Training Twice a Day - Beneficial?

[unoigo]

Just throwing this out there.... assume one was in the postion to do nothing but Train, Eat and Rest, i.e. no other commitments, no work, etc. And everything else was in order (diet, supplements, etc) This would be offseason so calories would be in abundance as well.

Would there be any benefit to training twice a day? I guess what I'm asking is will the increase in frequency pay off?

Anyone here ever experimented with this? What type of training did you follow? How did you split up your bodyparts?

 

[joshbarnett]

planned overtraining can get you through a plateau. check out charles poliquin's site and read some articles about this.

 

[gridlock]

Just throwing this out there.... assume one was in the postion to do nothing but Train, Eat and Rest, i.e. no other commitments, no work, etc. And everything else was in order (diet, supplements, etc) This would be offseason so calories would be in abundance as well.

Would there be any benefit to training twice a day? I guess what I'm asking is will the increase in frequency pay off?

Anyone here ever experimented with this? What type of training did you follow? How did you split up your bodyparts?

on legs day i used to split squats and lunges, then come back in the evening and do calves and some hammies with some cardio. just cos i was finding when i did squats and lunges i was so tired that i couldnt hit anything else hard enough. i did get better results this way but work came along and made it impossible to continue it.

 

[tkav1980]

i would guess that it would depend on how you split up your training. lets say that one day you do back and chest. if you hit chest in the morning with low volume, rested and came back later and hit back the same way you MIGHT be able to go alittle harder on both bodyparts. if volume is too high though it would be counter productive. if you look at how the pro's here train theyre clients noone uses a 2 a day split. i tend to think the issue of overtraining and recovery cant be avoided. this type of training will also tax your cns 2 times a day. i cant say for sure what effect that would have because i dont know enough about it but i would assume its a nother reason this type of split isnt used, or at least i havent seen much of it. theres only a few guys that have worked around using high frequency and not over training and 2 of them post on this site. if you want to truly maximize results i suggest speaking with Phil. his training approach is one that solves this problem. basically it allows you to retrain a muscle every few days and still racover so the training is productive. this way you can give the muscle and oportunity to grow much more often that traditional volume training alows for.

 

[unoigo]

Ya, I understand but 99% of BBers out there have full time jobs, a family, etc. and can't devote 100% of their time to food & sleep (recovery)

Fortunately or unfortunately (LOL) I may be in a position for 6-8 weeks where I will have nothing to do or worry about other than myself (eating, training, rest) So I'm just reaching out to see if there is a way where I can maximize this time.

 

[tkav1980]

Ya, I understand but 99% of BBers out there have full time jobs, a family, etc. and can't devote 100% of their time to food & sleep (recovery)

Fortunately or unfortunately (LOL) I may be in a position for 6-8 weeks where I will have nothing to do or worry about other than myself (eating, training, rest) So I'm just reaching out to see if there is a way where I can maximize this time.

i would honestly get in contact with dante or Phil. if anyone can tell you how to get the most out of this time its the 2 of them. what they have both done is exactly what your looking for if im understanding you correctly. you want to maximize results while you have the chance to devote 100% of your time to it. judging from your avitar you have a much better grasp on bodybuilding than i do. your physique speaks for itself. maybe list an example day of training. maybe we can reverse engineer a solution fo fit your needs.

 

[unoigo]

I basically train DC now and have been for a while...

http://www.professionalmuscle.com/forums/showpost.php?p=534481&postcount=48

I have a feeling that most will say "well, why change what has worked so far?"

Again, my thinking is to "maximize" this 8 week window that is coming up.

 

[machola]

twice a day

that's how dorian does it.
**broken link removed**

 

[JETHRO TULL]

Machola, thank you for posting that video.

that's how dorian does it.
**broken link removed**

I haven't watched Dorian train since the blood and guts video. He's definitely my favorite body builder of all time. I felt bad for Mark Dougdale being all sick right before training with Dorian! I'd want to go in there feeling strong and well rested....not with stomach flu.

Anyway....it was nice of you to post that.

Thanks.

 

[betito]

What about a DC two way split doing the first half in the morning and the second in the evening? For a while it can work

 

[JETHRO TULL]

I forgot to mention-

I enjoy training twice a day. In the summer I don't work..I eat, nap, lay in the sun, lift...for three months. I love living like that!

 

[machola]

welcome JT

I enjoy training twice a day. In the summer I don't work..I eat, nap, lay in the sun, lift...for three months. I love living like that!

i'm jealous. wish i could pull that off... i do a quick 15min workout first thing in the morning to start my day and a 45min session in the pm... you're welcome for the link. everyone should watch. very motivating

 

[unoigo]

I enjoy training twice a day. In the summer I don't work..I eat, nap, lay in the sun, lift...for three months. I love living like that!

JT - care to share your training style and split? thx

 

[unoigo]

What about a DC two way split doing the first half in the morning and the second in the evening? For a while it can work

Ya, I was actually thinking about that but when I tried the 2-Way a while back, I was just in the gym so long I don't know how I would be able to turn around 2 sessions. So your thought would be to keep 3 training days but do 2 sessions a day. So each body part would get hit 3 times per week?

I was thinking something like using the 2-Way but training 4 days per week/ 1 session a day. So each body part would get hit twice a week. Being I would be free of commitments for this period the extra time in the gym wouldn't really matter. Plus I could train earlier in the day when there were no crowds.

 

[ericinbc]

i tried it because i caved to all the hype and had to see what it was all about, but personally i dind't find it to be very good. i train three on and one off, eat like a pig as soon as i'm done then get massage therapy for the bodyparts i've trained. just like anything you can overstimulate and the gym is no different, try staring at the pretty girls going by all day and eventually that will do ya in too haha

 

[Dave_19]

Just throwing this out there.... assume one was in the postion to do nothing but Train, Eat and Rest, i.e. no other commitments, no work, etc. And everything else was in order (diet, supplements, etc) This would be offseason so calories would be in abundance as well.

Would there be any benefit to training twice a day? I guess what I'm asking is will the increase in frequency pay off?

Anyone here ever experimented with this? What type of training did you follow? How did you split up your bodyparts?

It would be less than Ideal in my opinion, now "working out" more than 1x a day is fine. But resistance training 2x/day, no way. The only way I could ever see this to make sense is to only do 1/2 a work out each session, i.e. calves/quads AM, glutes/hams PM. Or Bi's AM Tris PM, I think this also would be a waste of time though, no extra benefit, just avoiding the negative potential over training.

 

[unoigo]

It would be less than Ideal in my opinion, now "working out" more than 1x a day is fine. But resistance training 2x/day, no way. The only way I could ever see this to make sense is to only do 1/2 a work out each session, i.e. calves/quads AM, glutes/hams PM. Or Bi's AM Tris PM, I think this also would be a waste of time though, no extra benefit, just avoiding the negative potential over training.

Thanks for the reply Dave. Another option I was tossing around was something similar.

Day 1: Chest AM - Bi, Tri PM
Day 2: Back AM - Shlds, PM
Day 3: Quads AM - Calves, Hams PM

The thought would be to train 4-5 days per week in this manner so each body part would get hit twice every 7-8 days. I also place the larger body parts in the AM and the smaller in the PM. With this method though, I would move away from HIT techniques and pretty much stick to one straight working set per exercise with 3-4 exercises for large body parts and 2-3 for the smaller.

 

[halflife]

"Twice-per-day training is the fastest way to gain strength and size, if you can afford the time. Typically, you'd do heavy, or "neural" training in the morning, and more time-under-tension training in the evening.

Now, these are relative values. For example, an Olympic lifter may do doubles and singles in the morning and sets of six in the afternoon. A bodybuilder may do six reps in the morning and 20 at night. So, you have to decide what's neural for that lifter.

So, as a rule of thumb, you want to recruit higher-threshold motor units in the morning, and lower-threshold motor units in the afternoon. Or, you can do regular training in the morning and eccentric (negative-only) training at night.

In most cases, the same body part should be trained in both sessions — heavy in the A.M., lighter in the P.M. One example would be 4 to 6 reps in the morning, 12 to 15 reps in the afternoon.

If strength is your main concern, you'd want to do the same exercises for both sessions. If you're focused on hypertrophy, you may want to use different variations of the exercises. So, powerlifters will do back squats twice per day; bodybuilders would do bench presses in the morning and incline dumbbell presses in the afternoon.

Also, you must leave four to six hours between workouts. This time spread is critical. If you use a shorter time spread — just two to three hours between sessions, say — you'll be too fatigued.

As for each session's length, you could start with 20 minutes in the morning and 20 more at night. From there, you'd work up to an hour each session. You have to take about 11 weeks to get to two full-hour sessions per day.

Two key points: First, for every 10 days of two-a-day training, you've got to do five days of once-per-day training to give your body a break. I recommend training for about 40 minutes in the morning on those days. After five days, you can go back to lifting twice per day.

Second, without a proper post-workout drink after each session, it's impossible to recover from this type of training. "

-Poliquin

 

[Dangkolo]

I enjoy training twice a day. In the summer I don't work..I eat, nap, lay in the sun, lift...for three months. I love living like that!

That's why your so damn BIG!

 

[eclipse]

The company I work for has a small fitness center in our building so often I will hit big muscles before work at a regular gym and then hit bis or tris or abs at work. I really just do it because of the convenience factor. I am really curious about how split training like this affects cortisol levels etc.