Two a days anyone?

[solostalker]

I have really amped up my training the past year or so. this off-season I have the time to train twice a day probably 3-4 days a week but not sure if it's ideal for me. Looking to hear from those that have trained twice a day and have seen positive or negative effects.

For reference I am 24. work 12 hour graveyards 3-4 days week. Job is mostly sedentary.

I currently do a mix of weight training, kettlebell/circuit, running and zone 2 weighted ruck. I have been training 6 days a week. I only run once a week. My thought is that on days I weight train or kettlebell train to then do a zone 2 weighted ruck or zone 2 walk/jog for 30-60 minutes. These sessions would be spread out at least 6 hours.

I don't want to over train and overload my bodies ability to recover thus having negative effects. I eat very clean and will adjust my caloric intake accordingly. I also try and prioritize ample sleep but that can be hard on night shift sometimes.

My end goal is peak performance in the mountains and hopefully build muscle while I'm at it.

 

[Poser]

I have 1 day out of the week where I strength train in the morning and do light uphill zone 2 later in the day. I limit that conditioning session to 30-40 minutes, though and its a moderate grade. Its the only way I can get 4 conditioning sessions in a week while still strength training and having a dedicated rest day.
There are so many variables with this: intensity and volume of your strength training, frequency of full rest days, age, sleep, nutrition....

It absolutely can be done effectively, but just because people do it all of the time doesn't mean its the most effective way to train, either.

 

[CamKays]

Agree with Poser, it can be done, but I would pay close attention to how you are feeling and recovering. Build intensity and volume intentionally, because injury and burnout will stall progress way more than going a little “too easy”.

I do strength training 4 days a week and 45-90 min of cardio 6 days a week. I have found that 45 minutes of zone 2/active recovery later that day doesn’t hamper progress as long as I’m fueling well and getting enough sleep.

 

[P Carter]

I try to lift 3 days and run 6. During certain blocks will sub a muscular endurance session for a lift. So around 3 days/week if 2-a-days.

It works fine, so long as you scale the intensity appropriately. I times where you’re building strength, the runs are going to have to be slower. At times when you’re building running volume/intensity, the lifts will need to decrease. But it’s totally doable. In fact, I guess you’d be surprised. Particularly if the endurance sessions are truly aerobic/zone 2.

Big note here: my lifting is intentionally minimalist, intended to build and maintain a minimum level of strength. Not optimized for anything other than that. Rough follow the training for new alpinism idea of pick three key exercises and stick with them

Edit: it’s worked well for me. Really the only way to maintain sufficient strength for effective hunting while still doing some long mountain runs, with lots of elevation gain, that I enjoy.

 

[kad11]

I have really amped up my training the past year or so. this off-season I have the time to train twice a day probably 3-4 days a week but not sure if it's ideal for me. Looking to hear from those that have trained twice a day and have seen positive or negative effects.

For reference I am 24. work 12 hour graveyards 3-4 days week. Job is mostly sedentary.

I currently do a mix of weight training, kettlebell/circuit, running and zone 2 weighted ruck. I have been training 6 days a week. I only run once a week. My thought is that on days I weight train or kettlebell train to then do a zone 2 weighted ruck or zone 2 walk/jog for 30-60 minutes. These sessions would be spread out at least 6 hours.

I don't want to over train and overload my bodies ability to recover thus having negative effects. I eat very clean and will adjust my caloric intake accordingly. I also try and prioritize ample sleep but that can be hard on night shift sometimes.

My end goal is peak performance in the mountains and hopefully build muscle while I'm at it.

I would add two-a-days very slowly and carefully considering your (probably crappy) sleep quality. The absolute last thing you want to do at 24 is develop nagging injuries that will haunt you for years or decades to come. I totally understand the desire to go full balls to the wall with your training, but be very careful that you don't do more harm than good in the process. It sounds like you're already doing plenty...

At 38, I lift (following a top set / back-off sets approach) 2-3 days per week and ruck (40 or 55 lbs) for 4.5 hrs per week across two sessions. I'd like to slowly add another 1.5-2 hrs per week of Z2 running prior to starting an ME block this summer, but will be adding that extra volume vey slowly.

Good luck, and don't break yourself off in pursuit of potentially negligible gains...

 

[fatlander]

I did two a days a lot in my mid twenties. I was fat and in terrible cardio shape. It definitely helped with my weight and cardio, but I always had nagging injuries from over training.

In my early 30s, I get 5-6 sessions in a week. Staying healthy, and always staying ready enough that I can get ready for any event or hunt in a 4-6 week timeframe. Ready for a back pack hunt and ready for an endurance race aren’t the same things, but you can be at a baseline of fitness where getting ready for either is easy.


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[kad11]

I did two a days a lot in my mid twenties. I was fat and in terrible cardio shape. It definitely helped with my weight and cardio, but I always had nagging injuries from over training.

In my early 30s, I get 5-6 sessions in a week. Staying healthy, and always staying ready enough that I can get ready for any event or hunt in a 4-6 week timeframe. Ready for a back pack hunt and ready for an endurance race aren’t the same things, but you can be at a baseline of fitness where getting ready for either is easy.


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[alaska80]

I have really amped up my training the past year or so. this off-season I have the time to train twice a day probably 3-4 days a week but not sure if it's ideal for me. Looking to hear from those that have trained twice a day and have seen positive or negative effects.

For reference I am 24. work 12 hour graveyards 3-4 days week. Job is mostly sedentary.

I currently do a mix of weight training, kettlebell/circuit, running and zone 2 weighted ruck. I have been training 6 days a week. I only run once a week. My thought is that on days I weight train or kettlebell train to then do a zone 2 weighted ruck or zone 2 walk/jog for 30-60 minutes. These sessions would be spread out at least 6 hours.

I don't want to over train and overload my bodies ability to recover thus having negative effects. I eat very clean and will adjust my caloric intake accordingly. I also try and prioritize ample sleep but that can be hard on night shift sometimes.

My end goal is peak performance in the mountains and hopefully build muscle while I'm at it.

There are a lot of good comments, but I would say go for it. Move well and move often. Recovery obviously is important, but we seem to have oscillated to a hyper sensitivity to it. People are now scared of training too much. That is certainly a possibility, but I would say poor programming, e.g. too much volume at high intensity is what I have seen injure guys way more often than high volume at moderate/low intensity.
I have been training consistently for three decades and at 45 I do three-a-days M-Th., F and Sat are two-a-days and I walk on Sunday unloaded for recovery. I do listen to my body though and if I am feeling beat up, I will modify a session to accommodate. I have recovered from a lot self induced injuries over the years and all of them could be attributed to too much volume at high intensity.
The number one thing though that keeps me being able to train at this volume and age, injury free, is mobility work. I am religious about prehab training for shoulders, knees and back. I work it into my day. You sated that you work at a desk, I do as well and keep power bands, a 16kg KB and 5lb dumbbells at my desk and just get up every 45 minutes or so and do some recovery/prehab work with those implements.

If you want to squeeze every ounce of performance out of the human body, I have experienced personally, and observed in others, that having short 1-2 week blocks of time where you push your body past its ability to fully recover is beneficial. Afterwhich, you do take it easy for 1-2 weeks allowing for consolidation of adaptions and recovery for the next cycle.
At my training age though, I don't do this anymore unless it is forced upon me. I now do single workouts very occasionally where the exercise is technically easy, low impact and I push it past failure. Just for the mental toughness training. Steve House writes a bit about this in Training for the Uphill Athlete where he will do a 24hour climbing session.

 

[Eagle]

I’ve done two a days 4-6 days a week for the last few years. Just spread them out by 6-8 hours, and do strength before the cardio/endurance. Prioritize rest and nutrition and you’ll be good to go, especially as a mid 20 year old male.