A good workout depends on more than just the right exercises. It also means doing them in the right order. After all, no exercise is performed in a vacuum. Every move you make affects the ones that come after it and, ultimately, your results, says fitness expert Ashley Borden, who has trained the likes of Ryan Gosling and MLB player Nick Swisher.
Borden's advice: Do your strength training before you even look at a piece of cardio equipment. Why? If you tucker yourself out on the treadmill, you're going to have trouble eking out reps in the weight room. When you're tired, your form suffers, and the last place you want to be struggling with your hip positioning is under a heavy barbell, she says. Plus, strength training is what really builds muscle and burns the most calories over the long term.
That's not to say strength training doesn't sap your energy-it does-but it primarily uses your anaerobic system, which burns carbs for energy, while your aerobic system can burn either carbs or fat to fuel lower-intensity, longer-duration exercise. So if you're out of carbs by the time you get to your cardio, you'll burn through fat before your form has a chance to waver. (Learn how to burn the most calories from both carbs and fat.)