Should I Do Doubles?

Posted by on Jan 26, 2015 in Workouts | 3 comments

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.

should I do doubles p90x p90x3 21 day fix insanity max30 t25

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:

doubles workout#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!

recovery and sleep

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.

WORKOUT MOMENTUMWhat 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

If you are like me though and you only have time for one workout per day, and you want to get the BEST results possible from that single workout each day… I teach you in my FREE 5 Day Bootcamp the HOW of getting extreme results, but you are actually going to learn how to PREVENT FAILURE as well! So enter your name and best email HERE to get your Day-1 Video!

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JackDaggett
JackDaggett

I've been waiting for your thoughts on this.  I LOVE doubles and even triples.  I have completed T25 Alpha-Beta-Gamma multiple times, P90X3 once, just finished Insanity MAX:30, and have dabbled with 21-Day Fix, Asylum Vol I & II and original P90X workouts.  


My wife has to be at work earlier than I do, so when she and I are done with the "scheduled" workout, I throw in another DVD.  Usually I'll put in a workout from another program, or follow a resistance workout with cardio, or an upper body workout with Triometrics or other lower-body workout.  Or sometimes for the bonus workout I'll just do 100 pullups, 200 pushups, yoga, or something else that takes the better part of a half hour.  


Then after work, my buddy Rodrigo usually wants to put in a random T25 Beta or P90X3 DVD once we got through the scheduled Alpha and Beta calendars.  He really needs the accountability of a workout buddy so I oblige.  Rush hour traffic here is so bad that I might as well kill time before trying to drive home anyway.  Morning workouts are the best but busting another one out after work always feels great.  


The scheduled T25 Double Friday initially got me into it - I could really feel plateaus being busted.  Admittedly, doing ANYTHING after a round of Max:30 took some mental discipline.  The various half-hour BB workouts are a good library of content to mix and match on the "bonus rounds", as I call the 2nd and 3rd workout.  If I miss the triple some days, I don't beat myself up and just hit it the next day - as long as I nail my primary and secondary workout I feel OK with it.


One Saturday last May, the guy who got me into BB workouts planned a huge BB fest before he moved away with his extensive BB library.  We did the following circuit back to back with only the time to switch DVDs and eat bananas and pound BCAAs in between:


P90X3 Cold Start

T25 Speed 3.0

Insanity Vol II Power Legs

Insanity Asylum Vol II Ab Shredder

20 minute Run

Insanity Asylum Vol II Championship Sudden Death OT

Box squats 5 sets

Deadlift 5 sets

Pull-ups 5x10

Insanity Asylum Vol I Strength


It took hours, but was a lot of fun and very educational.  We had been training hard and were ready for the challenge.  I guess I would do it again, but that Vol II stuff is HARD.  I think it would be fun to do all of T25 Alpha back-to-back in one session, then try Beta and Gamma and maybe P90X3. The yoga and Pilates would be a nice recovery.


I agree 100% that you must sleep and eat in order to sustain this, and get your supplementation right.  Fortunately, I enjoy sleeping and clean eating.  However, I am delighted with the aesthetic and functional results of doing multiples, as well as the mental toughening.  Heck, I'm 41!


MAX:30 Day 60 Progress photo from two weeks ago:


disavow
disavow

@JackDaggett Hey Jack do you have a blog that I can follow? Would love to keep up with what you are currently doing as far as workouts and such.

JackDaggett
JackDaggett

@disavow,  thanks for the comment! I just have an adventure-travel type blog,  but it is not really about fitness.  


I am about to start a one year assignment at an isolated facility with nothing to do,  an all you can eat dining facility and two large gyms. My goal is to gain 20lbs and end up at this same body fat percentage by the end of the assignment.  I plan to mostly use the more traditional beginner plans over at Bodybuilding.com for bulking interspersed with BB programs (esp Max:30) for cardio days and cutting phases. Added to this will be misc sessions of yoga,  swimming, jujitsu, and CrossFit to maintain functional fitness. 


I considered Body Beast but wanted to go with something heavier. I love my results from BB programs but I think they are more for losing weight and body fat % with mass gain as an afterthought.  


I will probably document this somehow,  but I don't know how yet.