Exercise enthusiasts, listen up! If you’re working toward a fitness goal, you’re likely game to introduce something new into your routine to shake things up and speed up your progress. Well, there’s a fitness trend people on TikTok swear by to get better results at the gym: “two-a-day” workouts. This training method calls for you to split a longer workout into two shorter sessions in one day, where you can potentially focus on different muscle groups and enjoy a solid rest in between.

Now, you may be thinking, “I have a hard enough time keeping up with working out once a day, and you’re suggesting twice a day?” Hear us out. We spoke with a fitness pro and learned the many advantages of working out two times a day. As with any new tweak in your workouts, this particular method may not be for everyone. Check it out, consider chatting with a personal trainer, and decide for yourself.

How to plan a “two-a-day” workout:

Doing two workouts in one day can be incredibly beneficial compared to a single session. “The primary advantage is being able to hit multiple types of workouts in a single day,” explains Tyler Read, BSc, CPT, the founder of PTPioneer.com and a personal trainer who has been involved in the health and fitness world for the past 15 years.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

An example would be splitting it up into two separate workouts instead of performing a “marathon workout” of 90 to 120 minutes. Consider working on two different body parts, or perform cardio for one session and lift weights for session number two.

“Similarly, skill-based athletes can perform a skill-based workout (i.e., soccer training) in one session and then strength training in a different section, allowing more focus and recovery for each workout,” Read points out.

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TikTok user and online fitness coach George (@georgegatsby3) shared his two-a-day workout routine in a video, explaining, “because I wanted to get really right for summer.” He noted he also wanted to “test himself” because he hadn’t performed two-a-days in a while. His morning routine consists of a protein shake, creatine, and 6 a.m. cardio and ab training. The afternoon routine is all about weight training to build muscle.

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How two-a-day workouts can help you achieve better results:

Depending on what you’re looking to achieve, doing two-a-day workouts can be very beneficial. Read explains, “[Two-a-days can help you hit] smaller muscle groups you don’t have time or energy for during your current lifting sessions. As mentioned, if you are an athlete splitting up strength and conditioning from your technique/skill-focused training, this is also a wise move.”

That being said, in some cases, two-a-day workouts that highlight different fitness goals could clash. Read provides an example: If you’re trying to maximize your muscle build, then a cardio workout may not be the best pairing with weight training on the same day. “Cardio itself, in this instance, will potentially reduce your muscle gains, depending on all the factors,” Read explains.

Cardio for health reasons, of course, is always a good addition to any workout regimen.

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Are two-a-day workouts safe?

If you’re a fitness newbie, Read stresses that two-a-day workouts may not be the ideal training method for you. “You are better off aiming for three to four consistent days per week doing a single workout,” he says.

Two-a-day sessions are really meant for athletes who are more experienced and have sufficient time to dedicate to the recovery process and the workouts themselves, Read explains. These athletes tend to have a professional coach monitoring their workout strategy and fatigue, or they’re very well-seasoned in gauging their own overall training program.

“Additionally, the true means of getting transformational results is the long-term (i.e., years) of consistency in the gym,” Read adds. “Two workouts per day for multiple days per week is not realistic for most people over extended periods of time. It’s important to consider that those who claim to do two per-day workouts may or may not do this long term, have other life obligations, or have other supplementation or inputs that allow them to train at this level and adequately recover.”

If you’re not at an advanced fitness level and your goal is to build muscle, Read recommends training three to four days each week, once per day, for a minimum of six months, before starting a two-a-day workout regimen.

Alexa Mellardo

Ever since college, Brad Jobling struggled with his weight, fluctuating between a low of 155 pounds when he was in his 30s to as high as 220. He spent a decade tracking calories on WeightWatchers, but the pounds he dropped always crept back onto his 5-foot-5-inch frame.

A little over a year ago, the 58-year-old Manhattan resident went on a new weight-loss drug called semaglutide (Wegovy). He’s lost 30 pounds, and has started eating healthier food and exercising — the habits behind many commercial diet plans and decades of conventional wisdom on sustainable weight loss.

Yet Jobling’s experience also has altered his perspective on dieting. He now sees obesity as a disease that requires medical intervention, not just behavioral changes. In fact, he thinks he will need to stay on a drug like semaglutide for the rest of his life even though it has taken some of the joy out of eating.

“I don’t see how you can maintain (the weight) without medication,” Jobling said. “Obviously, it’s all about self-control. But I think it’s less of a struggle to really maintain healthy eating when you got that assistance.”

Like the lives of the people taking them, recent injected drugs like semaglutide, which was first approved for diabetes under the brand name Ozempic, are reshaping the U.S. health and fitness industries. They have proven successful in eliminating unwanted pounds more quickly and easily than consuming fewer and burning more calories alone. Such is their disruptive power that even established diet companies like WeightWatchers and brands like Lean Cuisine are getting makeovers.

Although celebrities like Oprah Winfrey have spoken publicly of the drugs as revolutionary, some health experts worry that businesses without any expertise will start dispensing the prescription medications along with bad advice and unproven therapies.

A Demand Too Big to Ignore

At least 3 million prescriptions for the class of medications known as glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists were issued each month in the U.S. during the 12 months that ended in March, according to data from health technology company IQVIA. They include semaglutide and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound). Morgan Stanley research analysts have estimated that 24 million people, or 7% of the U.S. population, will be using GLP-1 drugs by 2035.

The world’s leading diet programs have taken note of such statistics and incorporated the popular drugs into their existing subscription plans.

WeightWatchers, which was founded in 1963, last year acquired telehealth provider Sequence, enabling members to get prescriptions for weight-loss drugs. WeightWatchers is sticking with its focus on behavior change as the cornerstone of weight reduction but launched virtual clinics that provide customized exercise and nutrition plans, as well as prescription care, for individuals who want to lose 20% of their body weight on average.

“The weight loss space will be led by the acknowledgement that weight loss is a matter of healthcare,” WeightWatchers CEO Sima Sistani told analysts earlier this year. “This is a paradigm shift because weight loss has been and, unfortunately, often still is viewed as a vanity issue.”

The Mayo Clinic, which first offered a weight management plan in book form in 1949, has published an updated version of the longtime bestseller, titled “The Mayo Clinic Diet: Weight-Loss Medications Edition.”

The Mayo Clinic Diet program also has expanded to include access to weight-loss drugs and advice on managing any side effects, according to Digital Wellness CEO Scott Penn, whose company developed an online platform for the original program.

The new drugs have made being very overweight “feel more medical as a condition,” he said.

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Luxury athletic club operator Life Time launched a membership program last year that offers comprehensive medical testing, personalized training, and a host of alternative therapies like cryotherapy. Members of the Miora program also can get semaglutide and other weight-loss drugs through the medical staff of a clinic that opened in Minneapolis last year.

Jeff Zwiefel, executive director of Life Time Miora, called the new drugs a “game changer” for the fitness industry.

“We have an opportunity and an obligation and a responsibility to help people achieve results in conjunction with medical providers and make sure that that’s the way to go,” he said.

Fitness chains are banking on the idea people on the drugs will lose enough weight to overcome any self-consciousness or physical limits that kept them from exercising. The gym franchise Equinox started a new personal training program in January for prescription-holders who want to preserve or build muscle mass as they shed unwanted pounds.

The world of drug-assisted weight loss also is altering the ambitions of food companies. Sales of SlimFast, a line of meal replacement shakes and snacks sold at supermarkets, have dropped as people turn to weight-loss drugs and retailers cut shelf space for diet products, the brand’s parent company, Glanbia, told investors in February.

Since the drugs suppress the appetites of people taking them, Glanbia and other companies are marketing their products as a source of adequate nutrients for people taking GLP-1s. Swiss multinational Nestle SA thinks it can benefit from the drugs’ popularity and is expanding its Lean Cuisine frozen meals and OPTIFAST protein shakes.

“Diets are cool again,” Nestle SA CEO Ulf Mark Schneider told analysts in February. “It’s something that people used to do quietly on the side, uncertain about their outcomes.”

Promising Results and a Wealth of Unknowns

Research has shown that about a third of people lose 5% or more of their body weight with diet and exercise alone, according to Louis Aronne, MD, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medical school. In comparison, tirzepatide helped people with obesity or who are overweight lose at least a quarter of their weight when combined with restricted calories and exercise, a new study showed.

But some experts worry about businesses marketing the drugs or serving as fitness coaches for patients on the medications. Cian Wade, BMBCh, MPH, a healthcare consultant for the global strategy and management firm Kearney, said he’s concerned about a proliferation of clinics that don’t have as much experience with obesity and related health conditions.

“There’s a potential worry that for some patients, (the clinics) will not have the right expertise at hand to be able to appropriately manage the side effects, nutrition-related issues,” he said.

Since GLP-1 medications are so new, it’s unclear how many patients will stick with their drug regimens, which produce intolerable side effects for some people. Another reason patients may drop the drugs is cost. A month’s supply of the weight-loss formulation of semaglutide costs $1,300, and tirzepatide’s is priced at $1,000.

‘The New Version of Me’

Lisa Donahey, 54, an actress and singer who lives in Los Angeles, started tirzepatide under a doctor’s care a year ago to address her type 2 diabetes. At the time, Donahey, who is 5-foot-7-inches tall, weighed 260 pounds and was a veteran of diet plans like Jenny Craig, WeightWatchers, and Nutrisystem.

Her weight has since dropped to a little less than 190 pounds. She goes to a gym. After always being cast as a character actor, she’s looking for new roles. Having used the medication to give her “a kick-start,” Donahey said she plans to wean herself off tirzepatide once she loses another 40 pounds.

“I had a sense of hopelessness that I was destined to be this way and just could not do it by myself,” she said. “Now, with my weight being managed and the new version of ‘me’ is emerging, I just feel so empowered, excited, and hopeful.”