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Or should you even do cardio at all? 

Some say the answer is simple, I say, it depends on your goals. 

When we exercise we either perform aerobic or anaerobic exercise, and often, a blend of the two.  We also either use our fast twitch muscle, slow twitch muscles, or a combination of both.   These variables will effect our results, and deciding upon performing cardio before or after lifting (or not at all) is a choice that could make a difference to help us achieve our goals.​
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If you have one single goal, to increase muscle mass, then yes, the simple answer would be to do cardio separately from lifting, or maybe not at all.  But what if your goal is not so singular; ie. gain muscle mass while losing fat?  Then you need to analyse the pros and cons for each approach. 

​Should you be taking them?  If so, what should you look for?
 
Branched Chain Amino Acids, or BCAA’s have been shown to help prevent the breakdown of muscle during intense exercise, preserve muscle while fasting or on a low carb diet, ameliorate protein synthesis to help build muscle, and may even help reduce DOMS after training.  So what exactly are they?

​Build muscle, lose fat, and improve endurance:
 
Cardio has its place, steady state, HIIT, Zone 2; I love to do them all and reap benefits from them all.  Its what people think of first when they think about loosing fat.  While cardio can definitely help, I am also a big believer in Metabolic Conditioning and make sure to schedule it into my training program every week.  I know that it will help me stay lean by burning calories and increasing my Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) (read more: Metabolism: Can You Change It?), improve my cardiovascular endurance, and build muscle at the same time.  

​Cardio used to be simple; the most complicated decision you had to make was which machine you preferred.  But it turns out that cardio is not a one-size-fits-all approach and should be tailored to each individual and their goals.   
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Learn about the different kinds of cardio and how to include them in your training regime. 

​There has been a lot of talk over the last few years about the fat burning potential of doing cardio in a fasted state.  There are a few questions that should come to mind when considering this as an option:

• What exactly is fasted (vs fed)?
• Why is fasted cardio beneficial for fat loss?
• What about fasted weight training?
• How much difference can it actually make?
• What are the potential downsides?
• Considering the pros and cons, is there a better way?