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IT’s an evergreen and eternal question that many people and even advanced trainees often ponder.

Should I do my cardio first, he’ll think. That extra weight on my tummy and the man boobs, for one . . .

. . .Or, should I do my strength training first? Wouldn’t climbing hills mean I’ll be too tired to focus on STRENGTH?

But if I do the latter first, wouldn’t my cardio suffer?

And so forth.

Sound familiar?

Well, I thought so, and what usually ends up happening is a lot of folks who need cardio more end up doing strength training first.

But whats the best way?

What is the most productive way?

Well, I’m here to tell you there is NONE (in terms of which choice is better). All depends on your physical condition and your choices. Goals, I should say.

What do I mean?

Well, back in the day I’d do my cardio (hill climbs, which DO build muscle, but are still primarily cardio) FIRST.

And often times, that’s all I’d do. I might throw in some token pushups and pull-ups in there afterwards, or maybe before, but that was IT.

And I did great.

As I wrote about a couple of emails ago, huh.

But, I soon found out that I was neglecting my upper body strength a lot.

It didn’t seem that way of course, given that regular hill climbing DOES build the shoulders and upper back, but when I got back at pull-ups, for one, I was amazed to note that I couldn’t even do half the reps I did before.

And pushups . . . I was amazed at just how tough 10 pushups felt!

And so, after I got the waist whittling and fat levels down, I switched up.

Did a switcherooney.

And . . . I did my pull-ups FIRST. Really focused on them, and soon I was adding in dips and handstand pushups.

And soon, the hill climbs reduced to ONE climb AFTERWARDS.

And then perhaps a few sprints on occasion to really fry the entire body.

This afternoon, that is just what I did.

I did pull-ups and fingertip pushups FIRST, and while they didn’t feel harder, they felt different, and believe me, getting to 50 pull-ups was nowhere as easy as it once was.

For today, that is, and neither were the rope jumps I did later!

2000 normally FLIES past, but while the actual time taken today was probably a couple of minutes longer than normal, it felt different.

Completely different!

And so, I’m here to tell you this (again).

One, no best way.

Two, do what works for YOU. If you’re absolutely unable to run or do sprints after strength training, well, do them first.

Or vice versa.

But for the most part, I think you’ll find once you get your weight down, it’s better to do your pushups and pull-ups FIRST, and the cardio or sprinting LATER.

For the most part, that is, as it really allows you to get into the higher numbers.

But that also means that your climb numbers, or perhaps sprint numbers will be lower.

And that’s fine.

The goal isn’t to fry ourselves to the point of no-return. That’s fine sometimes, but for the most part, it’s about steady training AND improvement.

The last being key, and as you see your numbers on everything improve with this sort of a routine, you’ll understand why I say what I am now!

And that’s that for now. Back soon!

Best,

Rahul Mookerjee

PS – If you aren’t getting some of our emails regularly (some aren’t), let me know and I’ll have it looked at. ‘Twas a glitch with the system the other day and we’re currently testing etc.

PS #2 – Go HERE to pick up the best damned fitness system ever. Plenty more tips in there, more than most fitness fanatics would need or use in their lifetime!!