Downsides to multiple sessions?

[timelinex]

Outside of personal preferences, is there any evidence that splitting up a routine throughout the day has any negative effects?

I work at home right by my home gym. I think there are times when I could imagine fitting in an entire exercise block but I'm not sure if there are any big reasons not to? It would really help, time wise. Like I could do Bench Press in the morning, Squats during Lunch, and Deadlifts before dinner.

I could understand it would be bad for people that are very emotional lifters and have to get really in the mood and maybe even take pre-workout. I'm a pretty calm lifters (when not maxing) and don't take supplements pre workout.

What do you guys think?

[Renascent]

...I could do Bench Press in the morning, Squats during Lunch, and Deadlifts before dinner.

Frequency/intensity?

[timelinex]

...I could do Bench Press in the morning, Squats during Lunch, and Deadlifts before dinner.

Frequency/intensity?

Whatever would be expected from my routine if it was done all at once (although I imagine I may be able to lift a little more on the 2nd/3rd lifts when it's not right after other taxing big lifts)

[Famendoza1981]

Outside of personal preferences, is there any evidence that splitting up a routine throughout the day has any negative effects?

I work at home right by my home gym. I think there are times when I could imagine fitting in an entire exercise block but I'm not sure if there are any big reasons not to? It would really help, time wise. Like I could do Bench Press in the morning, Squats during Lunch, and Deadlifts before dinner.

I could understand it would be bad for people that are very emotional lifters and have to get really in the mood and maybe even take pre-workout. I'm a pretty calm lifters (when not maxing) and don't take supplements pre workout.

What do you guys think?

I’d do that for sure. I’m also pretty calm and I don’t do music at my home gym (mostly because I can’t be bothered to do setup) For SBS or Montana Method I wouldn’t have been able to workout otherwise. I don’t do it for 5/3/1 but that’s only because I can do the entire workout in 45 mins or less for now.

Breaking it up also seems quasi-grease the groove, only because you break up your workout throughout the day. I imagine you’re doing it mostly for time constraints and not to feel fresher between exercises.

[Hardartery]

Outside of personal preferences, is there any evidence that splitting up a routine throughout the day has any negative effects?

I work at home right by my home gym. I think there are times when I could imagine fitting in an entire exercise block but I'm not sure if there are any big reasons not to? It would really help, time wise. Like I could do Bench Press in the morning, Squats during Lunch, and Deadlifts before dinner.

I could understand it would be bad for people that are very emotional lifters and have to get really in the mood and maybe even take pre-workout. I'm a pretty calm lifters (when not maxing) and don't take supplements pre workout.

What do you guys think?

I don't see any issues with lifting that way, it might even be better. However, I'd be a little more concerned with exactly how many of you thee are, calm or not.

[Renascent]

Not sure if you're looking for anecdotes or studies, but I'm coming up short finding research on the topic...

[dw]

Greg Nuckols spoke about this once on the SBS podcast.

I think he said the only downside he could imagine is that if you are split up identical or similar movements across multiple sessions in the same day, you might wind up overreaching without realizing it (which is not a huge problem or anything).

The reason is that metabolic stress acts as a natural throttle on your ability to tax your muscles within a short time frame. So if you had been doing sets of leg extensions to failure with 1.5 m rests and you switch over to 1 hour rests, you will suddenly be doing a lot more high intensity reps, presumably more than you can recover from if your original work sets were well chosen.

[mgil]

Greg Nuckols spoke about this once on the SBS podcast.

I think he said the only downside he could imagine is that if you are split up identical or similar movements across multiple sessions in the same day, you might wind up overreaching without realizing it (which is not a huge problem or anything).

The reason is that metabolic stress acts as a natural throttle on your ability to tax your muscles within a short time frame. So if you had been doing sets of leg extensions to failure with 1.5 m rests and you switch over to 1 hour rests, you will suddenly be doing a lot more high intensity reps, presumably more than you can recover from if your original work sets were well chosen.

I'd agree with this notion.

The only thing I'd be cautious of is stacking up too much volume in the week.

If I were so inclined to split up training, I'd probably just do cardio/HIIT in the AM and then OLAD type Rx in the PM.

[broseph]

Cardio in AM

Main lift at lunch

Accessories in PM


ETA: Like everyone has said, you might be surprised by how fresh you feel for each mini session, and how much volume you can accumulate. Proceed with some caution.

[TheGloriousW]

In the aerobic world there are people who subscribe to bipolar training. Either hard or easy, and lots of easy. The idea is to manage when they put themselves into metabolic stress.

Maybe if you bench in the in the AM, squat midday, and DL later you be stressing yourself out 2 - 3 times a day and decreasing recovery time. Maybe not if you only lift 3x per week.

[timelinex]

Thanks for all the input guys. I'll let you know if I implement it and how it goes!

I'm surprised splitting things up isn't being pushed as an alternative to "more volume". I know 2x a day is used for very advance athletes that have run out of days, but I may have chosen splitting up some sessions at some points in my last career rather than adding sets. I remember some squat days REALLY taking it out of me.

[olekto]

Another point which I don't think has been covered is that a longer session might be better for general health. Getting your heart rate up for an hour or so might be better than 3 x 20 minutes, at least occasionally. Think better work capacity; can shovel gravel for longer or walk longer hikes or whatever.

[CheekiBreekiFitness]

I have tried a version of this myself, each of my session (I train 4x a week) is about 2 hours so I would split them in 2 half sessions of 1 hour and it was always better that way. The only constraint is that you need to find two slots of 1 hour in your day where you are "in the mood" for lifting.

As far as evidence goes, if anything, there's a lot of (anecdotal) evidence that 2x a days work better than 1x a day (I'm thinking of high level bodybuilders and weightlifters).