Can You Do Cardio After Leg Day? Here’s What Science Says About FitTok’s Most Recent Debate

The reality is, actually, far much less climactic: Doing cardio after leg day is A-OK, nevertheless it’s not a magic bullet to any main advantages—and it could include some minor dangers, relying in your objectives. So overlook no matter you heard on TikTok. We’re breaking down the precise science beneath.

Are you able to do cardio after leg day?

For those who usually comply with up a lower-body power exercise with a light-weight jog, stair climbing, or treadmill strut, the excellent news is that you just’re doing nothing flawed.

You’ll be able to completely do cardio after leg day, says Dan Churchill, MS, coach and efficiency chef with Centr. “I’d advocate retaining the depth on the low to average aspect and never purpose to do an intense cardio session proper after a brutal leg session, however as a result of your muscle groups will likely be warmed up by this level, it’s protected and might even be useful to work in cardio after power.”

Rumors that cardio will damage your muscle beneficial properties or produce other adversarial results don’t maintain up. To be honest, although, the concept doing cardio after power is dangerous didn’t come out of nowhere. “We beforehand assumed {that a} bout of cardio train that instantly adopted a power coaching exercise would impair the mTOR signaling pathway (the metabolic pathway stimulated by power coaching that stimulates muscle development),” explains Luke Carlson, MS, CEP, licensed train physiologist and CEO and founding father of Uncover Power. “Nonetheless, now we have little or no analysis to substantiate this.”

For instance, a 2022 analysis assessment¹ printed in Sports activities Drugs discovered that combining cardio and power coaching doesn’t compromise muscle hypertrophy or maximal power improvement, even when included in the identical session. (The researchers did discover that doing each in the identical exercise barely affected explosive power beneficial properties, which can be necessary to notice in the event you’re coaching for an influence sport or constructing a associated talent.)

TL;DR: in case your objective with a leg-day exercise is to maximise muscle power or enhance muscle measurement, it’s positive to do cardio afterward, Carlson says.

Advantages of doing cardio after leg day

Cardio train, typically, comes with plenty of implausible well being perks that make it important to incorporate in your exercise routine, even in the event you’re primarily centered on power work.

“All cardio has large and ranging advantages in your efficiency and restoration,” Churchill says. “For those who can goal two to 3 hours of zone 2 (i.e., moderate-intensity) cardio every week, after which some efforts at excessive depth, it’s a great mixture to construct your velocity, endurance, and enhance longevity well being.” Reasonable-intensity cardio coaching can enhance coronary heart well being², enhance your psychological well being³ and mind perform⁴, enhance total high quality of life⁵, and cut back whole early mortality danger⁶—and that is simply scratching the floor of cardio’s well being advantages.

Nonetheless, doing cardio after leg day, particularly, doesn’t dramatically change the way it impacts your physique. “Past the customary cardiorespiratory variations and persistent illness safety advantages, there may be most likely no advantage of doing cardio instantly after a leg power exercise,” Carlson says.

Some folks say that doing gentle cardio after power work may also help with restoration or cut back delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS), however for now, we simply don’t have proof to again up that declare. “Cardio doesn’t impression restoration, positively or negatively, following an intense power exercise,” Carlson says.

Even when post-strength cardio doesn’t have a marked impact on soreness or restoration, the American Faculty of Sports activities Drugs (ACSM) nonetheless recommends performing a minimum of a couple of minutes of low-intensity cardio train after a exercise as a method to settle down. This helps you progressively lower your coronary heart price and blood strain and flow into mobile waste merchandise that accumulate in muscle groups throughout train, in accordance with the ACSM. So, in the event you’re doing light cardio to wind down from an intense lifting session, there may be some profit there.

Potential dangers of doing cardio after leg day

We repeat: Typically, doing cardio after a leg power exercise is not any drawback, however there are some potential downsides to find out about.

For one, in case your muscle groups are fairly fatigued after a lower-body lifting session, tacking on a high-intensity cardio exercise like a dash exercise or aggressive indoor biking class might put you susceptible to damage. “If we practice the legs laborious after which transition right into a run, we is perhaps at a higher susceptibility to damage in the course of the run,” Carlson says.

One other draw back of doing cardio after leg day is that it might hinder your cardio efficiency. For those who’re hopping on a tread as a post-workout cooldown or simply to fulfill your cardio quota, that is perhaps positive—but when your essential health objective is cardio-focused, prioritizing power above cardio might have adverse repercussions.

“For instance, in the event you’re a distance runner coaching for an upcoming half marathon, performing a strength-training exercise instantly earlier than your key operating exercise will compromise your capacity to execute that run,” Carlson says.

A 2016 examine⁷ within the Journal of Power and Conditioning Analysis reveals that separating your exercises by a minimum of six hours diminishes the potential interference results, however doing them on separate days is even higher. “Thus, in case your objective is to arrange for an endurance occasion, both schedule the cardio earlier than the power exercise or on a non-strength coaching day,” Carlson says.

There’s one exception: For those who’re coaching for a contest that requires each power and cardio, akin to Hyrox or an impediment race, doing cardio post-strength is a good way to simulate operating underneath fatigued legs, Churchill says. “However it is very important be aware that overdoing this could result in damage,” he provides. “I’d solely advocate doing this if you’re a sophisticated runner. For those who’re simply beginning, I’d permit time for relaxation in between.”

The most effective sort of cardio to do after leg day

As Churchill talked about above, a very powerful factor to think about is your degree of exertion. It doesn’t matter as a lot whether or not you’re hopping on the elliptical, strolling or operating on a tread, biking, or stair climbing nevertheless it’s greatest to maintain post-leg-day cardio to a low or average depth to cut back any danger of damage.

That entails working at an effort degree of six (or much less) out of 10, the place zero is the extent of effort required to sit down and 10 is giving it your maximal effort, in accordance with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC). You may as well use the “speak check” to gauge your cardio train depth: For those who can speak throughout your exercise however not sing, which means you’re hovering round average depth. For those who can’t say various phrases with out pausing for a breath, you’re working at a vigorous depth.

How one can get better after leg day

It is perhaps a bummer to listen to that some post-leg day cardio doesn’t assist cut back your DOMS. If it feels good to you to get blood pumping after you’ve torched your legs, that’s purpose sufficient to maintain doing it—simply think about these different restoration ideas to assist facilitate muscle development and restore.

“The largest influences on restoration following intense power coaching are enough protein and enough sleep,” Carlson says. Day by day protein consumption between 1.2 to 2 grams per kilogram of physique weight is mostly sufficient to help post-workout restoration, in accordance with a joint assertion⁸ from the ACSM, American Academy of Diet and Dietetics, and Dietitians of Canada. As for sleep, the ACSM recommends getting a minimum of eight hours an evening for optimum restoration. Sure folks might have much more sleep⁹ or protein, relying on their physique, way of life, and objectives.

Different research-backed restoration strategies¹⁰ embody therapeutic massage, compression clothes, distinction water remedy, cryotherapy, and lively restoration (i.e., going for a stroll). “I’m a giant believer in distinction remedy, and getting in compression boots,” Churchill provides. Therapeutic massage appears to be the best at decreasing DOMS and perceived fatigue, and you may get the perks by yourself with therapeutic massage instruments like a foam curler or lacrosse ball.

When you’ve got wildly, terribly sore muscle groups to the purpose the place you may’t stroll for days, it could be an indication you’re doing an excessive amount of too quick. “In case your objective is to mitigate DOMS, you can too keep away from novelty and selection within the exercise since soreness is basically brought on by doing one thing new,” Carlson says.

Actually, that’s one other perk of doing cardio work proper after your leg exercise: If you’ll be sore within the days following a difficult leg exercise, it is perhaps smart to get your cardio completed when you can nonetheless stroll.