One of the biggest challenges athletes face during their competitive season isn’t figuring out whether they should train.
It’s figuring out when they should train.
A week filled with practices, games, tournaments, travel, school, and other responsibilities can make a traditional strength-training schedule difficult to maintain.
That’s why athletes shouldn’t simply follow the same workout schedule every week.
In-season training needs to be built around the competition schedule.
The goal is to maintain strength and athleticism while making sure the athlete is recovered enough to perform when it matters.
Why Your In-Season Schedule Needs to Change
During the off-season, strength training may be one of the primary physical demands placed on an athlete.
During the season, it is only one piece of the workload.
Athletes may already be accumulating stress through:
- Practices
- Games
- Conditioning
- Team workouts
- Travel
- Tournaments
- School
- Other physical activities
If strength training is added on top without considering everything else, total workload can become excessive.
The solution isn’t necessarily to stop training.
It’s to manage the total training stress.
Start With the Competition Schedule
Before deciding when an athlete should lift, look at the entire week.
Ask:
- When are the games?
- Which practices are hardest?
- Which days involve travel?
- When are the athlete’s longest or most demanding sessions?
- When does the athlete typically feel most recovered?
- Are there back-to-back competitions?
- Is this a normal week or a tournament week?
Only after answering those questions should you decide where strength training belongs.
A Simple Rule: Hard Days and Easy Days
One useful way to organize an athlete’s week is to distinguish between high-stress days and lower-stress days.
High-stress days may include:
- Games
- Hard practices
- Conditioning sessions
- Heavy strength sessions
Lower-stress days may include:
- Recovery
- Mobility
- Light technical work
- Shorter strength sessions
- Rest
This doesn’t mean every week needs to follow a perfect pattern.
It means athletes should avoid accidentally creating several high-stress days in a row without enough recovery.
Example: Athlete With One Game Per Week
Let’s say an athlete has:
- Monday: Practice
- Tuesday: Strength training
- Wednesday: Practice
- Thursday: Strength training
- Friday: Rest
- Saturday: Game
- Sunday: Recovery
That may provide enough separation between major training demands for the athlete to recover.
But the schedule isn’t automatically right simply because it looks good on paper.
The athlete’s response matters.
Example: Athlete With Two Games Per Week
Now consider:
- Monday: Practice
- Tuesday: Game
- Wednesday: Recovery
- Thursday: Practice
- Friday: Strength training
- Saturday: Game
- Sunday: Recovery
Trying to force two or three additional demanding lifting sessions into this schedule may create more fatigue than benefit.
The strength-training dose needs to reflect the competition load.
Example: Tournament Week
Tournament weeks require an entirely different mindset.
An athlete may compete multiple times over a short period, sometimes on consecutive days.
During these weeks, the priority is usually:
Performance → Recovery → Maintenance
rather than trying to make major strength gains.
Strength training may be reduced substantially or replaced with shorter maintenance sessions depending on the athlete and schedule.
When Should Athletes Lift?
There isn’t one universal answer.
But there are a few principles worth following.
Give High-Intensity Work Enough Separation
If an athlete has a major competition approaching, avoid unnecessarily creating soreness or fatigue immediately beforehand.
The exact timing depends on the sport, athlete, and training program.
Consider the Most Demanding Practice
Not every practice is equal.
A light technical practice may place very little stress on the body.
A full-speed practice with conditioning, contact, or extensive scrimmaging may be much more demanding.
Strength training should account for that difference.
Don’t Automatically Avoid Lifting Before Competition
The idea that athletes should never lift close to a game is overly simplistic.
The issue is not simply whether an athlete lifted.
It’s what they did, how much they did, and how their body responded.
A short, appropriately designed session may be very different from a high-volume workout.
What Should an In-Season Workout Look Like?
In-season workouts should generally be efficient.
A session might include:
1. Warm-Up
Prepare the body for the movements ahead.
This may include:
- Dynamic mobility
- Activation
- Movement preparation
- Low-level plyometrics
2. Primary Strength Movement
Choose one major movement that addresses an important strength quality.
Examples:
- Squat variation
- Hinge variation
- Press
- Pull
3. Secondary Movement
Add another movement that complements the primary exercise.
4. Single-Leg or Sport-Specific Work
Address individual needs and potential weaknesses.
5. Core or Trunk Work
Build strength and stability relevant to the athlete’s sport.
6. Mobility or Recovery
Finish with targeted mobility or recovery work when appropriate.
The workout should accomplish what the athlete needs without unnecessary volume.
What If an Athlete Is Already Tired?
This is where individualized coaching becomes important.
An athlete who arrives exhausted should not automatically be forced through the exact workout written on the calendar.
Coaches should consider:
- Sleep
- Recent competition
- Practice workload
- Muscle soreness
- Current energy
- Performance
- Upcoming games
The answer may be to reduce volume, modify exercises, or change the session entirely.
That’s not “skipping training.”
That’s intelligent training.
How Many Days Per Week Should Athletes Train?
For many athletes, two strength sessions per week can be enough to maintain important physical qualities during the season.
Some athletes may need more.
Some may need less.
The number should be determined by the athlete’s total workload and goals.
A useful principle is:
The more competition an athlete has, the more carefully strength-training volume needs to be managed.
What About Recovery Days?
Recovery days should be part of the schedule before the athlete desperately needs one.
Depending on the situation, recovery may include:
- Walking
- Mobility
- Light aerobic activity
- Stretching
- Soft-tissue work
- Complete rest
The goal is to help the athlete be ready for the next important training or competition session.
Don’t Forget the Bigger Picture
The perfect weekly schedule doesn’t exist.
An athlete’s schedule will change.
Games get moved.
Tournaments are added.
Practices become harder.
Travel happens.
Athletes get sore.
School gets busy.
The training plan needs to adapt.
The best in-season program is not the one that looks perfect on a calendar.
It’s the one that continues to support performance as the athlete’s actual schedule changes.
The Bottom Line
In-season training should never exist in isolation.
Strength sessions need to fit around practices, games, tournaments, travel, and recovery.
Before adding another workout, look at the athlete’s total workload.
Before removing strength training completely, consider what physical qualities need to be maintained.
And before following a rigid weekly template, remember that the competition schedule should influence the training schedule—not the other way around.
A qualified performance coach can help athletes determine when to train, what to train, and how much training they can handle based on their individual sport and competition demands.
At Compete Sports Performance, we build training around the athlete—not simply around a calendar.