How long should you rest between sets? Explained with documented results.

[FearThaGear]

For years, I was under the impression that you should do your next set once your breathing and heart rate returned to normal.

For me, is typically under a minute for smaller muscle groups and definitely less than 2 minutes even for larger muscle groups.

The exception being heavy/low rep sets of exercises like squats, deadlifts or rows.

Here is what this study found. A very interesting read.


Briefly, most studies and exercise guidelines suggest that at least 2 min should be adopted for increasing muscle strength and hypertrophy and that shorter rest intervals (<60 s) might have a negative impact on muscle performance in young and old adults.

 

[FearThaGear]

@Jin @CJ275 @Send0

Please correct this title to "documented" instead of docunred.

Thanks in advance

 

[CJ]

@Jin @CJ275 @Send0

Please correct this title to "documented" instead of docunred.

Thanks in advance

Done

 

[OldeBull1]

I don't spend much time thinking about rest periods. When I'm ready to go again, I go. I usually train opposing muscles together, bis and tris, chest and back. I alternate exercises. This saves me time, but also aows me to rest one set of muscles while working the other.

Interesting read, thanks for sharing.

 

[FearThaGear]

I don't spend much time thinking about rest periods. When I'm ready to go again, I go. I usually train opposing muscles together, bis and tris, chest and back. I alternate exercises. This saves me time, but also aows me to rest one set of muscles while working the other.

Interesting read, thanks for sharing.

I have been doing the same. I never really looked into optimal rest times but this study and it's findings has me intrigued.

 

[Jonjon]

I like it. I’ve always tended to prefer to wait a little longer between sets. Makes for more productive sets

 

[BrotherIron]

If I'm performing a "heavy" single, double, or triple I like to take 3-4min rest to be as fully recovered as possible. For general strength, I like I to take 2:30min, and for hypertrophy take 60sec - 1:30min rest. I also found as my conditioning improved I could adjust these numbers if I needed to b/c my recovery time improved.

There are a lot of studies out there in regards to resistance training but that term in and of itself may or may not concede with your training.

 

[dk8594]

I tried timing rest periods in the past. For me watching the time is a distraction and the time In between sets is better spent mentally preparing for the next one.

 

[FearThaGear]

I tried timing rest periods in the past. For me watching the time is a distraction and the time In between sets is better spent mentally preparing for the next one.

I do the same thing but I am going to try this to some capacity though. Maybe set a timer for 2 minutes minimum and see how it works.

I may already be allowing that much time in between sets and not realizing it.

I don't necessarily want to spend my time looking at my watch but if science shows a better outcome to my workouts by changing my rest period length, I'd like to give it a shot.

 

[MrRippedZilla]

That's just one observational (translated: bad and should be ignored) study. If you look into the research as a whole, you'll find conflicting answers, which in and of itself should tell you that "optimal rest period advice that applies to everyone" doesn't exist.

I tell people to simply rest as long as they need to and no more. General and easy to understand advice. Any more specific than that and I run a high risk of being flat out wrong because the actual number of minutes is going to vary from person-to-person. Depending on a whole host of factors including individual metabolic capacity, training exp, many different parts of the training cycle (volume, intensity, split, etc), diet, on & on it'll go.

Also, lets be real, non-beginner lifters don't need this level of babysitting. It's not that difficult to figure out when you're ready to go and when you're not. Listen to your body and keep the stopwatch turned off.

 

[FearThaGear]

That's just one observational (translated: bad and should be ignored) study. If you look into the research as a whole, you'll find conflicting answers, which in and of itself should tell you that "optimal rest period advice that applies to everyone" doesn't exist.

I tell people to simply rest as long as they need to and no more. General and easy to understand advice. Any more specific than that and I run a high risk of being flat out wrong because the actual number of minutes is going to vary from person-to-person. Depending on a whole host of factors including individual metabolic capacity, training exp, many different parts of the training cycle (volume, intensity, split, etc), diet, on & on it'll go.

Also, lets be real, non-beginner lifters don't need this level of babysitting. It's not that difficult to figure out when you're ready to go and when you're not. Listen to your body and keep the stopwatch turned off.

You're exactly who I wanted to hear from in this thread.

My mind was telling me the same thing but I was trying to go off of the data which as you said doesn't always apply to everyone, at least in this particular subject.

One of the things that I read further down in the study was that the initial 2 minutes began to stretch on from between 2 to 5 minutes which started to make precision almost impossible.

I appreciate your input. Thanks for the reinforcement of what I felt that I already knew all along.

 

[MisterSuperGod]

Good to know. i had played around with different rest intervals and wound up sticking with 2 minutes because it felt like it was the sweet spot for me.

 

[BrotherIron]

I do the same thing but I am going to try this to some capacity though. Maybe set a timer for 2 minutes minimum and see how it works.

I may already be allowing that much time in between sets and not realizing it.

I don't necessarily want to spend my time looking at my watch but if science shows a better outcome to my workouts by changing my rest period length, I'd like to give it a shot.

You don't have to set timers if you don't want. You can use songs you listen to as a gauge of time that has passed in betw sets. I use certain songs for lifting heavy and others for accessory work. Or you can always just set a timer on your phone since if you're lifting heavy you want to record your top lifts to see where you're breaking down in form to address your weak points.

 

[Adzg]

I set a timer on my watch for 1min rests. Seems to be ok for now. Next month I start a new job which gives me more time at the gym. I will be increasing rest times, sets and exercises. Hopefully see more of the gain train coming round


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CJ]

Over time, I've just fallen into 3:00 rest on big compound lifts, and 2:00 rest on accessory lifts. If I'm alternating exercises, I'll do 1:00 between those.

Just seems to be when I'm ready to go again, but there have been times when I'm like.... "nope, not ready yet", and took extra time.

 

[FearThaGear]

Over time, I've just fallen into 3:00 rest on big compound lifts, and 2:00 rest on accessory lifts. If I'm alternating exercises, I'll do 1:00 between those.

Just seems to be when I'm ready to go again, but there have been times when I'm like.... "nope, not ready yet", and took extra time.

I'm going to pay closer attention to my rest periods. I'm honestly just curious.

I feel like I'm at the point where I know when I'm ready for the next set.

I seem to be in a rush at the gym most of the time but I always find myself well over an hour, usually around 1.5 hours.

Even with a short workout, an hour is still giving plenty rest between sets if you aren't just overloading your plate with 20 sets on a single body part.

The more I think about it, I'm probably right there in the same range that you mentioned.

 

[blundig]

For years, I was under the impression that you should do your next set once your breathing and heart rate returned to normal.

For me, is typically under a minute for smaller muscle groups and definitely less than 2 minutes even for larger muscle groups.

The exception being heavy/low rep sets of exercises like squats, deadlifts or rows.

Here is what this study found. A very interesting read.


Briefly, most studies and exercise guidelines suggest that at least 2 min should be adopted for increasing muscle strength and hypertrophy and that shorter rest intervals (<60 s) might have a negative impact on muscle performance in young and old adults.

VERY interesting

 

[MrBafner]

Depends what your training for I think .. if you're going for strength and heavy weights - I'd add more time, if you're trying to add intensity with a lighter weight and lots of reps, I'd shorten the time between sets.

Either way, the heart rate goes up and both work pretty good.

 

[FearThaGear]

Depends what your training for I think .. if you're going for strength and heavy weights - I'd add more time, if you're trying to add intensity with a lighter weight and lots of reps, I'd shorten the time between sets.

Either way, the heart rate goes up and both work pretty good.

For sure.

I was referring to strength and overall muscle building but you are exactly right.

 

[blundig]

Depends what your training for I think .. if you're going for strength and heavy weights - I'd add more time, if you're trying to add intensity with a lighter weight and lots of reps, I'd shorten the time between sets.

Either way, the heart rate goes up and both work pretty good.

That's the common wisdom and what I go by too, but I don't think this particular study, rightly or wrongly, supports that.