Working your muscles twice a day

[skully]

So I've been doing some reading....and I've read it's OK to workout your body (lower and upper) in two different sessions twice a day, with one day rest.

How bad is it if you work your muscles

a. session 1, with low-rep, high-weights.
b. session 2, low weights, high-reps...

in the same day?

For example, say that I go to a class that focuses more on the legs with low weights, high reps....and there are some barbell lifting...but not specifically working biceps/triceps...and I would like to focus on these muscles...and do session for upper body?

Is it okay?

[skully]

In theory, though I still would limit the number of days I did this. It is a very good way to overtrain.

If done once a week?

[skully]

that would be okay i think. Some people get into the training 2x/day thing several days each week in the hopes they will get results twice as fast. In reality you get tired and your joints hurt.

Yeah, I wouldn't do that. Trust me I doubt I have that much time or will do next week!

But if since your muscles are tearing apart to regrow, and if you work them again the same day, they're still in the process of regrowing, right?

Do muscles tear apart as you're exercising? So is it normal to feel your muscles are actually "weaker" post the workout?

Another question, what if you don't get sore the same day/next day after a workout even though you increased the weight? I only get sore when I did not exercise for long or the right way. I may get VERY little sore as well, which is great, but what does it mean?

For example...today I did 3 sets of leg pushs. I have no i dea what the machine is called, you basically sit, and push you body back with your legs.

I did 10reps with 40, 9 reps with 50, 8 reps with 60 (first time)...

I doubt I will have sore quads tomorrow, I'll let you know....but I don't think it would get sore, why?

[skully]

If you don't give your muscles time to recover, they will not grow. If you are constantly beating on them it will take them longer to recover and longer to grow. This is why rest is just as important as the actual training. I would argue that it's more imporant, but I really like to take naps.

That's true. It needs usually 24-48 hours to recover. I always give them time to recover, but I don't see a lot of results, because I don't think I have the type of body that builds muscles fast

I do not get sore every time I increase weight, reps, whatever. That's fine. It's normal and possibly preferable, especially since If I always felt the way I did after very first week of boot camp, I would probably never work out again. basic movement was a struggle. I'm not exaggerating. I couldn't even read because it hurt to move arm to turn the page. I had to lay on the couch and watched recorded episodes of LA Ink on TiVo. While that wasn't really a bad thing, believe it or not, I do not have an inexhaustible supply of time to spend lying on sisters couch watching telly.

Ooooh...Trust me...I know what you mean, There were soo many times I got sore, and it sucks, and sometimes I need 72 hours before next workout!

While you are pushing your body harder than before, think of it as a numbers game. You walk, rarely. Don't really bike run or do any strenuous activity. Then you go to the gym, where you do squats, deadlifts and step ups in the same day. Since you're new, and just getting started, you don't really use too much weight. But either way, you are doing a LOT more activity than before. Some of the movements could be new, and certainly the weight and intensity has increased. You're gonna hurt. You've never pushed yourself nearly that hard. You are using a LOT more muscle now than you usually do.

True, I didn't do a lot of activities for a very long time, at least (seriously) for 6-7 months. But I'm actually doing a lot more weights than I ever did before. I am pushing myself, and actually picking up where I left off. Two years ago 3kgs for biceps were something! Now I can pull off a few reps with 6 kgs. If I didn't stop, I'd probably be doing more. Yeah, I never had a routine before, or a program to follow, so true, a lot of the movement is new, and felt sore through these movements.

Six months later, you are doing your leg press at 40-50lbs, 8-10reps. Then you up it to 60lbs and do 8. You might be a little sore, you might not. But the movement isn't new, and the intensity, while greater than it was previously, is a small change, percentage wise, from where you were when you first started. You are more accustomed to pushing yourself harder, and your body is better able to adapt to the new weight than it was when you first started out and the extent of your daily workout was walking to the mailbox.

Actually I was doing kgs. There was a time where I stopped working out lower body (quads) a big mistake, obviously! So I am trying to that and add more balance body between upper and lower. But it makes sense why I am not getting as sore because of a weight increase.

Thanks a lot for your help. A lot of this information I didn't know well, or understood!

[tv1t13ll0]

At place we use accelerating isokinetics and working out every day is no prob...never any soreness...I think they call it DOMS (?).
Here, check it out http://www.sportsciencelab.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
Has anyone ever heard of isokinetics??

[AaronH]

Hi Skully,

Since you have a primary goal of gaining weight/building muscle and noted on your profile you workout to look better I have to ask why do you want to train your muscle's twice in the same day? If it is to gain quicker it is not the way to do it.
If you train intensely, one workout per day, working each major muscle group no more than twice a week should be sufficient to gain muscle. As others have mentioned you run the risk of overtraining if you work out too frequently. If you feel sore or weaker on successive workouts that is an indicator that your muscles have not fully recuperated from the previous workout. If you do push them through the workout you just wind up tearing down more muscle fibers and they do not get the chance to repair themselves and get stronger and bigger.
If your goal is to add muscle mass one proven volume for training is a rep range between 8 and 14 reps, using a resistance that causes the muscle to fatigue within that range. If you can easily do more reps then the resistance is too light. If it is so heavy that you cannot perform 6 good reps you are training for strength more than muscular hypertrophy.
The most important factor is your nutrition. Make sure you are consuming enough quality high nutrient calories to support muscle repair and growth.
I hope this helps you.

Aaron

[skully]

Hi Skully,

Since you have a primary goal of gaining weight/building muscle and noted on your profile you workout to look better I have to ask why do you want to train your muscle's twice in the same day? If it is to gain quicker it is not the way to do it.
If you train intensely, one workout per day, working each major muscle group no more than twice a week should be sufficient to gain muscle. As others have mentioned you run the risk of overtraining if you work out too frequently. If you feel sore or weaker on successive workouts that is an indicator that your muscles have not fully recuperated from the previous workout. If you do push them through the workout you just wind up tearing down more muscle fibers and they do not get the chance to repair themselves and get stronger and bigger.
If your goal is to add muscle mass one proven volume for training is a rep range between 8 and 14 reps, using a resistance that causes the muscle to fatigue within that range. If you can easily do more reps then the resistance is too light. If it is so heavy that you cannot perform 6 good reps you are training for strength more than muscular hypertrophy.
The most important factor is your nutrition. Make sure you are consuming enough quality high nutrient calories to support muscle repair and growth.
I hope this helps you.

Aaron

I tend to workout whole body 3 times per week for about 45-50 minutes each session. I mostly hit all muscles groups everytime. For example if I go to a bodypump class, they tend to focus on certain body movements and not everything, so what would happen if I added another 10-15 minutes targeting muscles that have not been targeted? Will i be over training?

What about using high weights, low reps? Like using 15kgs/barbell and doing up to 5-6 reps...will this help for muscle mass?

I am very confused. There are two school of thoughts about weights, high-reps w/low weights for "definition/strength" and high weights, low-reps for muscle gain..

And I'd like both. How to incorporate that into program?

Go for high weights, low-rep twice a week
Go for low weights, high-reps once a week?

Would that help in muscle gain and definition?