Cardio or Strength? Which Should I Do First?

If you’re wondering how to order your workouts, you’re not alone. Many people include both cardio and strength training in their routine but aren’t sure where to start. The good news – for general fitness, there’s no single “right” order.¹ What really matters is staying consistent, balancing types of exercise, and prioritizing your energy for the activities that align with your goals.¹

Here are a few key points to help you decide what works best for you:

1. Start with a warm-up

• A short, dynamic warm-up is important before any workout—whether you start with cardio or strength. Examples include marching in place, leg swings, arm circles, or gentle lunges to get your muscles and heart ready.

2. Weekly balance matters most

• Aim for 150+ minutes of cardio weekly.²
• Include 2-3 days of full-body strength training.^2,3
• It’s also important to include some flexibility and functional exercises 2-3 days a week.³

3. For most people, order isn’t critical

• Doing one before the other won’t drastically change results if your goal is general health.¹

4. Consider your goals

Prioritize your energy for the type of exercise that aligns with your main goal.

• Endurance goal: Training for a 5K or building stamina for hiking — do cardio first.
• Strength goal: Increasing bench press weight or building leg strength — do strength training first.¹

5. Mind over matter

If you are exercising for general fitness, it may be more about how you think. Consider these possible approaches:

• Do your favorite first – the thing you enjoy most.¹ This can motivate you to get going, and once you’re in the groove, why not finish all aspects of your workout?
• Do what you find most difficult first – the thing that takes the most concentration and technique. You’ll have the most energy and focus at the beginning of a workout.⁴

6. Try stacking your workouts

Stacking your workouts means combining different types of exercises to create a well-rounded, time-efficient fitness program.³

• Research suggests combining cardio and strength training into one session may provide more comprehensive cardiovascular disease (CVD) benefits compared to time-matched aerobic or resistance training alone.⁵
• Research also suggests that replacing half of your aerobic workout with strength training may reduce your cardiovascular disease risks as much as aerobic-only regimens.^6,7
• Combining workouts can help reduce the barrier that we don’t have time to exercise.

The bottom line

The key is to find what works best for you!

Both cardio and strength are essential—start with a warm-up, stay consistent, and structure your workouts around your goals.

Ready to set a new healthy goal? Join one of our Howdy Health programs and take the next step.