Is It Bad to Workout Twice a Day? Hell No!
Posted by Brad Campbell
9
Aug, 2010
TopFatLossTrainer Q&A -Is It Bad to Workout Twice a Day? By Brad Campbell
Did anyone else watch Chael Sonnen pound on Anderson Silva’s face for 4 1/2 rounds Saturday night… only to get caught in a triangle and lose with just seconds to go in the final round? Man, I felt sick after that. My heart goes out to him because that guy did what no one else has been able to do against Silva… and he actually backed up all that trash talking. Very impressive performance, too bad it ended like that. Anyways…
In this post: quick fat loss workouts, I dropped some knowledge about crushing it during your fast day training. More specifically, I said that not only was it okay to workout hardcore on this calorie-free day, but I actually encouraged you to attempt TWO fat burning sessions during this twenty four hour fast.
But that’s just one day per week. What about the other six days? For extreme fat loss, is it okay to workout twice a day every day of the week? That’s the question I just received earlier today:
**************************************************************************************************************
Brad, you are the man! I love the content of your website, it keeps me highly motivated. As a former weightlifter, I only had the desire to be huge, so I pumped heavy iron, avoided cardio of any kind, ate what I wanted and got HUGE.
But, at the expense of getting of FAT, too. Then, after life got in the way, I stopped going to the gym, but guess what? The heavy eating was still there. I got up to 305 pounds, and as of today I weigh 264, thanks to your diet and the cheat day. I am averaging a 5 pound loss weekly. Is that OK?
The main question I had is, since I am unemployed, do you think it’s ok if I did my bodyweight training EVERY day and then turn around and do cardio in the evening? Does this sound like too much?
I don’t do anything else after my morning workout, and was usually splitting these two plans up (Bodyweight – Pushups and Squats in a circuit on Mon, Wed, and Fri; Kettlebell Swings for cardio on Tue, Thu, and Sat.)
Also, a great idea I would like to see is Herschel Walker’s workout routine and diet, maybe with your connections you can find out exactly how he’s staying so lean and muscular at his age!
Thanks for all you do!
-SW
**************************************************************************************************************
I appreciate SW’s honesty. It’s always good to hear from someone who used to train primarily for size, but has since adjusted their training and diet to create a more appealing and functional body type. Most guys I see in the gym are doing exactly what you did at first– lifting and eating to get bigger, stronger and FATTER. Not to mention less athletic, less mobile and less functional.
So congrats on the change in mindset and your transition to a more balanced, lean and ripped physique. Now for your questions.
Averaging 5 lbs of fat loss per week is phenomenal and about what I’d expect from someone starting out just over 300 lbs. Using the cheat day followed by a total fast day is extremely powerful and sounds like it’s working great for you. I recommend monitoring body fat percentage and girth measurements, along with total body weight, to make sure you’re losing as close to 100% fat as possible.
Some loses in lean muscle can be expected, but it should be kept to a minimum. Five pounds of weight loss per week is ‘real world’ extreme fat loss and you should be ecstatic with those results. This will taper off slightly as you become lighter, but for now it’s all good in the hood.
Okay, for your second question…it’s definitely okay to rock two workouts per day, as long as you’re monitoring for signs of overtraining. Everyone’s body, fitness level and recovery abilities will be different, but for losing weight as quickly as possible…twice daily workouts can really bring da thunder. You’ll want to adjust the cardio workouts later in the day to reduce the risk of overdoing it.
I suggest using tempo runs or even lower-intensity, steady state training (aka standard, slow-go cardio like walking, jogging or going easy on an exercise bike or elliptical) to strike a balance between extra calorie burning and avoiding muscular and/or neurological burnout.
For your first workout of the day, you can certainly go higher intensity, but be sure to mix it up enough so that you’re not hitting the same muscle groups too often. Your bodyweight workout circuit can be performed every other day up to four times per week; and you could use kettlebell swings for morning workouts on non-bodyweight training days.
You could also sub in an intense plyometric workout (example- explosive push-ups, squat jumps, medicine ball slams, box jumps, etc) in place of the bodyweight circuit, once weekly in the morning. My main suggestion would be to stagger the current bodyweight workout with a second bodyweight workout that works your pulling muscles (to balance things out).
Here’s a sample extreme fat loss workout routine using the two-a-day approach:
Day 1:
AM – bodyweight workout circuit (squats/push-ups)
PM – 30-minute treadmill jog
Day 2:
AM – kettlebell swings
PM – 45-minute walk
Day 3:
AM – bodyweight workout circuit (pull-ups/lying stability ball leg curls)
PM – 25-minute tempo-paced elliptical session
Day 4:
Rest
Day 5:
AM – hardcore plyometric workout, total body
PM – 40-minute light exercise bike session
Day 6:
AM – bodyweight workout circuit (squats/push-ups)
PM – 30-minute total body stretching routine
Day 7:
AM – kettlebell swings or bodyweight challenge workout
PM – 25-minute tempo run
Day 8:
AM – bodyweight workout circuit (pull-ups/lying stability ball leg curls)
PM – 45-minute walk or rest
Day 9:
Rest, plus 45-minutes of total body stretching
*Then start over with day 1 workout
For most people, this would be an effective twice daily workout approach that shouldn’t lead to overtraining. As you can see, it takes 9 days to get through the cycle and then you’d start fresh with day one again.
The AM workouts are designed to be more intense and have a greater post-workout calorie-burning effect, while the PM workouts are designed for lower intensity, ‘additional’ calorie-burning during the workouts (and not so much post-workout)…but without overtaxing muscles or leading to hormonal meltdown.
It’s always important to have a well-rounded diet, but even more so when you increase training frequency…so make sure you’re getting a good variety of fruits and veggies to go along with your lean proteins and healthy fats. I’d also recommend supplementing with fish oil and a high quality multivitamin, at the very least. BCAAs are optional for preventing loses in lean muscle tissue during fast days (I’ll go more in-depth about this in a later post).
That’s the word on working out twice a day to lose fat quickly and safely.
If you need some super-charged exercises that can be done anywhere, check out my Tacfit Commando review for SERIOUS bodyweight workouts designed to improve performance and get you ripped crazy fast.
I’ll definitely do a celebrity workout review on the ageless phenom Herschel Walker. That dude is legit.
Peace for now.
Your Coach,
Brad Campbell
PS – If you’re sexy and you know it, share this post (clap…clap, clap)
Posted in Fat Loss | Burn Fat Fast by |
