Two a day work outs

There is nothing wrong with two a days, it really wont accelerate any progress in weight loss your body will just build a bigger gas tank so you're not worn out as fast working out.

The other downside to that is once you start to get a bigger gas tank the sooner you're likely to plateau due to your body being so efficient at the load you're putting it through.

I currently am testing out a theory called the bulgarian method of training which means no rest days. I do crossfit and have done 9 days consecutively. It's not recommended you even do 5 days straight of crossfit due to the high metabolic demands of your body. But so far I feel great and am still making progress. I don't think my body could even handle 2 visits in one day of it.

So depending on your work load and such should determine how much work you're doing in the gym or wherever. Don't rely too much on fancy calorie counters on machines to tell you that if you do this for this long you will burn this many calories. It's all based on math calculations by the machine. Just listen to your body, if you need a break take one. But if you feel you could've put more effort into one workout, then focus on that.

I don't see any reason why you can't work out twice per day, as long as exercising so late at night doesn't interfere with your sleep. It is important to get enough sleep when trying to loose weight because lack of sleep can trigger hormonal changes that may make weight loss more challenging.

Also, depending on the length of the workouts, you might get a better effect doing them back to back. There is some evidence that you get more out of one 30 minute cardio workout than two 15 minute workouts. If both are long, they should both be effective.

Also, don't confuse high impact with high intensity. Intensity is what you want to aim for and there are ways to get a high intensity low impact work out (i.e. interval training on stationary bikes or elliptical trainers). High impact isn't necessarily bad though.

Excellent but you need weight/resistance training - so do one cardio and one weight/resistance

There is nothing wrong with two a days, it really wont accelerate any progress in weight loss your body will just build a bigger gas tank so you're not worn out as fast working out.

Sorry but what is your source to say this? I couldn't disagree more. I lost 100 lbs in 8 months and had many 2 a days. How can you say it won't accelerate your progress? If I have a 2 workouts, you mean to say the 2nd doesn't do anything for my weightloss. Sorry again, but that is an incorrect statement to make a a blanket statement for everyone.

I think he means this is true if you are eating back your exercise calories. If (for easy math) you have a 1200 calorie/day goal, and you burn 400 calories per workout: if you workout twice per day and eat back an additional 800 calories (as you should) = eating 2000 calories total, you would still lose weight the same as if you just did one 400 calorie workout and just ate an additional 400 calories per day (= 1600 calories total). Or if you did no workouts and only ate 1200 calories. Either way, in theory, you would be at the same deficit and lose weight at the same rate per day because your net calories would remain the same.

(In other words, the extra workouts mean you can consume more fuel - so you need a bigger "fuel tank").

Of course, there is the effect of extra workouts building extra muscle, which some studies show will raise your metabolism, or the "afterburn" effect of intense cardio, which could also boost that day's calorie burn, or extra exercise decreasing your cortisol levels, which would make you retain less fat...all of these factors *may* kick in and mean you lose weight quicker if you workout twice per day. Or maybe not. Depends on your body.

To the OP, I think it sounds great you are working out twice per day, but I would encourage you to (1) make sure you are stretching enough and (2) make sure you have a rest day (or more...maybe one day with no workouts and one day with only one workout per week?) so that you don't injure yourself. Just listen to your body.

Other than simple fatigue, I can only think of one thing that it may hinder that an above poster kinda hinted at. You're body will get used the intense 2-a-days. So... if you ever plan to stop doing them, then you may hit a plateau or have a harder time burning fat/cals when doing "maintenance". However, if you get to that point, then you're already gonna be pretty darn healthy, so it should be very well worth that small risk.

My only evidence is my own background in swimming where I did 2-a-days from the age of 12 to the age of 20 (when I quit competitive swimming). I basically had to get OUT OF SHAPE before doing a 'normal' swimming workout would do anything for me. Gone were the days of swimming 8-10 miles a day, but now I'll do 1-3 miles 1-3 times a week and its workin' just fine. Bottom line is that I think you're fine as long as you're getting enough rest.

A couple of posters have hinted at the body reaching equilibrium with two-a-days, and they're absolutely correct. More is not necessarily better. More intense is not necessarily the best perscription for beginners, people who are unconditioned, or people who have a lot of weight to lose. Low impact/low intensity for longer sessions (up to 45 min.) will burn calories safely, reduce the risk of injury, and build the cardiovascular system to be more efficient.

Someone else mentioned fatigue. That's also a risk with two-a-days. You're not really giving your body much time to recover and adapt to the stresses you're placing upon it.

To the person who mentioned a coach having you do two workouts a day, that's fine. Conditioned athletes may work out twice a day for a period of time (note: NOT a whole season) to build.

My credentials are that I've been a runner of varied distances (up to 1/2 marathon) for 30 years, I'm a duathlete and triathlete, and a personal trainer.

Unless you're twins.

truth.