Pros and cons of working out twice a day

• Daily double training can accelerate progress, improve endurance and promote weight control.

• Risks include overtraining, performance flattening, and physical and mental stress, with potential for injury.

• To manage it: get enough sleep, eat balanced, vary your workouts, and listen to your body.

  There are those who might say they don’t have time to train even once, let alone twice.
But we know very well that with a little organization and lots and lots of willpower, and maybe even the help of the people around us, it can be done.
Daily double training, if managed and planned in the right way, can be super effective and give great benefits.

How much is too much?

Drinking too much coffee can make you a little sketchy, sleeping too much can make you dizzy, training too much can have contraindications.
The limit not to be exceeded is different for everyone, as is the physique’s response to double training.
It depends on your starting level, your overall health, your speed of recovery between sessions.
It also depends on the type of workouts you conduct within the same day: making two very intense workouts happen will subject your body to greater stress, while alternating the intensity and type of workouts by adding a yoga class or a dip in the pool is certainly a less risky and safer choice.
In any case, both the potential benefits and the possible risks should be considered: put them on two plates of the scale and draw your own considerations as to whether in your particular case it may be worthwhile to start devoting yourself to double training sessions.

The pros of working out twice a day

If the workouts are carefully planned and scheduled, balancing the loads and intensities of each session, also keeping in mind recovery time and without neglecting rest, double sessions can:

• Accelerate your progress and make you improve faster;
• raise the threshold of effort and fatigue tolerance, especially at the mental level.
  According to one study, on some subjects, a longer training session may be harder to tolerate, as well as being perceived as more tiring, than two shorter workouts;
• promote weight control, for the simple fact that you will burn more calories by doubling the number of daily workouts.
  However, this means that you will have to eat more to be able to meet your daily caloric needs in addition to being able to have the energy to cope with both activities to the best of your ability;
• offer new opportunities to vary the type of training, which you might be less likely to do with a single session, giving prevalence to the activity you prefer or that represents the goal for which you are training.
  For example, if you are training for a long-distance running race, you might find yourself neglecting stretching, mobility, or cross-training sessions, such as biking or swimming.
  Double training allows you to diversify the stimuli you decide to give the various muscle groups in each session, helping you to prevent issues from wear and tear and overload due to repetition of the same movements over and over again.

The cons of working out twice a day

Keeping in mind what has been said so far, one must also consider another aspect, which is that training twice a day is not for everyone or by everyone.
The risk of falling into overtraining and injuring oneself are the most common fears related to the fact that one might bring one’s body into a condition of excessive stress due also to lack of rest and recovery.
But there are other possible cons of training twice a day:

• performance flattening, when the body can no longer cope with the pace that is being imposed on it and, as a defensive mechanism, goes into an “energy-saving” mode and no longer gives its full potential as a defense and self-preservation mechanism.
  In this condition you will no longer see progress in your workouts;
• extra stress, both mental and physical, because there is a risk of skimping on recovery and then having to cope with overtraining syndrome, which manifests itself in the onset of excessive fatigue, flattened performance, and increased risk of injury.
  Overtraining can also lower immune defenses, make you feel more stressed or anxious than usual, and risk mental burnout.

If you decide to train twice a day, you must pay close attention to your weaknesses and not neglect them for any reason, lest you risk having to regret your choices.
You must never cross the fine line that could catapult you intoovertraining.

Aspects not to be overlooked

If you think you are sufficiently ready and experienced enough to be able to sustain a double daily training session, remember before you begin:

• Always get enough sleep, seven to nine hours per night.
  Sleep is essential, especially if you exercise with high frequency.
  The more hours of sleep you can accumulate the better you will be able to recover;
• eating to regain energy, with complete and balanced meals to make sure you reintroduce all the micro and macro nutrients you consumed in individual workouts.
  In this particular case, you may need the support of a professional who can help you build an eating plan that doesn’t leave you lacking anything;
• Differentiate your workouts, diversifying them from session to session to avoid always overloading the same muscle groups.
  For example, if you train your upper body in the morning, go for a run or go out on your bike in the evening, or vice versa.
• Be flexible, listen to your body, and be willing to modify your training plan based on how you feel.
  If you need to skip a workout or change its intensity or duration do so.

( Peloton Street)