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Question for everyone, Cardio after legs or not?

Cardio after leg workout?

  • Yes

    Votes: 47 49.0%

  • No

    Votes: 49 51.0%
  • Total voters
    96
hman85

hman85

Well-known member
What does everyone think? I have heard both sides and have done both. I feel that if I do cardio after legs I get less sore, but is that good or bad? Also give reasons!
 
I do about 15 minutes on a bike or elipticle after my leg workout. Try to keep my heart rate b/w 160 and 170. If nothing else it's kinda like stretching a little bit. Of course, I try to remember to stretch after I get done with the cardio as well.
 
If you can do cardio after legs then you need to change your routine, :)
 
GymRat5972 said:
I cant do cardio after legs. I feel like im going to puke when legs are hit good. I stretch and leave.
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i'm glad i'm not the only one.I've brought this up to other people and they never agree or anything,they just seem kind of lost.And when i watch people work their legs they seem to get through it so easy,no heavy breathing,no sitting for a minute,no kind of just standig their after sq's because of light headed blacking out phase,no funny walking......i guess most these people just aren't doing it right and their debating on doing cardio afterwards or not(sorry guys i couldn't help it):)
 
i'm with easy on this. 10 min or so of hills on the bike adds just the right amount to my legs. granted i want to toss cookies after legs but i'm wierd like that. the more sore i am after the more i wanna keep going, no matter what muscle group i work.
 
there is no link between muscle soreness and muscle growth, so just because you arent sore doesnt mean your not working your muscles. I typically do not do cardio after my leg days because i dont feel as though I can put in 100% focus into my cardio. But I do stretch, a lot.
 
I do not do cardio after legs, I am shot by the end of my workout. I get a good stretch in and call it a day.
 
I do looooow intensity cardio; as in, 110 bpm or less, as I find that if I do this for 10-15 and follow with stretching then I reduce the muscle soreness in the following days.
 
OCCFan023 said:
^^The Truth!
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Agreed...i can hardly walk at all after leg day.

one time after a leg workout I tried to walk up the stairs to the indoor track at my school and struggled sooo bad and then when i tried to jog...lets just say i stopped pretty soon
 
I never do cardio after any lifting work out, especially legs. When I finish my leg work out it takes me about an hour to get rid of the "sea leg" feeling, they are completely shot. I do however do cardio 6 times a week, I do it about 8 hours after my work out and do a 20 HIT cardio.
This is from the MaxOT program:
"To minimize cardio's negative effects on muscle growth you must schedule your aerobic sessions as distant in time from your weight training as possible. This means DO NOT do both cardio and weight training in the same workout. Don't do cardio immediately before you weight train and don't do cardio immediately after you weight train. This is how most people do it and it's completely wrong and detrimental to optimal muscle growth."
 
dawaro said:
I never do cardio after any lifting work out, especially legs. When I finish my leg work out it takes me about an hour to get rid of the "sea leg" feeling, they are completely shot. I do however do cardio 6 times a week, I do it about 8 hours after my work out and do a 20 HIT cardio.
This is from the MaxOT program:
"To minimize cardio's negative effects on muscle growth you must schedule your aerobic sessions as distant in time from your weight training as possible. This means DO NOT do both cardio and weight training in the same workout. Don't do cardio immediately before you weight train and don't do cardio immediately after you weight train. This is how most people do it and it's completely wrong and detrimental to optimal muscle growth."
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yup, yup :thumbsup:
 
I think it's a great idea to do some light biking to cool down the legs. Watch a seasoned athlete train - no madder how hard the workout, they know to cooldown properly. Facilitates a faster recovery.

Spin it the other way - If you CAN'T do cardio after legs, grow some BALLS and suck it up! If you can walk to your car, you have something left in you. It's not that you CAN'T, it's that you WON'T. I'm talking very light biking... done right, and it feels great.
 
Highlanda01602 said:
I think it's a great idea to do some light biking to cool down the legs. Watch a seasoned athlete train - no madder how hard the workout, they know to cooldown properly. Facilitates a faster recovery.

Spin it the other way - If you CAN'T do cardio after legs, grow some BALLS and suck it up! If you can walk to your car, you have something left in you. It's not that you CAN'T, it's that you WON'T. I'm talking very light biking... done right, and it feels great.
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:goodpost:
I agree totally. Maybe I should have specified that I meant like cardio, more of a cool down persay. Everyone has to be so high and mighty though. I work my legs very hard and even though it hurts i think it helps from getting sore. I also feel that sometimes the more I work the harder I can keep going, kinda like a runners high.
 
I play football and must practice after lifting 4 days a week. So i basically do not have a choice. But in the off season i continue to do some cardio after i lift.

Considering that your glycogen stores are seriously depleted after an intense lower body/leg workout, doing low to moderate level cardio for a short period of time will not only enhance the utilization of fat as the primary energy source, but also serve as an excellent cool down period for those pumped leg muscles...
 
If I didnt absolutely kill my legs, I will do cardio after, Ive noticed it eases the pain. The same seems to be true with other body parts as well, although I only recommend trying it if your an expereinced lifter.
 
BeastMode said:
there is no link between muscle soreness and muscle growth, so just because you arent sore doesnt mean your not working your muscles.
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I concur
 
Highlanda01602 said:
I think it's a great idea to do some light biking to cool down the legs. Watch a seasoned athlete train - no madder how hard the workout, they know to cooldown properly. Facilitates a faster recovery.

Spin it the other way - If you CAN'T do cardio after legs, grow some BALLS and suck it up! If you can walk to your car, you have something left in you. It's not that you CAN'T, it's that you WON'T. I'm talking very light biking... done right, and it feels great.
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I consider what your talking about to be cooling down though...cardio in my sense of things is about 45mins of intensity on treadmills, bikes and elliptic ... so in that sense, HELL NO!!! I will not do cardio after legs, what is the point? I have tried in the past, but it made no difference in my recovery, at all, jack, nada.

I do that type of cardio first thing in the morning ...
Only thing im doing after legs is yellow gold and eat a ton.
 
No way. I think your leg workout is one the best for stimulating overal mass and the for me the window of replemishing as many nutrients as I can pwo is critical.

As soon as I am done I take my pwo shake and getting the starving muscles what they need immediately.
 
First of all, I'm a huge fan of cardio - I run at least 12 miles a week; but, if you can do cardio after a leg workout, you better go right back down and do another leg workout cuz you aint done it right.

Not tryin to be a jerk, but dat's just da truth.
 
if you can muster ten minutes on the ol' tread that's fine. i can, but i run like a drunk duck for the first 3-5 minutes, though. i think it helps after the stretching to keep the ol' bloodflow going after i drink my postworkout drink.
 
Manimalia said:
if you can muster ten minutes on the ol' tread that's fine. i can, but i run like a drunk duck for the first 3-5 minutes, though. i think it helps after the stretching to keep the ol' bloodflow going after i drink my postworkout drink.
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haha oh mama mia great analogy.

I dont do any cardio after legs cause i have this huge word that says vagina on my forehead. But i think light cardio could be great after. How exactly does that have an effect on lactic acid build up? i'm not quite sure but i think that's what is goin on.
 
sreed11 said:
haha oh mama mia great analogy.

I dont do any cardio after legs cause i have this huge word that says vagina on my forehead. But i think light cardio could be great after. How exactly does that have an effect on lactic acid build up? i'm not quite sure but i think that's what is goin on.
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The increased blood flow due to cardio helps take the LA away.
 
I usually do cardio in the mornings first thing
Because after a leg workout my legs are screaming to be able to relax for a bit
 
If you can do cardio after a leg workout, then you are doing it wrong.
 
Eh, low impact cardio after a leg workout is entirely possible.

I voted no, but I've recently changed my mind.
 
OCCFan023 said:
^^The Truth!
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bullcrap. How about doing a fullbody routine that allows you to hit legs 3x a week...therefore you arent murdering your quads, hams on just one day, therefore you can do a little cardio if u hit your legs 3x a week. Just a different spin, but the same amount of volume honestly
 
Manimalia said:
if you can muster ten minutes on the ol' tread that's fine. i can, but i run like a drunk duck for the first 3-5 minutes, though. i think it helps after the stretching to keep the ol' bloodflow going after i drink my postworkout drink.
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haha - my cardio after legs is pretty much a warmdown exercise. It does help reduce DOMS.
 
just do a little bit of light walking to stretch out. Dont be stupid like joel stubbs and play basketball and tear something. i see people at the gym workout legs and then play an intense basketball game.
 
vaguely off topic, but i remember reading one time (don't know how true it is), but the stationary bike is the only cardio that will add muscle mass to your thighs.
 
i've tried both a hard cardio after a big leg day and a light cardio that i consider more of a cool down to get my legs loosened up before stretching and i think they both have something different. The hard cardio gets very hard and i feel that i cant do all that i need to do to get the best cardio workout. I like the light cardio after leg days it helps get the blood flow into my legs and i find it easier to strech them, they feel a lot better during the day that way too.
 
yeah i would go with light cardio if anything. a nice cool down and stretch does go along way.
 
dsade said:
If you can do cardio after a leg workout, then you are doing it wrong.
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I have to disagree there, i have annihilated my legs and built up to doing 20 minutes HIT post-workout. I do have to becareful to make sure that I:

-don't do anything but light cardio the day before
-take my BCAA's, Beta-alanine and creatine
-eat more carbs on legs days
-do my dc stretches

I will say though that you have to ease into this, HIT cardio really helped my lactic acid threshold so my legs recover quite fast, i also did 6 weeks of 100 reps leg presses which also made my body more tolerant to the volume and lactic acid. I normally stretch like crazy then hop on a Cybex Arc trainer and do 1 minute intervals at level 46, my heatrate hits 170-175bpm, i do this for 20 minutes so far i'm at about a 1:2 ratio of 1 minute interval to 2 minutes recovery. I find my legs get even MORE pumped after this and i have to stretch again and load of up the above supplements to help deal with the soreness.

Using a foam roller for self myofascial release has also drastically increased my recovery.
 
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