You probably don't want to do two full and extreme workouts every day, but splitting up your workout by doing half of it in the morning and half in the afternoon can be a healthy and good idea. Doing this will help give your body a rest and let you exercise at a high intensity. This is similar to taking breaks at work where you let your mind relax. Taking a long break between your exercise sessions during the day helps you rejuvenate for round 2.
While the duration of each workout will depend on your fitness level and goals, you may start off by exercising for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes again in the evening.
If you choose to work out for 60-90 minutes at a time and go full speed, it can exhaust you physically and mentally. But if you split it up, you can increase your focus and your energy during your workout.
Another thing you can do is split your exercise by body parts. For example, do your arm exercises in the morning and do legs in the evening. Alternatively, you can do cardio in the morning and weights in the evening or vise versa. Breaking your exercise up this way can keep you focused as well.
Your body can handle two-a-days if you do them properly. As you're increasing your heart rate, circulation, and blood flow to your muscles, your body will become tired as it is going through this stressful process. However, once you have finished your first workout, getting some rest will let your body recover and come back to your normal resting rate. This will take your body out of its stressed out mode of exercise and let you recuperate for another workout later that day. This is especially true if you eat a meal between workouts or you take the time to stretch or use a foam roller.
Additionally, if you work out twice a day, your muscles will be able to increase in both mass and strength with time. If you work out every muscle twice a day, you are literally doubling the amount of boosts that your muscles endure. Each time you work out, you are giving your muscles stimuli that promote more protein synthesis, so if you train twice each day, you're signalling your body to gain strength twice as often.
You may also experience more of the afterburn effect if you work out twice a day, which means your metabolism will go through spurts where it is higher than normal for the few hours following your workout. This will help you burn more calories throughout the day. However, because the afterburn effect may be small, don't use this as a reason to overeat throughout the day.
It may even help you maintain a more reasonable schedule if you are able to break up your workout. If you have a busy day, splitting your workout in half can give you a boost of energy in the morning as well as an evening refresher. Whenever you exercise, your hormones kick in to increase your alertness and productivity during that time. Your mind and body will also fight feelings of fatigue for a period of time after your workout.
If you are interested in starting two-a-day workouts, it is important to take it slowly and not jump in all at once. You don't want to shock your body into exhaustion. Just take it one step at a time and try it out for a while to see if it is right for you. If so, you may find that i has great benefits not only for your health and how you feel during the day, but also for your busy schedule. Make sure to keep paying attention to other factors that influence your health such as your hydration, rest, diet, and stress levels.
About the Author
Dave Mugavero is the owner of Custom Bodies Fitness in Irvine, California. He is extremely proud of his success as the top rated health club in Orange County. Dave has been in the fitness industry for over 24 years, and is widely considered by his peers to be a “Weight Loss Guru”. His extensive knowledge of nutrition, human physiology, personal training and weight loss techniques, and his caring commitment to each client are what make him an expert in his field. He has been a top ranked Natural Body Builder and highly sought after personal trainer and lecturer.
