In this video
If you only have 45 minutes and want both strength training and cardio, which comes first? Magesh, a certified fitness trainer and full-time coach at Hobby Fit Club, explains the body's three fuel sources: ATP (rocket fuel), glycogen (race car fuel) and fat (a diesel tank). They work like a dial, not a switch, depending on how hard you work. Lifting first drains the fast fuels efficiently and hands off to fat for steady cardio, which is why he does strength first. But the best workout is the one you will keep coming back to. He ends with a 45-minute plan based on the National Academy of Sports Medicine's Optimum Performance Training model.
Key takeaways
- Your body has three fuel sources. ATP for short, explosive effort; glycogen for something like a 1-mile run or a set of squats; and fat, a slow-burning supply you almost never run out of.
- The fuels work like a dial, not a switch. All three contribute all the time. Intensity decides which one does most of the work.
- Rest between sets is not wasted time. That's when ATP replenishes.
- Lift first, then do cardio. By about the 30-minute mark the fast fuels are mostly used up and fat carries the load, which suits steady cardio.
- Doing it in any order beats not doing it. If you enjoy cardio first, do that. Pick what makes you come back.
- The 45-minute plan: warm-up (5–7 minutes), core, balance and mobility, power training, strength training, cardio, then a cool-down with 20–30 second stretches.
Chapters
Frequently asked
Should I do cardio or strength training first?
Magesh recommends strength first. Lifting uses ATP and glycogen, and by about 30 minutes in, fat carries most of the load, which suits steady-state cardio. But doing them in the order you enjoy is far better than skipping the workout.
What does a 45-minute workout with both look like?
A 5–7 minute warm-up; core, balance and mobility; power training such as wall push-offs, pogo hops and squat jumps; strength training such as deadlifts, goblet squats and presses; cardio such as mountain climbers or a treadmill run; and a cool-down with stretches held 20–30 seconds.
Transcript
0:00 Hello explorers. Strength training versus cardio: what should you do first? Let's say you are in a time crunch and you've only got 45 minutes, but you want to do both. Do you get on a treadmill first and start running, or do you start lifting weights first?
0:12 Welcome, if you're new to this channel. My name is Magesh. I'm a certified fitness trainer and a full-time coach at Hobby Fit Club. In this video, I'm going to show you how I create a 45-minute workout based on science, and here is the plan. First, we look at the three fuel sources that your body generally runs on. Number two, we'll find out how strength training uses these fuel sources. Number three, we'll find out how cardio uses these three fuel sources, then the best order to combine both. And finally, we'll design the full science-backed 45-minute workout, from warm-up all the way to the cool-down.
0:44 A quick biology detour, but I promise to keep it simple. Your body has three sources of fuel. First is adenosine triphosphate, also known as ATP. You could imagine this ATP like rocket fuel. It's explosive, but it burns out really fast. Your muscles only have this in store for about 10 to 15 seconds of all-out effort before it needs a moment to recharge. Second is the glycogen store. You can think of it like high-octane race car fuel. It can go much longer than the rocket fuel, fueling something like a 1-mile run or a set of squats. And number three is fat. Think of it like a diesel tank. It's slow burning, but you're carrying a huge tank of it. Even if you are lean, you have an almost endless supply of it.
1:20 Here's the part that most people get wrong. Your body is not switching between these fuels like a light switch. All three are contributing at the same time, all the time. What changes is which one is doing most of the work, and that highly depends on the intensity of the effort. So, if you're doing something hard in a very short amount of time, you'll be leaning heavily on the rocket fuel and the race car fuel, which are ATP and glycogen. And if you're doing something long and easy, you'll be leaning heavily on the diesel engine side, which is fat, and that takes over most of the load at that time. Okay, so these three fuel sources act like a dial, not a switch. Keep that in mind, because that's going to play the key role in understanding why the order matters: strength first or cardio first.
2:01 Now, let's look at what happens when you start lifting weights. First off, congratulations. Lifting weights is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your body. When you start lifting weights, your muscles reach for ATP first, the rocket fuel, which covers the first few hard repetitions. And then glycogen, the race car fuel, carries you through the rest of the repetitions, maybe until the eighth or 12th repetition. Then, you rest. The rest between sets is not actually wasted time. This is when the ATP replenishes. Your body needs this time. This is why we ask you to take a break between sets. Set one, break. Set two, break. Set three, and you're done. Over a 15-minute strength training block, you are mostly drawing from your ATP and glycogen stores, hitting your lower body, upper body, and doing some compound lifts.
2:47 As the strength training block continues, your glycogen store starts to run low, and the diesel engine, which is fat, starts to kick in. This would be a great time to start adding some core and balance work as well. And if your program permits, you can also do some plyometric exercises here. By the time you hit the 30-minute mark in your workout, your rocket fuel and race car fuel are pretty much gone, fat is carrying most of the load, and you're primed for steady-state cardio. And that's my case for lifting weights first: it drains your fast fuel efficiently and hands off cleanly to the cardio.
3:19 I believe at this point we have clearly established that doing strength first and cardio last is the best way to go. But this is your workout. If you enjoy doing cardio first and strength last, that is way better than doing nothing and sitting on the couch watching TV. So, do whatever you enjoy and whatever makes you come back to the workout.
3:35 With all that in context, let's design our 45-minute science-backed workout. We're going to start with warm-ups. About 5 to 7 minutes of warm-ups are going to help you avoid injuries. Do not skip this part. We're going to be doing jumping jacks and cat-cow. I have a 7-minute warm-up video you can follow along with. The link is in the description if you want it.
3:53 Next, we have core, balance and mobility. These are going to be your hollow holds, single-leg step-offs and 90/90 hip switches. Next is power training: your wall push-offs, pogo hops and squat jumps. These are going to help you preserve and improve your fast-twitch muscle fibers. Okay, next is strength training, the most important section. Start light and work towards your working weight. Deadlifts, goblet squats, shoulder presses and floor presses are all great picks here.
4:18 Next is the cardio section. We finally reach the cardio section. Here you could do mountain climbers, skater jumps or high-knee runs, or you could also get on the treadmill and run, if that's what you would like to do.
4:28 And finally, a few minutes of cool-down. This is going to help your muscles restore their length-tension balance, so don't skip this step. I would say you can do the figure-four stretch, quad stretch, butterfly stretch and child's pose. Those are all great options. And make sure you hold each pose for about 20 to 30 seconds for the best results.
4:47 And that, my fellow explorers, is what I would call a perfect science-backed 45-minute workout. It's built on the National Academy of Sports Medicine's Optimum Performance Training protocol, which is what we closely follow within Hobby Fit Club. We run these classes over Zoom with real coaches. We see how you perform and we correct your form live. And if you'd like to try one of my classes, you can visit hobbyfitclub.com/trial. You get 7 days to try my classes. All right, I will see you in class. Bye.
Source: YouTube auto-captions, edited for readability (filler words removed, names corrected).
