How Long Should You Rest Between Sets?
The amount of rest to take between sets has been a recurrent question for years. Depending on who you ask, you might be told short rest periods are best, or longer rest periods, or that it doesnt matter at all and you are majoring in the minor.
Or you might be told “it depends” with a long list of qualitatives.
In the past decade though, rest periods were finally studied, and a clear answer emerged.
How much rest are we talking about? 2-5 minutes between sets.
Why are longer rest periods better?
As research showed when comparing longer rest periods to shorter rest periods, the more rest you take between sets, the higher the performance of the set.
You can lift more reps, lift more weight, AND you can perform LESS sets.
Research has also demonstrated that because short rest periods REDUCE performance between sets, you need to perform more sets to compensate the reduction in intensity and stimulus
When taking long rests (2+ minutes), per-session volumes of around 6-8 sets per muscle group will likely produce the best hypertrophy on average in trained subjects, although individual results and needs may vary dramatically from that average. Set volume may need to be double that when taking short rests (<=90 seconds).
~James Krieger MS. (Weightology)~
Does this mean short rest is BAD?!
No . I have programs I have written with short rest periods. Taking shorter rest periods does not “break” your workout and make it do nothing. If you do enough sets, you are still going to get in a productive training session.
What if my workout takes too long now?
Supersets are useful, because one muscle can be resting while the other is working. Supersetting chest with back, or biceps with triceps, or hamstrings with quads, to give some examples.
You should also reevaluate your workouts to eliminate junk volume, which I wrote about here.
Maybe your training sessions are poorly designed and you are wasting time on non productive reps.
Any questions, feel free to post in the comments