I made a big decision and signed up for F45 Training, with the intention of doing two workouts per day. (Yes, it was brutally hard, and expensive, and it didn’t last for too long.)
I realized that working out twice a day has its benefits, but in the long term, I was feeling weaker, not stronger.
My F45 twice-a-day workout schedule
The following workout plan is the one I’ve been trying to stick to since about 1 month into doing F45 two-a-day.
Monday
- Rest day
Tuesday
- Rest day
Wednesday
- Cardio day
- 45-minute morning class
- 45-minute late afternoon class
Thursday
- Rest day
Friday
- Rest day
Saturday
- Hybrid day
- I did two 45-minute morning classes, back to back
Sunday
- Resistance day
- I did two 45-minute morning classes, back to back
On weekends I had more time so I could handle two sessions, back to back.
Doing F45 twice a day was challenging but doable, as long as I wasn’t doing it for 7 days a week.
For two sessions a day I normally had 1-2 days off in between for recovery. I would not recommend this approach if you’re a beginner.
Benefits I’ve experienced doing F45 Training twice a day
- I could eat more
- Improved my fitness
- It saved me a lot of time
- It was challenging and fun
I could eat more
I loved doing two F45 workouts on the same day because I could eat as much as I want. Saturday was my cheat day (you bet I wasn’t eating salad on that day).
Here’s photo of me grilling steaks on Saturday afternoon after doing two F45 wokoruts.
According to my LionHeart heart rate monitor, I was hitting over 45 points per class and burning over 1800 calories.
This way I could enjoy eating all kinds of foods like (steaks, shrimp, burgers, and ice cream) without feeling guilty.
It improved my fitness
Going to F45 twice per day was difficult, but over time I’ve noticed my performance and fitness level improved.
For each session, I was wearing my LionHeart heart rate monitor, as well as a WHOOP strap.
After the sessions, I was able to analyze my workouts via the Whoop app and the Functional 45 Training App.
According to my metrics, my heart rate variability went up, as well as my resting heart rate.
This made me believe that I can do F45 twice a day, as long as I have enough recovery time either before or after my workouts.
It saved me a bunch of time
I’ve become a weekend warrior. For most days, my work schedule was packed with early mornings and late nights so I wasn’t able to hit the gym regularly between Monday to Friday.
The only thing I was able to do is to stretch and do some yoga at home. The only time I had for full wokrout was Wednesday.
Then I went to the F45 studio twice on Saturday and Sunday.
It was like a weekly challenge
Pushing my body to do two workouts per day was like a weekly challenge, and almost like a ritual. Facing challenges and navigating my way through hard exercise builds resilience capacity.
Psychologically, it helped me to develop mental toughness and gave me the confidence to overcome any obstacle. I wasn’t doing it for the praise. I was doing it to feel good.
Drawbacks I’ve experienced doing F45 twice a day
- I was feeling sore and tired
- I wasn’t pushing it hard enough
- I got a shoulder injury
- My weekends were scheduled around my workouts
- I didn’t get better results
I was feeling sore and tired
After doing two F45 sessions per day, my muscles were extremely sore. After a couple of months, all those HIIT workouts made my muscles short and painful.
I remember that my IT band was so stiff that I couldn’t flex my leg above knee level.
Everything hurt. I had to spend extra time on Sunday using a foam roller and massage balls because all my muscles were sore.
If I didn’t stretch or foam roll immediately after the Saturday double F45 session, or on a Sunday morning, my lower back and my neck started to suffer.
This was the worst because all next week I had to sit behind my desk with a sore back.
I wasn’t pushing it hard enough
After a couple of months of doing double F45 sessions, I started to “take it easy” and haven’t been pushing my body to keep up the intensity of the class.
I was feeling progressively weaker, and the body’s response was to lower my energy.
The first few weeks were fine.
However, after a while I was taking more rest between rounds, picking up lower weight, and always finding a way to do fewer reps than I should.
“DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) which happens after strenuous physical activity has a negative impact on athletic performance,” says Karoline Cheung, Ph.D., a lecturer at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand.
That feeling when my body was sore had not only had a bad influence on my emotional state, but also reduced my range of motion, and lower strength, and changed my biomechanics.
I was so tired and sore that I couldn’t do exercises with the correct technique.
I got a shoulder injury
After a few weeks, I noticed a slight discomfort in my left shoulder. This was the biggest bummer of doing double F45 sessions. However, I disregard this symptom and kept pushing further on sessions and challenges.
Here’s photo where I can barely lift my hand above my shoulder.
The problem with my shoulder wasn’t just the F45 class. It was the combination of sitting work where I would spend most of my days in a slouched position.
Sitting have a negative impact on the posture, especially shoulder range of motion.
Rounding my shoulders lead to internal rotation, and with a high training volume of (especially in my upper body), it didn’t took long for the injury to occur.
I won’t go into the details about this incident here. I’ve already written an article where I described why I quit F45, which I recommend you read.
My weekends were build around my training
Hitting two F45 sessions on Saturday forced me to design my whole day around wokrouts. I couldn’t have a few drinks on Friday night with my friends and woke up late because my class was starting at 9 am.
I wasn’t able to snooze and stay in bed with my wife because we had to rush through the doors to catch the morning session.
I couldn’t visit my parent’s house for the weekend and skip the workout because that was the only exercise during my week.
I could also forget about going for a weekend break with my wife because I would miss the class. To be honest, I felt like I couldn’t do anything because I had to go to the F45 and train.
I didn’t get better results
After two F45 sessions per day, I started to have bigger cravings for food during the week. Instead of eating two meals per day, I was eating 3 meals, sometimes even 4, and still felt hungry at the time.
Plus, I also gained some weight because my Saturday cheat days turned into cheat weeks. I noticed that when my body gets tired I don’t have enough energy so I use food as a way to lift myself up.
I was also drinking more coffee than before to stay awake.
How to do two F45 classes in one day?
- One session in the morning and one in the evening.
- Two sessions one after another (back to back).
If you choose to do two separate workouts, it’s important to wait for at least four to six hours between sessions, according to the article published in International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance.
Training twice a day is nothing new. A lot of marathon runners, triathlon athletes, soccer players, and even bodybuilders train twice per day.
However, they follow a structured program that is designed not only to enhance their performance but also not to compromise on recovery.
One session in the morning and one in the evening
Here is the sample workout plan for doing an F45 twice a day at separate times.
| Day | Type of workout |
|---|---|
| Monday | Rest |
| Tuesday | Rest |
| Wednesday | Morning F45 + Afternoon F45 |
| Thursday | Active recovery |
| Friday | Rest |
| Saturday | Morning F45 + Afternoon F45 |
| Sunday | Active recovery |
I suggest having one active recovery day the following day after your two-a-day session because it helps to enhance recovery.
According to one study, “low-impact exercise is the most effective means of alleviating pain during DOMS.”
This may help you feel better the next day and ensure you have enough power in the tank to repeat the workout two days later.
As an active recovery, I often like to do any low-impact exercise like walking, swimming, hiking, or dancing.
Two sessions one after another (back to back)
Here is the sample workout plan for doing a double F45 session, back to back.
| Day | Type of workout |
|---|---|
| Monday | Rest |
| Tuesday | Double session (2x 45 minutes class) |
| Wednesday | Rest |
| Thursday | Active recovery |
| Friday | Double session (2x 45 minutes class) |
| Saturday | Rest |
| Sunday | Active recovery |
As you can see in the table above, the double F45 session can be done even twice a week, assuming you have enough recovery before and after.
How often should you do F45?
According to the randomized controlled trial recently published in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, “twice-daily sessions result in greater muscle strength and similar muscle hypertrophy compared to once-daily sessions in resistance-trained men.”
My workouts were all over the place.
One week I could go crazy and train for 3-4 days, and two weeks later I would go just once. Some weeks ive managed to get more done but once I had to travel for work, I could only train on the weekends.
My thoughts on doing F45 twice a day
In the short term, training at the F45 twice per day was amazing and I felt almost addicted to it. However, over the long term, I felt like my body was falling apart. (I don’t regret it.)
Doing F45 twice a day beasue it taught me some valuable lessons.
First is that I don’t have to do high-intensity interval training to see better results.
Second is that I feel much better mentally if I relax during the weekend and don’t put more stress on my body. This means I needed to find ways to plug in some type of physical activity during my busy week.
Now I have more time for myself and my wife during the weekends.