How many days a week should you lift weights? In the past few months, there has been a strong argument put out for lifting less during the week for offseason training. Normal logic has the majority of coaches opting for the 4x per week method: More lifting with sufficient rest = bigger gains. However, two leaders in the S&C field - with a lot of success to their names - have strongly advocated for reexamining why we train our athletes in the weight room that one extra day.

Recently, Training and Conditioning Magazine published the High School S&C issue where they interviewed top strength coaches at the high school level. One of the interviewees, Mark Asanovich, is a former NFL head strength coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars. He now coaches at Minnetonka High School after he and his wife decided to depart from the NFL for more job security. Many coaches may recognize Mark's name from his mention in Ron McKeefery's book CEO Strength Coach. Coach Asanovich actually hired Ron McKeefery as an intern and assistant strength coach. This is what McKeefery has to say today: "I can honestly say that I would not be the coach I am today without having been exposed to Coach Asanovich's program early in my career."

Here is what Asanovich says about workout frequency: "Generally, I train the entire body 2x per week and encourage a third workout on a voluntary basis. If they're busting it out twice a week, that's usually all they'll need."

Mark Asanovich

"I always tell other strength coaches to look for the irreducible minimum: If you're training the athletes four times a week, reduce it to three times and see what happens. If you get the same results, why go the extra day? When I first got here, our athletes were training three days a week. I cut it back to two, and our results improved."

Although that is a high school example, the principle still applies in a collegiate setting as evidence by Allen Hedrick, head strength and conditioning coach at Colorado State University - Pueblo.

Coach Hedrick's career is an unusually successful one. In the 8th year of the football program's existence under him, they won the D-II National Title - a feat that is virtually unheard of. Since then, he has been highly sought after for his advice which is when he is quick to point out that there is no magic bullet. However, his first talking point revolves around training 3x per week as opposed to the traditional 4x that is commonly seen in college football strength programs.

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"Our football athletes train three times per week during the offseason, which is a change from the way I used to schedule lifts. At the US Air Force Academy, I had the guys training four times per week. However, over time, some of our big skills position athletes reached a point where they were plenty strong to compete at a high level, and continuing to emphasize strength gains was a waste of time."

"As a result, I dropped lifting for big skill positions to three days a week. We found that despite having one less day in the weight room and not emphasizing strength gains, these players continued to get stronger. Thus, the 3x per week plan became permanent. After all, why spend four days in the weight room when you can get the same results in three?"

Allen Hedrick

Additionally, Hedrick said the open day that was created was utilized critically for speed, agility, recovery, and quickness. A player can be strong enough, but an athlete can never be fast enough.

"The difference between squatting 505 lbs. and 500 lbs. doesn't show up on the field for a defensive lineman. However, dropping from a 40-yd. dash time from 5.0 seconds to 4.8 makes an impact."

Hedrick goes on to say that he creates a primary and secondary goal for their undulating periodization which is made up of 7 training cycles. 2 of the 3 weekly lifts are focused on the primary goal while the third is focused on the secondary goal.

How do you view the workout frequency on a weekly basis? Does it matter if you coach college vs. high school?

Please share you answers in the comment section!

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