How long are your rest intervals between sets?
1 min? 2 min? 5 min?
It’s not even unusual for powerlifters to take 10 minutes between sets.
Or do you go totally by feel?
Longer rest intervals means you’ll be fresher at the start of the next set and can do more weight or reps. On the other hand, with shorter rest intervals the muscle never fully recovers, which might be stressfull for the muscle, forcing it to adapt.
So what rest interval is best to build muscle? Does it even matter?
I reveal new research in this new video.
A 5 min rest interval between sets is better than a 1 min rest interval to stimulate muscle growth.
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I’ve gone to a heart rate rest period. When my rate gets back down to around 100 to 110 I’m ready to do the next set. There is a great variation depending on what muscle I’m working and intensity of that lift. Some exercises raise my rate to 140ish (age 63) and some just bump it to 120 ish. It’s fun to watch the HR monitor rather than the clock and it feels more scientific to me. I have no idea why I picked the 100-110 rate but it seemed reasonable?
Heart rate does not necessary reflect what happens in the muscle you’re working. For example, a single arm biceps curl will not impact heart rate as much as a squat. But on an isolation exercise it’s easier to go close to failure and you may need even more rest.
If your heart rate hasn’t recovered, it’s a sign that you’re not fully back to baseline. But if you’re back to baseline, it does not mean the muscle is recovered.
But I don’t necessarily encourage people to watch the clock either. Just know that short rest periods are suboptimal. Using HR is just another tool.
Red a few of your articles and im very interested in what you have to say, definately on my watch list!
To comment on this specific topic, i just started a program more focussed on a strongman way of training so more for actual brute power than aestethic hypertrophy and they also suggest rest periods of 2-3 minutes on accessory lifts and 3-5 for the big main lifts.
I cant say much for it yet but since it was written by Hafthor Bjornnson and his coach “Australian strength coach” i can only immagine these guys do know what they are talking about, and they agree with your ideas on the matter.
Very reassuring to see a scientific expert and a world championship winning beast and his trainer telling me the same thing!
Not sure if there is any difference in what type of muscle you build with this, if any difference. like bodybuilders who tend to take shorter rest periods for hyperthrophy vs strongman who rest longer for power. Probably depends on slow twitch, fast twitch fibres being utilised differently? MPS being the same but different fibres being targetted more or less?
I saw you posted about rep ranges not making a huge difference but havent red it yet. Its on my list though.
Really great content so far, thanks a lot!
Kind regards
Sven
Hey Sven,
Thanks for the kind words.
I don’t expect rest periods influence the fiber types (fast vs slow) that are used. As you mention, it sometimes speculated that high reps would selectively target the slow-twitch fibers more, but there’s no evidence for that.
Kind regards,
-Jorn
Thanks Jorn. I also read some similar recent research (although i can’t give you a citation) that indicated 3 minutes was preferable to one minute. You bring up a number of interesting questions as to the takeaway from these studies. Personally, I’ve been aiming for 2-3 minutes of rest on large compound movements, somewhat less on isolation exercises, and employing supersets as you mentioned, thereby hopefully making the rest periods between sets more efficient while taking advantage of the benefit of increased hypertrophy associated with working opposing muscle groups together. Would love to see more research on this topic, addressing the questions you raised.