Should I Do Doubles?

I get the question “Should I do doubles for better results?“, constantly. And there are plenty of programs that include a double schedule as an option; P90X, 21 Day Fix, P90X3, etc…but what I want to address is the misconception that less is more.

What I have found in my experience as a team beachbody coach over the last 3+ years is that the people who attempt a doubles schedule QUIT waaaaaaaaaaay sooner than the people who are doing just one workout per day. Now I am not saying that this is true 100% of the time for every person who attempts a doubles workout schedule, but lets call it 97.345% of the time…it holds true.

So why aren’t the people who are putting in more work getting better results???

I am soooo glad you asked, because before you think about rockin out to 2 P90X3 workouts per day or 2 T25 workouts per day, there are a few things that you might not have yet considered!

 

Should I Do Doubles? | P90X, 21Day Fix, P90X3, Insanity, MAX30, T25

So there are actually 3 VERY IMPORTANT things that you are going to want to incorporate into your planning when doing a doubles workout schedule. If you dont…well, you risk over-training, injury, sickness, and weight GAIN! Lets take a look at each one:

#1 Fueling The Fire – If you are going to be doing two workouts per day, the Beachbody nutrition guides do not usually account for this. Depending on what workout you are doing and how many calories you are burning during each workout, you are going to want to increase your calorie intake by 200-400 calories per day when doing doubles. (This is my opinion and of course – all the legal jargon…you assume all risk in following my advice).

From what I have seen with my own team members, when keeping their calorie intake low and not adding in some fuel for that extra workout; their energy levels tank and they end up quitting or getting sick and having to stop which makes it difficult to start back up again. Check out the Nutrition Zone for a ton of solid info.

#2 Sleep MORE – When doing doubles, you are going to be putting your body through hell and you need to give it a chance to recover and repair. Thats why when slammin two workouts per day, you need to be getting a minimum of 8 hours per sleep per night. If you cant commit to that, then dont do doubles! What will happen is you will end up straining yourself during your workouts and most likely injure yourself. Its not worth it…unless of course you got one of those space age foam mattresses – I’d find all kinds of excuses to spend more time on one of those!

To add to the crappiness of getting injured, without the proper amount of sleep, you’re cortisol levels are going to increase as a result of increased stress on your body…when this happens, your body clings on to fat like Justin Beiber clings to the hope of one day becoming a man.

#3 Momentum Is Key – This is something that a lot of people underestimate. This is a huge factor in whether or not you finish the program. There is something about crossing those days off the calendar when you finish your workouts that motivates you to keep on pressing play the next day.

What I have seen happen with our team members who have done doubles, is that they do their first workout, and maybe because of #1 and #2 or a combination of them, they dont do their second workout and end up getting discouraged. They might hit both workouts the next day, but then the excuses come…”Its been a crazy day and I seriously dont have time to workout, and I did doubles yesterday anyways so I’m good”. Once you start skipping workouts because you did doubles earlier in the week…the chance of you using that excuse again increases. We have over 4000 members of RIPPEDCLUB and I can count on one hand how many people have completed an entire program on a doubles schedule…Just do one workout per day and be satisfied that you nailed it and use that feeling to press on into the next day!

 

My Final Thoughts On Doubles

Yes you can do them, but know what you are getting yourself into. Make sure you ACTUALLY have the time, get the 8 hours sleep, up the calories…all of these things have to be in place to ensure you have success with a doubles workout schedule with these crazy programs. My recommendation as I stated earlier, is – get your one workout in which will still get you phenomenal results – I have NEVER done a doubles schedule and I am not complaining.

I also want to hear from you guys! If you HAVE completed a round of P90X, X3, Insanity, T25, 21 Day Fix, MAX30 or any other Beachbody workout – Please post in the comments below and let us know how you did. and maybe you can share some tips that worked for you!

Now its time to DIG DEEP, BRING IT, PUSH…All that stuff 🙂

Coach Todd