Physical Fitness Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for physical fitness professionals, athletes, trainers, and those providing health-related needs. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I was wondering if there's a considerable impact towards calorie burning and weight reduction if you workout twice a day rather than pushing yourself and completing your workout schedule at one go.
E.g.: If your planned workout schedule is to jog for 1 hour a day, which is the most effective method? Jogging for 30 mins in the morning and another 30 mins in the evening? Or jogging for 1 hour straight and finishing the workout at once?
If you jog in the same pace and distance within that hour window, then the energy expended will be the same. For example, running 10 miles in 60 minutes will burn the same amount of energy/calories and running 5 miles in two 30 minutes bouts.
You might be able to run more often or faster if you split the workout in to two a day because you don't have the endurance to run a full 60 minutes. Maybe you can only run 9 miles in 60 minutes because you become really exhausted by the end, but you can run 5 miles in 30 minutes relatively easily. You can run 5 miles in 30 minutes, rest for 12 hours, then run another 5 miles in 30 minutes, then you'll burn more calories in total. The difference would be roughly 100 calories. So then you have to decide if the extra prep and cooldown time is worth it.
Then comes the question of how many calories burned after the workout. One study looked at the raised metabolism of people who cycled "vigorously" for 45 minutes. They found that their metabolism raised slightly for on average 14 hours which burned an additional 200 calories during that 14 hour period. The length of time, they note, depends on how intense and long the workout is.
So in theory, maybe, possibly, if you are a much stronger runner in 30 minute bouts, you could time it to run really hard for 30 minutes early in the morning. Rest for 12 hours. Then run really hard for 30 minutes in the evening. It may, possibly, burn a couple dozen extra calories. A thing to note is that running vigorously for 60 minutes straight would have a much longer afterburn so it most likely would be a wash-out anyway.
Overall, it mostly doesn't matter much because the difference between the two methods, if there is any, can be cleared with a single serving of Oreos. The method that you should choose is the one that you find most motivating and can fit your schedule. If you feel more motivated running for only 30 minutes compared to an hour, then choose the 30 minute two-a-days. If you feel more motivated doing the workout in an hour and getting it over with, then choose the 60 minute one-a-day.
