ER.” He works at Concord Hospital in Concord, New Hampshire, and teaches at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.

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References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Adult activity: An overview.

Conceição, M., et al. (2014). Strength training prior to endurance exercise: Impact on the neuromuscular system, endurance performance and cardiorespiratory responses. Journal of Human Kinetics.

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