Two-A-Days: Good or Bad Idea?

Hi there! My name is Claire from Dine-and-Dash and I am so excited Xtina asked me to guest blog for her while she is away in NYC! (Lucky girl)

I first came across Hungry Meets Healthy when Xtina posted “Confessions of a Year of Singledom.” I laughed so hard I almost had to refrain from reading her blog while I was at work. After that, Hungry Meets Healthy became a regular on my blog roll and I welcomed her humor, wit and recipes into my life daily. If you are reading this, you clearly know how infectious she is…

Today I’m going to be talking to you about “Two-a-Days.” Not only is this a hilarious show on MTV with some very hot looking, albeit illegal for me, high-school boys, but it is also the act of going to the gym, or working out twice in one day. Do we think this is good or bad?

After doing some research, it looks like working out twice in one day is not considered bad for you at all and can even be dubbed beneficial if done the right way and with the right attitude.

Here are some rules to abide by when you find yourself wanting to tone up fast by resorting to “two-a-days.”

1. Time your workouts. Try a morning session and the second session should be in the evening or late afternoon.

2. Make sure you're eating enough food. Healthy food. Cook an 8oz. piece of fish or meat for extra protein followed by carbs 30 minutes later. Remember you're not only replacing the calories you burned, but also preparing your muscles for what workout lies ahead.

3. Get enough rest between workouts. Studies say a 20 minute nap can make you more alert and energetic afterwards.

If you are bored with your current routine, try two workouts per day for one week, resting for 2 days minimum. Please note to rest muscle groups for 48 hours is possible. The last thing you want to do is overwork your back or chest twice in 24 hours. (source)

This information was partially selfish for me to research. My wedding is roughly 70 days away and “stuff is getting real” to say the least! I may have to test this “two-a-day” theory out, the work-outs not the boys, just to see just how long I can put off not eating at Salsaritas. ;)

One way I am planning on tracking how effective my work-outs are for the next several weeks is to get started with Dailymile. I’ve recently found this on other healthy living blogs, particularly Your Food Smiles and think it’s a great idea! Basically, it is a “twitter-like approach for logging…training activities.” Talk about motivation!

You can log how many miles you’ve run per week as well as your pace and a how you felt. Of course you can log any other work-outs as well. You can create your profile and even share it via Facebook, your blog and Twitter.

Well ta-ta for now, I hope I was somewhat a worthy guest blogger for our girl Christina! Let’s cross our fingers she is all bringing us back something from H&M, shall we??