If you’re looking for specific fitness results, you may be wondering if working out twice a day will help you achieve them twice as fast. Once a relic of high school sports training, twice-a-day workouts are now ubiquitous on social media and are even included in some popular lifestyle programs. But should two workouts a day be part of your workout routine? Does training twice a day double the gain or double the risk?
Are there any benefits to training twice a day?
When it comes to the benefits of two workouts a day, “there really aren’t any unless you’re an elite athlete,” says Trevor Thieme, CSCS. “If you have enough gas in the tank to tackle two daily workouts, you’re probably not going hard enough in either one to maximize your progress toward your goals.”
To be clear, this doesn’t mean you should never workout more than once a day. “If you’re too busy to complete your workout all at once on some days, go ahead and split it up,” says Thieme.
You can also do moderate-intensity cardio on the same day as strength training, or vice versa, although you’re probably better off doing them on different days if you’re serious about endurance gains and/or strength training. or by force.
But “divide and conquer” isn’t your only option when you’re pressed for time. “You should also consider doing a more intense, shorter workout rather than a longer workout split into two parts,” suggests Thieme. “Basically, training density trumps training duration.”
What are the disadvantages of twice-a-day workouts?
Unless you split a workout into two parts to fit your schedule, working out twice a day is more likely to stunt your progress than accelerate it.
1. Increases your risk of overtraining
In order to adapt to the training stimuli provided by your workouts, your body needs sufficient time to recover between them. “Pushing yourself too hard and too often can put you on the fast track to overtraining,” warns Thieme. “This can not only put you in a training rut, but also increase your risk of injury.”
2. Decreases physical performance
Burnout caused by overtraining will include a decrease in your performance during workouts. Worse yet, the effects of overtraining can spill over into your daily life and include mood swings, insomnia, and loss of appetite.
3. Negatively affects muscle growth
Building muscle mass is a process of creating micro-damage in your muscles, which triggers repair and adaptation processes that make you stronger and fitter than before. But overtraining hinders muscle repair, recovery and growth. If you don’t build muscle effectively, you’ll have a harder time achieving your goals.
Should beginners train twice a day?
In general, beginners are not recommended to train twice a day. “There’s almost no reason to do two a day,” says Thieme. “Plus, most people struggle to find time to do one workout a day, let alone two.”
When you’re starting out, focus on consistency, not overzealousness. Adding a second workout to your day can actually hinder your goals.
Thieme explains that beginners are at the same risk of overtraining as everyone else. That’s because overtraining “occurs when you push yourself too hard, too often relative to your fitness level, whatever that fitness level may be.” Regardless of your fitness level, overtraining will stunt your gains and increase your risk of injury.
3 Ways to Achieve Your Goals Faster
“When it comes to fitness, more is not necessarily better,” says Thieme. Instead of training twice a day, consider the following workout ideas so you can train smarter, not harder, and reach your goals faster.
1. Focus on workout quality, not duration
How long you train is much less important than how you train. “As long as your workouts are aligned with your fitness goals and you challenge yourself several times per week, you will achieve your goals,” he says.
2. Prioritize rest
Rest days are just as important as your workouts and you need to prioritize them. Even if you’re already taking rest days at the gym, you should watch for signs of overtraining like increased fatigue, insomnia, decreased athletic performance, mood changes, and decreased motivation.
If you notice any of these symptoms, it’s time to reduce the volume and intensity of your training and plan your post-workout recovery until your performance is back on track.
3. Increase your daily activity level
A daily workout does not counteract an otherwise sedentary lifestyle. This is why it is essential to become more active in general.
“Focus on increasing your non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), which is all the calories you burn throughout the day outside of exercise,” says Thieme. “If your goal is to lose weight, or even if it’s just to be healthier overall, you need to pay as much attention to NEAT as you do to training.”
