the activity of such pathways as AMPk.

Not only is muscle breakdown an additional and direct

effect of the AMPk pathway, it also suppresses anabolic pathways such as mTOR and reduces
their activity.

So if we do weight training to at least in part stimulate muscle growth, we need to try to keep
anti-growth stimuli (such as those created by cardio) from the sensitive window of several hours
that follows training. Additionally, cardio burns many of the nutrients that would normally be
used to recover the post-training muscles. Availability of nutrients (especially glucose and
glycogen) can reduce the potential growth signaling as well, which is another consideration that
doesn’t favor cardio post-training.

On the other hand, cardio pre-training can deplete the same glucose and glycogen levels that turn
down adaptation directly. And in addition, being tired from cardio during your weight training
can significantly reduce your performance in the session and thus limit the degree of the
overloading stimulus you’re trying to provide.

Lastly, cardio adaptations (conversion of muscle fibers to act more slow twitch, for example)
directly counteract adaptations to produce high power levels (strength AND speed), which
includes different nervous system adaptations as well. Doing cardio if your sport has an
important power component can be a very tricky enterprise. We’ll get to some implications of
these basic facts in the next point.

2.) General Timing Recommendations

a.) If you’re an athlete with a high power component and low endurance component to your sport
(weightlifting or gymnastics, for example), consider not doing cardio at all. The fiber transitions
and neural changes are likely to impact your performance in a significantly net-negative way. If
you’re in these sports
sports and trying to lose weight or
or fat, altering your training volume
volume and diet is
likely the best approach as opposed to including cardio.

b.) If you have the choice or can make the arrangement,

arrangement, when you do actually do cardio, try to to
finish it 3 hours or longer before starting your weight training and not start it until 6 hours or
later after your weight training. Of course, the further apart training a nd cardio can be, the better,
and doing your best to spread them apart is a good idea even if you can’t quite hit the 3 and
6-hour marks. In the time that separates weights and cardio, eating plenty of protein and
especially carbs and staying away from physical exertion as much as you can will lead to higher
glycogen repletion, recovery, and better results for your lifting.

c.) If you’re training for strength, and you have to combine lifting and cardio into the same
session, doing your cardio after your lifting is likely a good idea. This is because doing cardio
before training can sap you of so much
much energy that your lifting performance
performance will suffer too much
much
and you won’t be able to create the high forces needed to best adapt and get stronger.

d.) If you’re training for hypertrophy, you should consider doing your cardio before your lifting
for two main reasons. First, you want to limit interference with the post-lifting anabolic pathways
and second, you can probably still put in the volume needed to grow even if you’re a bit tired from
cardio, since intensity is not nearly as much a factor with hypertrophy training as it is with
strength training.