Will Weight Training Twice a Day Make You Stronger?

Although getting recommended amounts of exercise weekly can help increase your strength and muscle mass, too much of a good thing can hinder athletic performance. Weight training two times daily isn’t necessary to increase strength. However, depending on the muscle groups you’re training, two-a-day weight-training sessions may help make you stronger.

  1. Weight-Training Recommendations

    • The 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans suggests weight training at least two times weekly. The American College of Sports Medicine suggests training each of your main muscle groups two to three days per week. These muscle groups include your hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes, calves, abdomen, back, chest, shoulders, biceps and triceps.

    Importance of Rest

    • Although you can weight train more than two to three times weekly, the American Council on Exercise recommends waiting at least one day between weight-training sessions that work similar muscle groups. The American College of Sports Medicine suggests waiting 48 hours between weight-training sessions. Rest is important to help your muscles recover, repair and grow. However, if you work different muscle groups daily -- for example, if you train your legs in the morning and chest at night -- two-a-day workouts are acceptable and can help increase your strength.

    Getting Stronger

    • The amount of weight you lift and number of repetitions you perform weight training determine how strong you’ll get from working out, whether it be one or two times daily. To improve strength, the American Council on Exercise and the American College of Sports Medicine recommend completing eight to 12 repetitions for each set of exercises you perform. The last repetition should feel challenging, but allow you to use proper form.

    Overtraining Syndrome

    • While experienced weightlifters may be able to pull off two-a-day training sessions -- working different muscle groups at each session -- without getting burned out, novice exercisers should stick with one-a-day workouts initially to prevent overtraining syndrome. The University of New Mexico notes that overtraining can cause elevated cortisol levels in your body, which impairs muscle growth. If you’re weightlifting twice daily and experience symptoms of overtraining syndrome, it’s time to reduce your workload. Such symptoms include changes in mood and emotions, amenorrhea in women, decreased testosterone in men, tendinitis, stress fractures, chronic fatigue, decreased work capacity, muscle weakness and muscle soreness.