Why You Don't Need To Lift More Than 3 Days Per Week

Let’s get this out of the way:

You don’t need to lift 5–6 days a week to be strong or to add size.

Especially if you’re also running, biking, rowing, or doing any serious endurance work.

In fact, lifting that often will probably make your hybrid performance worse.

If you're trying to balance strength and endurance, you just need to lift enough to achieve your goals.

The key to hybrid style training is this:

Clearly define your goals and then figure out how you can get there doing the least amount of work possible. 

No, I don't mean with the least amount of effort, I mean with the least amount of volume.

If you can achieve your goal of maintaining your strength while running a sub-20:00 5k by lifting 2 days per week and running 3 days per week, why would you lift 4 days per week?

"Well, if 2 days was good, 4 days must be twice as good!"

No, that is rarely the case.

Yes, at some point, more volume is the answer, but I can almost guarantee you aren't at that point yet, and you have plenty of room to run on 2-3 days of lifting and 3-4 days of running/endurance per week. 

More Isn’t Better—Better Is Better

Lifting more doesn’t automatically build more muscle.

Lifting 5 days a week while trying to build an engine is a waste of time.

It will not work, I promise.

Your body doesn’t grow from “volume” only.  It grows from stimulus + recovery.

And when you’re also stacking 4+ cardio sessions per week, the recovery side of that equation starts to fall apart fast.

You’re not a bodybuilder. You’re not a powerlifter. You're not a runner. You’re a hybrid athlete.

And that means your training needs to reflect your priorities.

You need strength, not CrossFit style perpetual soreness.

You need general endurance, not 5 hour bike rides.

You need to be able to recover well enough to hit your next tempo run or threshold bike or heavy lifting session.

That doesn’t require 5 lifting sessions.

It requires focused, intentional workouts.

What 2–3 Lifting Days Can Do for You

With 2–3 focused lifting sessions per week, you can:

• Build and maintain real strength

• Stimulate enough hypertrophy to grow or preserve lean mass

• Improve connective tissue and joint health

• Avoid excessive CNS fatigue

• Free up time and energy for your actual sport-specific work

When 2 Days of Lifting Is Best

If you’re running 30+ miles per week or doing 7+ hours of endurance work, 2 lifting sessions is the sweet spot.

Keep them short, hard, and focused on compound lifts.

Deadlifts, front squats, weighted pull-ups, incline presses, rows, lunges, RDLs, and carries.

You don’t need 20 sets of biceps curls and the addcutor machine. 

You need signal, not noise.

When 3 Lifting Days Makes Sense

If your cardio volume is moderate (say 3–4 hours/week), or you’re in a phase where you're trying to gain muscle, 3 days of lifting is perfect.

Structure it like this:

• Day 1: Heavy Lower

• Day 2: Heavy Upper

• Day 3: Full-body with Upper focus or a 2nd Full Upper day

Again, keep the sessions focused.

No 90+ minute marathons. 

No wasted sets.

3 good lifting days + 3+ cardio sessions = elite-level hybrid structure.

Don't believe me?

My client Doug recently improved his deadlift from 395# to 450#, mile time from 5:52 to 5:19, and 5k from 21:19 to sub 19 in ~5 months only lifting 3 days per week and running 3 days per week. 

And no session took longer than an hour. 

Most people can make MASSIVE improvements on just 3 days of lifting and 3 days of running per week. 

You just need to know how to program it correctly.

What Happens When You Lift Too Much

Here’s the cost of over-lifting as a hybrid athlete:

• You’re sore all the time

• You feel like shit on most runs

• You never recover

• Sleep suffers

• Progress slows down

And the worst part?

When this happens, most people convince themselves they're “not doing enough” and increase volume… instead of realizing they're doing too much of the wrong thing.

Final Word

2–3 days of smart lifting beats 5 days of junk volume every time.

More lifting isn’t better if it pulls from the stuff that actually makes you perform.

If your goal is to be strong and fast, keep your strength work high-quality and low-frequency.

Train with purpose.

Focus on recovery.

If you're trying to balance lifting and endurance but can’t seem to recover or progress, your program is the problem.

I’ll help you fix it, guaranteed. 

Learn more about 1:1 coaching here and let's unfuck your training.

Stay strong and fast,

Mike