Two-a-days

What is your end goal? What are you trying to accomplish by incorporating 2 a days?

I often do two a day because it fits my schedule better. I try to get in a lot of exercise and it's hard to find 1+ hour chunks.

mommabenefield wrote: »

rybo wrote: »

What is your end goal? What are you trying to accomplish by incorporating 2 a days?

Well I still have about 20 lbs to lose before I'm really happy with my weight. My end goal is to be overall physically fit. However, I am really trying to understand how they are useful, are they for the average person trying to lose weight and get fit or are they more for the competitors?

Most people who do two-a-days are training with a specific purpose in mind that goes beyond needing to lose some weight...like when I did my two-a-days, I was training for a triathlon and trained for multiple events in a single day.

I guess I still technically do two-a-days 2-3x per week in that on Monday and Wednesday I usually ride in the morning and I lift in the evening and on Saturday I usually ride to the gym to lift and then ride home...though that particular ride is more of a warm up and cool down kind of ride.

I do two-a-days because I enjoy them. I like exercising in the AM before work because it ensures I will get it done and I love starting the day with exercise. But a few times a week, I also feel like taking a short run in the late afternoon or evening, so I'll do that do.

I didn't really change anything about my nutrition. On average, it's only an extra hour or so of running per week. I pay attention to how I feel and I never do it unless I feel like I really want it (that is, I feel energetic and recovered from the AM workout).

Two a days can be good or bad depending on what you're trying to achieve. Most people that do two a days are training for some particular purpose. I did two a days for a long while becuase I didn't feel like I could get a good enough workout during my morning workout (due to time restraints) and split it into two separate workouts (run& weights in the morning and another short run in the evening). One of the good things about doing two a days is that it does burn more calories in a day but the downside is you'll likely lose more muscle over time because of the increased cardio load and eating at a deficit for weight loss. Additionally, you have to be really careful about overtraining, which leads to injuries that will put you out of the game for recovery. You have to make sure you give your body an opportunity to recover from the stress your placing on it. Listen to your body and let it be your guide. Some people do two a days for their strength training, light weights in the morning and heavy in the evening (different body parts) just to fit in as much of the program in a week as possible. I can't do a 3/4 split because my body is just tuned to working out harder and more often.

Doing two a days presently, but it's more of a split really. This isn't counting work related stuff which requires a lot of shooting and moving around throughout the day.


Monday
AM - Heavy Upper Body Workout
PM - Ruck March/Run @ minimum 4.0 mph pace and 45 lb load

Teusday
AM - Heavy leg workout
PM - HIIT

Wednesday
AM -Combatives and core workout
PM - Ruck March/Run @ 4.0 minimum mph pace and 45 lb load

Thursday
AM - Heavy Upper Body Workout
PM - HIIT

Friday
AM - Heavy leg workout
PM - Yoga

I take weekends off for full recovery generally. Yes, I am doing this for a specific, work related, purpose.

Eh. Probably not necessary unless you're intending to do your cardio separate from your lifting, ie am cardio, pm lifting. OR if you're just super pressed for time and only have a 15 - 30 min block a couple times a day.

I go to the gym 2-3 times a day 5 days a week. But... I work right next door to my gym. I tend do a 3 mile walk before work and then on my lunch breaks I will do some cardio, like running or cycling for about 45 minutes, and after work I will do some strength training and sometimes cardio. Exercise is my antidepressant lol

I always done two a days, then went down to one a days but not I am back to two a days because it feels so much better.
I do early morning and then evening/night. I should be weight lifting but I'm too scared to learn it myself and too cheap to get a trainer. So, AM is at home work out, it's a DVD, station bike, strength yoga, something I can roll out of bed and do (seriously I roll out of bed and go straight to the workout) then PM is either my run, long walk, bike ride, split cardio at the gym. Besides on Saturdays. Saturdays I do one 10 to 26.2 mile walk/jog or bike ride.

I do because I lift at the gym then come home and do my cardio.

I'm currently doing two a days. Each have weight lifting and cardio mixed in. Morning session are my heavy lifts with combat cardio such as sparring. Second workout of the day is auxiliary workouts with cardio such as running.

My purpose is increased lifts, endurance, stamina and to tone.

I know people here have either agreed or disagreed, but you gotta see what works for you. I started at a 3 day a week schedule working out twice a day. I'm currently doing 5 days a week, 2 a day, with the weekend as my recovery time.

I just have the itch for it.

I do two workouts in a day quite often, especially in summer, but don't do "two a days" . Absent a serious training goal, the term has always seemed a little death-march-ish to me . . . and when I do 2 or more workouts in a day, it's more often about fun (though occasionally about training goals, mainly to put me in better condition so I can have more fun in the long run).

Only rarely would I choose to do the same thing twice. Usually it's a matter of wanting to row as many days as I can when we're having good weather & water, and some of those days I also have a spin class, or decide to take a bike ride. I go through phases of weight training and doing core workouts regularly (I'm a l'il ol' lady, and sometimes physical issues sideline these - it's a l'il ol' lady occupational hazard). So, could be spin & lift, or bike and core, or row and either, or row-spin-core, whatever combo makes sense in my schedule. I do half an hour or so of stretching/yoga in addition, a lot of days, but don't count that as a workout.

So, advice: Mix it up. Hydrate liberally. Please, please eat extra when you workout multiple times. Get plenty of protein, and I feel better if I try for solid micros (lots of fruit/veg).

Personally, I like a little bit of extra carb/protein food right after the first workout when a 2nd is coming up. (For a while I took a kettlebell class right after spin class. Even one of those little applesauce pouches helped the kettlebell class, and the whole rest of the day, go better.)

Consider some foam-rolling. Ice body parts that feel the stress, and watch carefully for overuse effects if your routine changes/progresses (sometimes activities that seem dissimilar can put similar stresses on some body part).

I don't personally feel like regular two-workout days are a great weight-loss strategy (i.e., workouts without eating the calories back), especially if you're not someone who's been working out regularly for quite some time - it can be fatiguing.

I've been pretty active for a dozen years, and found multiple-workout days fatiguing when I was at my higher calorie deficits, even while eating all the calories back. (It was about training goals at the time: eventually I decreased my deficit.) But I am old, so that may be part of it.

tl;dr: Go for it. Be careful at first, and watch how you feel carefully.