Double workout

jdove3411

Pros and cons on double cardio. Am and pm....jogging or riding bike in the am and insanity in the pm?

Azdak

There is nothing inherently harmful about doing, if you like the sensation of working out. You likely won't get as much return for your time/effort investment as you think. At some point IMO, doing high volumes of exercise leads to a point of diminishing returns. You will have to increase your calorie intake to fuel the workout routine so you will not see a proportional increase in rate of weight loss--some people training for marathons actually see their losses stop completely because they need so much more food to sustain the training.

You also run the risk of lowering the quality of your training as well. You make the best progress when you keep the hard days hard and the easy days easy. Working out twice a day, the workouts have a tendency to run together. You build up residual fatigue so it's hard to push it on the hard days, and it's hard to have the endurance to get the most of the easy days.

I have found that it is usually unsustainable in the long run. But, if you can manage those things, build in some complete rest time here and there, and if some of the workouts (e.g. Bike rides) are more recreational than "fitness" paced, then it might be OK.

riffraff2112

Many people do it. In the summer I bike to and from work (25km..approx one hour each direction depending on wind)
I wouldn't recommend intense joint stress twice a day (or even on consecutive days) but its one of those things where you just have to know your body and listen to it.

AnnPT77

If you have enough rest and fuel to support it, and enough conditioning that it isn't injurious, and that big a time expenditure fits into your life without displacing other needful things (work, family, friendships, other activities that bring balance to life) . . . sure, why not?

But if you're doing it purely to lose weight, why? Personally, I didn't want to do anything while losing weight that I wasn't willing to make a permanent habit. I think it's very useful to treat the loss process as practice for the healthy routine you'll need to keep the weight off permanently.

And if you fail any of the 3 conditions in paragraph one, it's not a good plan, period.

DancingMoosie

I do it all the time. I guess it depends on how long and how intense each session is. I was told 3 years ago that 2 a days were a great way to burn out, but it has become my norm Mon-Thurs while working. Of course, 2 of those workouts are heavy strength days(schedule permitting) but you get the idea...

MelanieCN77

I often do 40 mins on the treadmill and then hop on my bike for another 20. I have lately toyed with the idea of taking my morning coffee and walking outside with it instead of sitting on my *kitten* browsing MFP forums...