
I recently had an athlete ask me whether they should do their aerobic work before or after their strength training. In her current phase of training, the strength development was the priority, so I had recommended she do the aerobic training following the strength work, since she planned on doing both in one training session.
Coincidently, a few days following my athlete's questions, I received a Feb 2014 article published in the American College of Sports Medicine Journal, entitled "Which Comes First? Resistance Before Aerobic Exercise or Vice Versa?". While the article is geared toward general public health, and not high-performing athletes, the article confirmed one of the general rules when it comes to programming exercise order:
"At present, there is no consensus as to which exercise sequence is more effective, sequencing recommendations are dependent on the program priorities".
In short, programming which comes first, strength training or aerobic exercise, will always depend on the priority of the current training program as it relates to your athlete's goals.
The article is 6-pages and worth a read. It's free to access, click on the link and under "Article Tools" click "PDF" to download.
http://journals.lww.com/acsm-healthfitness/Fulltext/2014/01000/Which_Comes_First__Resistance_Before_Aerobic.5.aspx
Coincidently, a few days following my athlete's questions, I received a Feb 2014 article published in the American College of Sports Medicine Journal, entitled "Which Comes First? Resistance Before Aerobic Exercise or Vice Versa?". While the article is geared toward general public health, and not high-performing athletes, the article confirmed one of the general rules when it comes to programming exercise order:
"At present, there is no consensus as to which exercise sequence is more effective, sequencing recommendations are dependent on the program priorities".
In short, programming which comes first, strength training or aerobic exercise, will always depend on the priority of the current training program as it relates to your athlete's goals.
The article is 6-pages and worth a read. It's free to access, click on the link and under "Article Tools" click "PDF" to download.
http://journals.lww.com/acsm-healthfitness/Fulltext/2014/01000/Which_Comes_First__Resistance_Before_Aerobic.5.aspx