Well, I’ll have to talk to my Dad to get the details on what exactly the double-ups do for you, and when (or if) you should use them. For me, I had a few goals in mind that made me decide I wanted to do double-ups.
For the past week or two (before I started double-ups) I have been exercising, but not with enough regularity or intensity to promote weight loss. I was just maintaining. I was certainly feeling a drop in energy and progress.
I’d have to say the initial reason I chose to do it is to really kick up my metabolism, and more importantly, to help burn all that fat away. I’ve known before that splitting your workouts into two throughout the day is an excellent way to keep things rolling along, and ultimately burn more calories.
My Dad told me the main focus on these double-up days should be to maximize cardio. That makes sense, since I’d probably collapse if I were doing weight training everyday that much!
Also, when I’m working out twice a day, it really re-wires my brain in terms of what I eat. It’s like night and day - after 2 days of doing these double-ups, my body is just screaming for salads, veggies, fruits, meats… more than I’ve ever felt before. And because I’m spending so much time devoted sweating each day, it’s almost like I can’t “forget” to stay on my diet. It’s a constant reminder of my goals at hand.
You said you need to tune up your diet a little bit, right? Do you find that you eat relatively better now that you’re consistently exercising? Or do you still have the same old struggles? Depending on how you feel your body’s food cravings react to your exercise levels, 2 workouts a day (for a couple days, or every other day) might help with that.
I think the nature of the double-up (at least from what I can gather) is just a temporary burst of concentrated workouts to boost you to a new level. I’d imagine it might help with plateaus as well, since your body will be faced with a new physical challenge instead of the same routine. For me, it’s also largely a mental boost. If I can do this, then I am back on top of my goals (and not ‘stuck’ like I had felt). I guess you could say it resets your mind and body?
I’ll try to get some more info for you. But I’m guessing it’s not so much who should do double-ups, rather who wants to do it, and how they can personally benefit from it.
