Let me explain what is happening biochemically in your body when you do your outlined workout routine. Durning weight training your bodies primary source of fuel is going to be glucose. It is going to get glucose from three places. Either from what you have eaten immediately before your workout(in which case it will come straight from your blood), from the storage of glycogen in your liver, and from muscle glycogen. By time you are done weight training your blood glucose levels will be gone, most times your liver storage is going to be gone, and depending on how long you train and with what intensity you will be chowing down on muscle glycogen (which will completely hault anabolism). Bottom line, after weight training your body is catabolic until you supply it with the proper nutrients in which case it will become anabolic. So feeding your body protein and glucose immediately after training is critical to stop catabolism and promote anabolism.

The fuel you burn durning cardio is different. It depends on a lot of factors both genetically and nutritionally. However, what percent of your VO2 max you are training at is the biggest factor. There are various charts and equations and percentages to figure this out, but I am not trying to write a term paper. The higher intensity you train at, the more demand for glucose. If you have just finished weight training your body has none except muscle glycogen, and that is exactly what it will turn too. The very thing your muscle are in demand for to stop catabolism, your body is demanding to fuel your high intensity cardio session. Even at lower intensity(which are not ideal for fat loss) you will still be burning certain amounts of glycogen. No matter what, it is just not the BEST way to train. Are you going to die? No. Can you make progress? Yes. I personally perferr to train in a manner that promotes the greatest and most potential gains.

There are a number of other reasons that doing cardio at least 8-12 hrs (in the perfect world 24 hrs) apart from weight training is ideal, but this post is long enough.

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