How often should a teenager lift?
Two or three days a week, with a day off in between. What the AAP and Canada's 24-hour guidelines say, and what a week at the TCT Academy looks like.
Parents · October 5, 2026 · by Trevor Cyr
Two or three days a week, with a day off in between.
That's the short answer, and it's what the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends for kids and teens who lift.
It's also where most teens start at the Academy.
Here's what the guidelines say, what a week looks like, and what the other days are for.
What the guidelines say
The American Academy of Pediatrics put out its report on youth strength training in 2020.
Its advice for a teen who wants to get stronger is sessions of at least 20 to 30 minutes, two to three times a week, on nonconsecutive days.
So Monday and Wednesday, not Monday and Tuesday.
The same report says how to start.
One to two sets of eight to twelve reps, with a light weight, while the technique gets learned.
Once the technique holds up, the weight goes up in small steps of 5 to 10 percent.
Canada's guideline for kids and teens 5 to 17 comes from the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology.
It asks for muscle and bone strengthening activities at least three days a week.
It asks for vigorous activity at least three days a week too.
And it asks for at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity every day.
Those two guidelines don't argue with each other.
The lifting is two or three of the days.
The rest of the week still counts.
If you're still deciding whether lifting is safe at all, start with last week's post.
The short version is yes, when it's coached.
What a week looks like at TCT
The Academy runs Monday to Thursday at 4:00 and 5:00.
Classes are fifty minutes, ten teens at most, and I coach every one.
Most teens start at two classes a week.
Monday and Wednesday, or Tuesday and Thursday.
That lines up with the AAP's advice exactly: two days, with a day off in between.
Every class has the same shape.
A warm-up, a strength block with a squat, a hinge, a press and a pull, then some conditioning to finish.
The first few weeks are light on purpose.
The weight goes up a little at a time, when I see the technique is ready, not when they ask.
Some teens want to come three or four times a week once they've been at it a while.
That's fine, and the plans allow it.
When a teen is in on back-to-back days, I don't give them the same hard work two days running.
What the other days are for
The day off isn't a lazy day.
The Canadian guideline still wants an hour of moving every day, and it doesn't have to be in a gym.
A bike ride, a game with friends, a fast walk to school, all of it counts.
It also wants them sleeping.
Nine to eleven hours a night for kids up to 13.
Eight to ten hours a night for teens 14 to 17.
If your teen lifts two or three days, moves for an hour every day and sleeps enough, that's what the guidelines ask for.
You don't need to add more.
When a week goes sideways
Some weeks it won't be two.
There's a test on Wednesday, a family thing on Monday, a cold.
One class that week is fine.
Get back to two the week after.
The plans are built for this.
Credits work on any Academy session inside the 4-week cycle, so a missed Tuesday can be made up on Thursday.
You can pause between cycles too, if a month is going to be a write-off.
What I watch is the months, not the weeks.
A teen who comes twice a week most weeks for a year gets a lot stronger than one who comes four times a week for a month and stops.
How long before it shows
The AAP report says strength gains show up with training two to three times a week for at least eight weeks.
So give it two months of showing up before you judge it.
Two classes a week for eight weeks is sixteen classes.
That's the number I'd hold a teen to before either of us decides anything.
Come see it
The first Academy class is free.
Pick a Monday to Thursday at 4:00 or 5:00, bring your teen, and watch from the door.
Ages 12 to 18, ten a class.
Any questions before that, email me at trevor@takecontroltraining.com and I'll answer them myself.
Book the free first class: https://tctgym.com/classes/tct-academy
Sources
1. Stricker PR, Faigenbaum AD, McCambridge TM; AAP Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness. Resistance Training for Children and Adolescents. Pediatrics. 2020;145(6):e20201011. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-1011
2. Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth (5-17 years): An Integration of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour, and Sleep. 2016. https://csepguidelines.ca/guidelines/children-youth/
3. Tremblay MS, Carson V, Chaput JP, et al. Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth: An Integration of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour, and Sleep. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. 2016;41(6 Suppl 3):S311-S327. https://doi.org/10.1139/apnm-2016-0151
Source 1 was opened in full on 28 Sep 2026 and every figure above checked against it. Source 2 was opened on the CSEP site and the four guideline sentences checked. Source 3 is the paper behind it; its citation and abstract were checked in Europe PMC.