Can i lift weights in the same muscle group more than once a day?

Question

I know it is bad to lift and workout the same muscles two days in a row, but can i lift in the morning and at night? For instance is it ok to do three sets of chest presses in the morning and then do more chest press and pushups later that evening?

Answer 1

there is only so much stimulation that is needed, anymore is of no benefit so there are no advantages to training the same body part twice in one day. now you can work out a muscle 2 days in a row. but that would be only if you are training at a very low intensity using loads that are around 60% or less of your 1 rep max. using training loads this light does not induce microtrauma to skeletal muscle.

if you are training at a high level of intensity then you can do what is called active recovery the day after a heavy training session. basically what you do is use about 60% of the training load that was used the previous day, this will insure that no micotrauma is induced to the muscle and impede recovery. you want to perform high reps and really just get a pump. this increases blood flow to the areas which increases the levels of oxygen and nutrients which speed recovery.

when I do active recovery I usually choose 2 compound movement per body part and do 2 sets of about 30 reps with about 60% of the training load

Answer 2

Only if your not feeling any "uncomfortableness" while doing it. I would not suggest doing more than 3 sets of bench presses a day. In the morning if you were to bench, at night do one handed pushups or flys (IF you are not feeling pain). Just remember in the morning drink some sort of high protein drink (even milk with some of that carnation breakfast stuff if you're not into the whey), so you can have some muscle recovery. But, I would suggest doing the same muscle group once a day if possible.

Answer 3

No. It can actually cause your muscles to grow slower. You must allow you muscles time to recover before hitting them again. In general, you will need to wait at least two days for full recovery. Remember that when you lift, you are causing microtears in the muscle fiber. This needs to heal completely prior to lifting again. Good Luck!!

Answer 4

Although "racemoid" has a good answer, more specifically it would depend on how much weight you're talking about, and how many reps you're talking about. You say "three sets" but I'm not sure exactly how many reps you're including in a set. And I don't know how much weight you're talking about, not so much an exact weight as much as how close to your max is it. "racemoid" is right in that you are going through your "repair" mode after exercising, but the degree of "repair" you need varies with the amount of stress you're applying. I had to think of that in my bicycle racing days, and I have to admit I wasn't all that "cool headed" about it back then, since I was a VERY AVID bicyclist and had to develop my own training schedule, so I might ride an average of 200-250 miles per week. Considering I wasn't trying out for the Tour de France, that was considered excessive by many, including my physician and my wife, and my secretary, and a lot of my friends, but then . . . "what did they know", lol. Do what feels good to ya, but be careful not to overdo it, as racemoid was referring to. God Bless you.

Answer 5

No, you've already begun the repairing process. It won't help you.