Rest time between sets

[zeratum]

Okay, sorry to make another thread, but while I'm here I had another thought. You guys say to keep your workout under an hour, that's because of the increase in cortisol, right? Anyway my workouts usually run around an hour and twenty minutes I know I can do them in less time because I used to run the same workouts in an hour and five minutes. The main problem is my rest time between sets, its seemed to creep up.

Thing is I try to do it with less rest time but my intensity drops too much. For example if on a flat dumbell press I might do 80 lb for 8 reps. I can do that again on the second set if I wait a very long time, but if I don't I might only get off 5 reps on the second set (it's seemed to get the worst with my chest). I think I've conditioned my muscles to be used to long periods in between sets. How can I fix this? Should I slowly decrease the time in between sets using a stop watch, or should I just drop down to my old short rest time and work with the lower intensity until it goes up?

Thanks again.

[jayman]

Somewhere I read that strength-gains are better with longer rest-periods. Dunno much about it.

[George G]

Okay, sorry to make another thread, but while I'm here I had another thought. You guys say to keep your workout under an hour, that's because of the increase in cortisol, right? Anyway my workouts usually run around an hour and twenty minutes I know I can do them in less time because I used to run the same workouts in an hour and five minutes. The main problem is my rest time between sets, its seemed to creep up.

Thing is I try to do it with less rest time but my intensity drops too much. For example if on a flat dumbell press I might do 80 lb for 8 reps. I can do that again on the second set if I wait a very long time, but if I don't I might only get off 5 reps on the second set (it's seemed to get the worst with my chest). I think I've conditioned my muscles to be used to long periods in between sets. How can I fix this? Should I slowly decrease the time in between sets using a stop watch, or should I just drop down to my old short rest time and work with the lower intensity until it goes up?

Thanks again.

Rest times depend greatly on the repetition range you are working in. For the 8 rep range I would keep rest periods 60 to 90 seconds max. Drop the weight to whatever it needs to be to complete 8 reps on each set.

I am glad you thought of using a stopwatch yourself. That's exactly what you should do.

Hope this helps.

[strathmeyer]

I read somewhere (on exrx.net) you should do >90 seconds rest for power lifting, 30-90 seconds for bodybuilding, and <30 seconds for endurance training. I cannot find that specific citation.

Read 'Muscular Endurance' at http://exrx.net/WeightTraining/Tidbits.html and the second to last dark bullet at http://exrx.net/WeightTraining/Guidelines.html.

Always keeping a specific time between sets helps me because my muscles have the exact same amount of rest every workout so I expect to life the same weight the same amount. You're probably resting so long that you're muscles have time to fully recover an the extra time isn't really helpful. See 'Strength Recovery' at http://exrx.net/WeightTraining/Tidbits.html. If you're pressed for time, you'll probably do alright keeping your rest time down to 2 minutes.

I haven't seen any evidence that you shouldn't just choose a time you want to take between sets and just stick with it. Yeah, you'll probably have to drop a lot of weight, which is disappointing, but you should get adequate results (assuming you've read and understand the links above and fit your workout to your goals.)

[JeffD]

If you want you can keep the rest periods longer for the main muscles and lifts..like bench, deadlift, squat, etc. But then shorten the rest periods to 60 sec or less for shoulders, arms, calves, abs to balance it out.

[Ironman]

It depends on the intensity. If you are going heavy to failure, it takes 4 minutes to recover. When I do a lighter, lower intensity volume type protocol I do 2 minutes. If I was doing GVT I would do 60-90. If I was doing a pyramid routine it would vary. If I was to do a strength program it would vary and I might go as long as 5 minutes for some things. One trick you can do to get rest down, is to pyramid down. Warm up until you are ready for your max lift. Then do your heavy set. Then take a little weight off and do another set with 2 or 3 minutes rest. You can adjust the weight you take off and the rest time. Just remember the weight removed and the rest time have an inverse relationship. Keep in mind if you are lifting with intensity you need to keep the volume low. You could be doing too many sets. Or maybe you need to split it up more.

[Matt Z]

Sounds like you've already gotten some good advice. I've never actually timed my rest periods between sets, but it's not a bad idea if you think your workouts are starting to drag.

If, like me, you pyramid your sets you'll probably want to start with short rest periods and take a progressively longer as your sets become more difficult.

Additionally, I take longer rest periods on heavy compoud movements like bench presses, overhead presses, and deadlifts than I do on single-joint movements like flyes, laterals, curls and extensions.

[FullSquat2003]

My rest interval between sets is determined by the time it takes to recover my oxygen deficit. When I am training to increase muscle myofibrils mass I rest until my breathing returns to normal before I start my next set. It allows the level of ATP in the muscles being trained to increase, therefore I can use more weight than using some fixed interval of rest between sets. Obviously the large muscle groups like the quadriceps require a longer rest interval than a smaller muscle group such as the triceps. If I train for muscle endurance I reduce the rest interval such that I do not recover the my oxygen deficit to the degree as when I am training for strength and muscle myofibrils mass. This places more emphasis on the muscle structures related to muscle endurance.

[KPj]

Dont know if this will help, but I don't time my rests, I just wait until i've got my breath back...

I do time it however when I do superset etc so it really depends on how you are training...

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