For decades, they have each been seen as cornerstones of fitness—but the real magic happens when you combine cardio and strength training. Together, they create a synergy that leads to superior fitness adaptations, and better overall health.
The benefits of combining cardio and strength training
A recent study explored various combinations of moderate-intensity and vigorous cardio with strength training, revealing the optimal workout formula for longevity. The findings? Incorporating just 1 moderate-intensity aerobic session, 150 minutes of vigorous cardio, and at least 2 strength training sessions per week significantly reduces mortality risk and promotes a longer, healthier life.
If you’re pressed for time, you can still reap the rewards of combining cardio and strength training with these other powerful benefits:
Enhanced fat loss
While HIIT is an excellent way to burn calories, pairing it with even 1 strength training session each week can take your fat loss to the next level. Strength training builds muscle, which boosts your resting metabolism, helping you burn more calories throughout the day. It also enhances your anaerobic endurance, enabling you to tackle more intense HIIT sessions. Together, strength and cardio amplify calorie burn and improve body composition. Research even links combined workouts to significantly lower rates of obesity.
Improved cardiovascular health
Strength training complements the impact that cardio exercise has on your heart and circulation. Studies reveal that combining strength and cardio training significantly improves blood sugar control, blood pressure, inflammation, and cardiorespiratory fitness. Together, they help prevent chronic conditions like cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
Accelerated muscle growth
Contrary to popular belief, cardio can enhance muscle growth when combined with strength training. Research shows that a mixed workout program increases anabolic hormones, improves insulin sensitivity, and stimulates muscle protein synthesis. These factors create the ideal environment for muscle hypertrophy—the process where muscle fibers grow in size in response to resistance training.
Increased workout variety and adherence
Combining cardio with strength training adds variety to your routine, keeping workouts engaging and preventing burnout. This variety helps you stick with your fitness regimen for the long term, maximizing results.
How to combine cardio and strength training for different fitness goals
There are many ways to build a well-rounded exercise program—you can combine cardio and strength training in the same session, schedule them back-to-back on the same day, or alternate between them on different days. Each approach aligns with specific fitness goals, allowing you to tailor your program to what works best for you.
1. Circuit training: cardio and strength training in the same session
Circuit training alternates between cardio and strength exercises in a single session, targeting all major muscle groups. A combination of high-speed movement and resistance exercise results in accelerated fat loss and muscle growth. It’s perfect for those focused on body composition and fat loss.
This sample workout can be intense, so it’s essential to pace yourself, especially during your initial sessions. Beginners are advised to focus on cardio before incorporating strength exercises to reduce the risk of injuries and prevent burnout.
Example circuit (30 minutes):
- Warm-up: 5 minutes of light cardio
- Exercises (45 seconds each):
- Squats (strength)
- High knees (cardio)
- Plank (strength)
- Jumping jacks (cardio)
- Bench presses (strength)
- Mountain climbers (cardio)
- Burpees (cardio+strength)
- Cooldown: 5 minutes of stretching
2. Strength training followed by cardio
You can structure your workout into 2 parts: strength training and cardio. Combining cardio and strength in the same session is both convenient and time-efficient, allowing you to burn calories and build endurance effectively.
It’s generally recommended to finish your weight training session with 5-10 minutes of cardio sprints. Since strength training is more physically demanding, starting with it ensures you have the energy to perform each exercise with proper form and intensity.
If your primary goal is weight loss or muscle building, cardio is best done after strength training. A recent review found that this order boosts gains in lower-body dynamic strength. It’s also a great approach for those who find cardio training monotonous—a few short sprints at the end of your workout can deliver impressive fitness benefits.
However, if you’re a beginner or don’t have specific goals, research suggests that the order of cardio and strength doesn’t significantly impact overall fitness results, so you can structure your sessions based on personal preference.
REHIT: The most efficient cardio workout
REHIT is a form of HIIT that’s scientifically proven to deliver superior health and fitness benefits in 90% less time compared to regular cardio. A full REHIT workout on CAROL Bike can be done in as little as 5-minutes, making it easy to fit in a cardio workout alongside your strength goals.
Discover more about REHIT’s revolutionary time-efficient approach here.

CAROL Bike is proven to deliver superior health and fitness benefits compared to regular cardio—in 90% less time.
3. Cardio followed by strength training
If your goal is to maximize cardiovascular benefits or improve endurance, prioritize cardio training at the start of your workout. This approach ensures that you channel the majority of your energy into cardio, effectively challenging your cardiovascular system, while also training your muscles to resist fatigue during the subsequent strength training. This method is particularly beneficial for athletes preparing for endurance events like century rides or triathlons.
Interestingly, a 2021 study found that pairing a 20-minute HIIT cycling session with upper-body resistance exercise led to increased muscle growth, highlighting the potential of this training sequence.
If you choose to start with cardio, it’s important to keep the session at low-to-medium intensity. This prevents overexertion and reduces the risk of injury during the strength training portion of your workout.
4. Combine cardio and strength training on the same day
Some experts recommend separating cardio and strength training into 2 sessions to prevent interference with muscle glycogen stores, ensuring optimal performance in both workouts.
If your goal is to improve endurance and power output, you can do both sessions on the same day—provided that your cardiovascular exercise is kept to low-to-medium intensity and there are at least 6 hours between workouts. For HIIT workouts, however, a full day of recovery is necessary. It’s recommended that you schedule your cardio session in the morning and strength training in the evening.
To streamline your workout plan and maintain consistency, consider using the ‘high-low method’. This strategy pairs high-intensity activities, like HIIT and intense strength training on the same day, followed by low-intensity days featuring Zone 2 cardio or low-weight training. To ensure proper recovery, allow at least 48 hours between high-intensity sessions.
5. Alternate cardio and strength training workouts
If your goal is to maximize muscle growth, alternating cardio and strength training on separate days is the most effective workout schedule. Research indicates that concurrent training—performing cardio and strength exercises too close together—may compromise muscle gains and explosive power by disrupting the body’s different activation patterns. To minimize this effect, aim for at least a 6-hour gap between cardio and strength sessions.
For optimal muscular strength, plan for 3 dedicated weightlifting sessions each week, complemented by 30 minutes of moderate aerobic activity on recovery days. This approach allows your body to fully recover and adapt, promoting both muscle growth and cardiovascular health without compromising progress in either area.
Conclusion
Combining cardio and strength training is the key to maximizing fitness results and overall health. Whether you do them in the same session or on alternate days, the synergy between the 2 leads to better weight management, enhanced cardiovascular health, and stronger muscles.
CAROL Bike’s REHIT workout paired with strength training is the most effective combination to both increase your aerobic and anaerobic capacity, as well as accelerate weight loss. Get your CAROL Bike with free shipping and a 100 day home trial now.

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