The more work you put in the better the results, right? Most of the time this is true, if you put in more hours into something, the results tend to sway in your favour. This is also true for your training (although not all the time as you’ll see below), multiple studies show a directly proportional relationship between the number of sets completed in a workout and improvement in muscle mass. But what about training twice a day, is it good for you or is it overkill. I say it depends on your recovery/rest time, the more time we have to rest the better our training will be.
Research has found that training twice a day helps your central nervous system adapt to exercise which in turn helps improve your strength, endurance and leads to your body burning fat and glycogen (carbohydrates) efficiently.
But remember what I said earlier, it all depends on your rest and recovery. If you’re putting in so much work but do not have efficient rest, you will become overtrained (which is worse than being burned out) and your results will plateau. A rule of thumb is if you feel tired after one session of training than do not go for two sessions in a day, rather rest and recover. Now, there are some of you out there who will feel like rest is for sissies and training twice a day makes you hardcore. That’s fine but just keep in mind that if you work too hard, too soon with not enough rest then the chances of you injuring yourself exponentially increase. Research completed by the British Journal of Sports Medicine revealed that training-related injuries are largely due to excessive and rapid increases in work output.
Gradually increasing your workload will work in your favour, instead of doing 2 sessions per day 5 times a week, start with 1-2 days doing two sessions a day and take note of how you feel the next day. Another key point is your energy systems, training your aerobic system in one session and training your anaerobic system the second session can help. An example of this is doing weight training (anaerobic) in the morning and jogging (aerobic) in the evening. Or you can even take it up a notch and do your upper body in the morning and upper body in the evening. Training this way allows your energy systems to have a recovery period in between sessions.
What about muscle loss?
You may be thinking that training twice a day will use up a lot of your energy and result in your body falling into a catabolic (muscle breaking) stage. This is very much possible if you are not recovering enough, that means not getting enough sleep, overtraining or being in a state of malnutrition. Consider the following to decrease that risk and improve your odds of making the best gains of your life:
#1: Schedule in at least 6 hours between your two sessions. This will give your body enough time to rest and recover for the next session. Straight after your first session, have a meal containing protein and carbohydrates and a small meal/snack (protein shake) before your second session. This will replenish your energy stores and elicits the repair and rebuilding process.
#2: Don’t overdo it in your sessions. You should cut back your training volume and do two shorter sessions. These sessions should range between 70-80% of what you would do for a full 1-day session.
#3: Avoid any exercises that have plagued you in the past. If you’ve hurt your back deadlifting, this is not the time to add deadlifts back to your routine. Extra training can drain your recovery ability, and it may put your body in a more vulnerable state, setting you up for injury.
#4: Increase your recovery period. Whatever it is that you do on your recovery periods, increase it. For example, if you used to sleep seven hours a night, you may need to plan on getting eight or even nine. You might need to do more stretching or add other recovery activities.
Workout Plan for Beginners
DAY 1
AM:
Cardio Workout:
Set a rowing machine computer’s interval setting to 30 seconds of work and 90 seconds rest. Row 140 meters (115 for women), and stop there, even if you have time left in the 30-second interval. Rest 90 seconds. That’s 1 round. Next round, row 141 (or 116) meters and no more, followed by 90 seconds rest. Continue to add 1 meter to each round, complete 8 rounds.
PM:
Strength Workout
Do 10 reps of each exercise the first round, 9 reps the second, then 8, and so on until you’ve completed a final round of just 1 rep of each exercise. Choose a weight that makes it moderately difficult to complete the first 10 reps, and stick with it throughout
· Bench press
· Chin ups
· Military press
· Bent-over row
DAY 2
AM:
Cardio workout
Sprint on the treadmill for 30 seconds and rest for 30 seconds. Do this for 6 rounds and rest for 4 minutes, that is 1 block completed. Complete a total of 3 blocks
PM:
Strength Workout
Do the exercises as a circuit, completing one set for each in sequence. Do 10 reps of each exercise the first round, 9 reps the second, then 8, and so on until you’ve completed a final round of just 1 rep of each exercise. Choose a light weight and rest as needed between rounds of the circuit, but aim to finish the workout in 20 minutes.
· Deadlift
· Push-ups
· Pull-ups
· Squat
DAY 3: Rest
DAY 4:
AM:
Cardio workout
Jump on a row machine and row as hard as you possibly can until you finish 500 meters. Now rest as long as it took you to complete the 500-meter row. So, for example, if you rowed 500 meters in 1:30, you’d rest for 1:30. Repeat the process for 400 meters, and so on down to 100 meters
PM: rest
DAY 5:
Cardio Workout:
Set a rowing machine computer’s interval setting to 30 seconds of work and 90 seconds rest. Row 140 meters (115 for women), and stop there, even if you have time left in the 30-second interval. Rest 90 seconds. That’s 1 round. Next round, row 141 (or 116) meters and no more, followed by 90 seconds rest. Continue to add 1 meter to each round, complete 8 rounds.
PM:
Strength Workout
Do 10 reps of each exercise the first round, 9 reps the second, then 8, and so on until you’ve completed a final round of just 1 rep of each exercise. Choose a weight that makes it moderately difficult to complete the first 10 reps, and stick with it throughout
· Bench press
· Chin ups
· Military press
· Bent-over row
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