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Stepping Up to Twice-a-Day Training

Multiply athletic performance and body composition results with multiple workouts

A few decades ago when a 500-pound bench press or running 10 flat in the 100 meters was a big deal, training once a day and perhaps only three days a week was enough to get the job done. That was then, but to compete at the highest levels today requires much more time in the gym. The question is, how do you maintain a high quality of training with longer workouts?
The answer is, you can’t – but you can train harder and longer without doing marathon workouts. You simply increase the frequency of training.

In the ’70s and for the next three decades, the Russians and Bulgarians dominated world weightlifting. When asked about the major differences between the two countries, my colleague Pierre Roy said the Russians often were superior in the snatch and were considered technicians. In the clean and jerk, which most lifters would consider an easier lift because an athlete can get away with more errors in technique, the Bulgarian lifters often exceeded the Russians. And this is true.

You would be hard-pressed to see, for example, a Bulgarian lifter getting pinned in the clean. In fact, in 1986 75-kilo lifter Alexander Varbonov clean and jerked 215.5 kilos. The current world record in the 77-kilo class is 210 kilos – so this means 24 years ago a Bulgarian weightlifter who weighed two kilos less clean and jerked 5.5 kilos more than the best lifters of today! What sport can you name in which the athletes of 24 years ago were superior to today’s athletes? And one of the key differences is that the Bulgarians would often train as much as five times a day, allowing them to train at a much higher intensity. The concept was that testosterone peaks about 15 minutes into a workout, and remains at that level for about 30 minutes – which they believe is the optimal time period for training. After 45 minutes, take a break.

Most elite Olympic medalists train in multiple sessions a day, and they are submitted to rigorous doping control. One of my favorite mottos is “There’s optimal training, and there’s reality.” Training five times a day like a Bulgarian is not practical for most athletes, regardless of sport, but it is often possible to train twice.

Here’s the bottom line: Multiple training sessions are great for natural trainers, as training volume increases anabolic hormone output. This is one of the problems with the one-set-to-failure approach of the so-called “high intensity” proponents. Although these workouts can result in progress for short periods, especially in overtrained athletes, the inferior hormone response is one reason I cannot recommend this type of training for long periods for any bodybuilder or strength athlete.

Getting the Most from Multiple Workouts
Although twice-a-day training offers many benefits, you need to be patient with it, as it can take up to six months to fully adapt to this type of training – although I’ve found that especially motivated athletes can do it in three months. I suggest you increase your training volume gradually, such as starting with two 20-minute workouts a day. You can also start by just focusing on the weak bodyparts, say on those areas that were deficient in a structural balance test, and the results will encourage you to progress to the entire body. However, the maximum amount of time you should spend in twice-a-day workouts is about 40 minutes, excluding warm-ups. Longer training sessions would be counterproductive, as you will not be able to put as much energy into your workouts and you could overtax your recovery ability.

You need to take plenty of time between workouts to achieve an optimal training effect – I suggest about four to six hours between training sessions. This time spread is critical. If you use a shorter one, you will be too fatigued; and in a longer one you will negate the nervous system activation effect of the morning workout. Exercise scientists refer to this phenomenon as a super compensation effect, which is the body’s response to stress with a decrease in an individual’s fitness preparedness followed by a resistance phase in which the body adapts to a higher fitness state. Even though super compensation usually refers to a longer training period, such as a few weeks, it can also occur in the same workout, as after a few hours the nervous system will rebound to a higher level.

One workout plan that works well with twice-a-day training is to organize the training into three 5-day cycles. In the first two cycles you train twice a day, and on the third cycle you unload with a cycle of cutting back to once-a-day training. I say this because training twice a day is not all “raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.” It is normal to lose some lean muscle mass as you begin this type of training – sometimes as such as 2-3 kilos during the first five days. And in fact, studies conducted on American and Finnish weightlifters who trained twice a day for short periods found that testosterone production can be temporarily depressed when they start this type of training. However, the testosterone will shoot right back up during an unloading cycle such as the one I suggested. Oh, and it’s best to start twice-a-day training on a Saturday so that you can nap during the first two days of the cycle, which will help you adapt to the training.

Because you have to be properly fueled for a workout, it’s especially important to pay special attention to your eating patterns. Not eating enough in both quantity and frequency will hamper your gains immediately and may falsely lead you to believe that you are overtrained. You are not overtrained; you are under-recovered. If you have a hard time putting muscle mass back on during your unloading phase, take post-workout shakes on your non-training days – lack of caloric intake during the super-compensation phase is usually the main reason that people do not achieve new levels of strength. And that leads me to the matter of nutritional supplements.

There are many supplements that can improve your recovery ability when undergoing twice-a-day training. Here are a few of my best suggestions in this regard:

• To help deal with the additional stress, I suggest you take a very good antioxidant formula and take an extra 10 grams of vitamin C a day.

• After the second workout of the day, take supplements that will shift your DHEA/cortisol ratio properly. The most effective of these include Tranquilo, Serenity and Phosphatidyl Serine.

• If training mainly for hypertrophy, I also find that taking a blend of the R-form of alpha-lipoic acid and taurine with your post-workout shake helps reload the energy substrates quicker. You need to take 300-600 grams of the R-form alpha-lipoic acid, and 3 to 6 grams of Taurine. Those two key nutrients help build insulin sensitivity. Taking two capsules of Glucose Disposal Px with your post-workout shake also helps dramatically.

• If you experience symptoms of depression, which is quite customary when doing twice-a-day training, take 3 grams of Über DHA three times a day; and take 5-10 grams of Über Inositol before going to bed.
   

My final piece of advice with training twice a day is to be patient. Yes, you will get very tired on twice-a-day training protocols, but you will get stronger. Most individuals will quit this type of training because they don’t have what it takes to mentally overcome the initial fatigue bouts – but stick with it! If you quit prematurely, you are missing a great opportunity to achieve new levels of mass and strength.