What is your rest period between sets?

[Viper098]

I rest anywhere from 2 to 4 minutes between sets depending on the exercise and 2 minutes between exercises. I know people who rest 5 minutes between sets and 6-8 minutes between exercises. I feel the latter is too long and I would be afraid of a cool down.

I know some exercises like my barbell bench used to be 2 minutes but is now 3 minutes as it gets heavier. However, my squat is still two minutes but I am sure will creep up one day. However I do not want to ever rest more than 4 minutes between reps.

What do you do?

[dw300]

I guess the answer would depend on the number of reps and sets you're doing to an extent.

I'm doing 5x5, which starts light and gets really heavy for the last set, and my rest for the 4 breaks between sets is 1min, 2mins, 3mins and 4minutes. At the heaviest weight i can do for a final set, any less than 4 minutes and I just wouldn't be ready to lift it.

I suppose the answer could be, long enough that you're ready to complete the next lift you have planned. There's no point cutting rest periods short to get intensity if you fail to complete the lift you wanted.

So I say, 'Lifting Target Weight' is more important than 'Rest Period Between Sets'. If you're finding that you feel you don't need more than a minutes rest shouldn't you be lifting more weight? Wouldn't that be more beneficial to you in the long run? Load on the muscle fibres is surely more important than building muscular stamina.

[pastorgbc]

It depends upon the lift you are doing and your goals. It is also going to vary person to person; that is, some people have better endurance and recharge more quickly than others.

Personally, I find that I respond best when I take the minimum amount of time necessary to rest between sets. Again, that minimum time is going to vary based on the lift. I will experiment to see if I really need all of the time I may think and will challenge myself to see if I can do the next set sooner rather than later. Often I surprise myself and this often leads to some great workouts. Sometimes I find that I need to take more rest. The gym is a great lab.

Having said all that, unless you are doing some max out singles or very low reps with high weight, I think that 4 minutes between sets is too long a time between sets. That sounds like it would lead to an exceptionally long workout, which may lead to some cortisol risks.

Ray

[christos_swc]

I'm doing 5x5, which starts light and gets really heavy for the last set, and my rest for the 4 breaks between sets is 1min, 2mins, 3mins and 4minutes. At the heaviest weight i can do for a final set, any less than 4 minutes and I just wouldn't be ready to lift it.

I work out doing 5 sets of 5 (self made program though) and start with 1min of rest and as the weights get heavier increase that to 2 mins.
No more though cause I tend to cool down a lot, not just physically but mentally as well.
After all I'm usually tired from work anyway so too long a rest period and I wanna go hit the bed.
Not to mention I feel a strong urge for a smoke!
Doing DB shoulder presses I wouldn't take more than a minute though, not that hard an exercise.

[2nd_chance]

Here's a pretty good guideline for replenishing ATP between sets.

[dw300]

Just to clarify, I was reffering to my 5x5 which is almost entirely compounds. I wouldn't need to rest 4 mins for any iso or light weight exercise, just 5RM compounds.

Here's a pretty good guideline for replenishing ATP between sets.

Thats a really odd graph ..

0-30 gives 50% recharge
31-60 gives 25%
61-90 gives 12%
91-120 gives 3%
121-180 gives 10%

Not sure those last 2 are quite right.

[pastorgbc]

Just to clarify, I was reffering to my 5x5 which is almost entirely compounds. I wouldn't need to rest 4 mins for any iso or light weight exercise, just 5RM compounds.



Thats a really odd graph ..

0-30 gives 50% recharge
31-60 gives 25%
61-90 gives 12%
91-120 gives 3%
121-180 gives 10%

Not sure those last 2 are quite right.

I would say that a 4 minute rest on a 5x5 seems long to me. I like the 5x5, and when I do it, I do it at a constant weight for each of the 5 sets. I take no more than 2 minutes between sets, and that feels very long to me.

Ray

[Headshrink]

I rest anywhere from 2 to 4 minutes between sets depending on the exercise and 2 minutes between exercises. I know people who rest 5 minutes between sets and 6-8 minutes between exercises. I feel the latter is too long and I would be afraid of a cool down.

I know some exercises like my barbell bench used to be 2 minutes but is now 3 minutes as it gets heavier. However, my squat is still two minutes but I am sure will creep up one day. However I do not want to ever rest more than 4 minutes between reps.

What do you do?

Depends on how I am lifting. When I am lifting light I don't rest much or sometimes not at all and I will do opposing muscle group supersets. As of now I am training as heavy as I can and take 2-3 min. between sets. I would not have time to take any more rest than that.

[JOHN GARGANI]

It depends upon the lift you are doing and your goals. It is also going to vary person to person; that is, some people have better endurance and recharge more quickly than others.

Personally, I find that I respond best when I take the minimum amount of time necessary to rest between sets. Again, that minimum time is going to vary based on the lift. I will experiment to see if I really need all of the time I may think and will challenge myself to see if I can do the next set sooner rather than later. Often I surprise myself and this often leads to some great workouts. Sometimes I find that I need to take more rest. The gym is a great lab.

Having said all that, unless you are doing some max out singles or very low reps with high weight, I think that 4 minutes between sets is too long a time between sets. That sounds like it would lead to an exceptionally long workout, which may lead to some cortisol risks.

Ray

the PASTOR made some great points here.....

now I will add this caveat: about your goals: this is definitely tied in with your age....

as we get older, and the OP is 45, the ability and amount of muscle that you can actually add on becomes limited, and as such, our goals should reflect that......

with that in mind, those of us approaching 50 and over, should be more concerned with HOW they look, and overall health....

with that in mind, 2 to 4 minute rests between sets is not the healthiest way to go......

you want to get the heart rate going, just like in Cardio, you want to sweat, and you want to get a workout done in a lesser amount of time.......

my rest periods are from 30 seconds to 1 minute, tops......

and I don't care what a chart says about my ATP regenerating: I force my body to find a way and it does.......

[rob440]

For me it depends but I do 30 to 60 seconds a lot. On legs when I am at 12 reps per set I will rest 2 minutes or sometimes 3 but when I am up around 20 reps I do 5 at the most. I dont do strength training but if you do I would imagine that it makes a difference. IMO If you are trying to loose body fat I would suggest moving your rest to the shorter end of the spectrum. I am not suggesting you make weight training into an aerobic affair but there are benefits to shorter rests.

John you must type faster than me! But now I will add ATP? forget about biochemistry and lift the weights already.

[Marius_Ursus]

In addition to Pastor and John, I'll throw in that with briefer rest periods, sleepy-time HGH tends to be higher as well as higher muscle fiber recruitment during exercise.

[JOHN GARGANI]

John you must type faster than me! But now I will add ATP? forget about biochemistry and lift the weights already.

exactly!! the body is capable of adaptation....IF we push it towards that!

In addition to Pastor and John, I'll throw in that with briefer rest periods, sleepy-time HGH tends to be higher as well as higher muscle fiber recruitment during exercise.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[beachguy498]

I go with about 2 minutes between sets for the most part. The heavier the weight, the more I rest otherwise. I don't time anything, just go back for more when I think I'm ready.

BG

[salatheel]

I used to take long rests (3-4 minutes) and focus on increasing the weight lifted and I found that I was consistently getting stronger. I would hit each bodypart once a week then and that was optimal for building strength. That said now I train quite differently.

I move much faster between sets (30-60sec) and hit each bodypart every 5days. I also tend to use higher reps (10-15) and have found I get better overall developement this way. I am also having far less long term joint and tendon issues.

I am 45 and have been lifting since I was 13. I can't bench anymore because of tendonitis. I also ruptured 2 disks when squatting with over 500lbs 10 years ago. So I have learned to adapt.

This was my last chest workout.

Dips
bodyweight warm up x 50 reps
45lb x 30 reps
70lbs x 20 reps
90lbs x 15 reps
90lbs x 12 reps

Incline flyes
70's x 15
70's x 15
80's x 12
80's x 12

Tris
skull crushers
120 x 20
150x15
165x12
165x12

dumbell kickbacks
40's x20
40'sx15
40's x15

I think when you know how to connect mentally on each set it is not nessacery to lift extremely heavy or long. You just must be able to mentally focus.

[greyhair]

I rest anywhere from 2 to 4 minutes between sets depending on the exercise and 2 minutes between exercises. I know people who rest 5 minutes between sets and 6-8 minutes between exercises. I feel the latter is too long and I would be afraid of a cool down.

I know some exercises like my barbell bench used to be 2 minutes but is now 3 minutes as it gets heavier. However, my squat is still two minutes but I am sure will creep up one day. However I do not want to ever rest more than 4 minutes between reps.

What do you do?

1,2, 5 and 15 minutes, depending on what I'm trying to achieve.

Never had a problem with "cooling off" since during the 15 minute intervals I do light cardio.

[Landor]

I usually take around one minute. Although I do count reps I am not depended on the number. I go until I can't go any longer. I do lift heavy and do three sets of everything adding weight per set. Depending on what I am doing will decide how many I do but i try to stay between 10 and 12 reps per set. Sometimes I don't make the goal on the last set.

[greyhair]

Just to clarify, I was reffering to my 5x5 which is almost entirely compounds. I wouldn't need to rest 4 mins for any iso or light weight exercise, just 5RM compounds.



Thats a really odd graph ..

0-30 gives 50% recharge
31-60 gives 25%
61-90 gives 12%
91-120 gives 3%
121-180 gives 10%

Not sure those last 2 are quite right.

Yeah, I found a chart like that some time ago.
However, I do think the trend is right. It seems to match personal experience and my own observations.
An asymptotic recovery to 100%.

[2nd_chance]

Just to clarify, I was reffering to my 5x5 which is almost entirely compounds. I wouldn't need to rest 4 mins for any iso or light weight exercise, just 5RM compounds.



Thats a really odd graph ..

0-30 gives 50% recharge
31-60 gives 25%
61-90 gives 12%
91-120 gives 3%
121-180 gives 10%

Not sure those last 2 are quite right.

Not sure if you're having trouble reading the chart but 180 secs give you 100% recharge. Nothing that remotely resembles what you have written lol.

[ironwill2008]

I quit watching the clock and just wait until my breathing returns to near-normal, then hit the next set. This 'method' is self-regulating, depending on the lift in question; more time between sets of Squats, for example, and less time between sets of, say, Lateral Raises.


IMO, the "80-20" rule applies here.

[thepainter5]

Not sure if you're having trouble reading the chart but 180 secs give you 100% recharge. Nothing that remotely resembles what you have written lol.

He was referring to the incremental increase over the previous level

[2nd_chance]

He was referring to the incremental increase over the previous level

Gotcha.

[timberwolf]

In addition to Pastor and John, I'll throw in that with briefer rest periods, sleepy-time HGH tends to be higher as well as higher muscle fiber recruitment during exercise.

While there is acute increases in HGH because of the brief rest periods, I don't think that really does much because its so brief.
Another thing against brief rest periods is that it may actually hinder progress depending on the person's conditioning.
All that said, I like to mix it up but do lean towards briefer rest periods. And my joints definitely prefer briefer rest periods. The last 2 months, most of my upper body workouts has been 30 sec to 1 min max between sets at 10-15 reps. 90 seconds or more between super sets.
Especially for most in this forum, for the reasons many already stated, briefer rest periods would be the way to go IF I had to choose one over the other.