Confused about rest between sets...

[ibex333]

According to what I seen and heard about workouts 30 to 60 seconds of rest is recommended between sets. But what I don't get is, what happens if I take LONGER than that to rest between sets... Sure I realize heart rate will drop, and I may not burn fat as well or not burn it at all. But will the muscle group being exercised develop just as well?

What I mean is.. Let's say I do 3 sets of 10 pushups with rest of 60sec in between vs doing same 3 sets with rest of 5 minutes in between....


And finally here is another question... I am trying to increase the number of my pullups atm. I can currently do 3 with wide grip and 5 with "shoulder width" grip. I am happy because I got here from just one pullup, but I am wondering if my "program" is good.

I already posted here on AT a while ago, and did some research on the net, and it looks like it's better do do 10 sets of 3 in an hour then to try to do these same 3 sets in 10 minutes(impossible for me atm). What is the general consensus here?

 

[crt1530]

If you rest longer, you can use heavier weight or do more reps per set.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

you should be resting longer if you go heavy. that's from my personal experience.

This is a good post about why that might be the case.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/re...resistance-exercise-sets-research-review.html

 

[SociallyChallenged]

If you're lifting heavy triples or reps of 5, I would rest 2-3 minutes (typically 2min for me). If you're lifting heavy singles for a 1RM, then I'd take up to 4-5min.

You should google the Grease the Groove approach for pullups. That will help you a lot with increasing your pullup numbers.

 

[The Sauce]

When I am strength training I rest 3+ minutes between sets of 6-8 reps. If I am cutting I rest no more than 60s between sets of 10-14 reps. Shorter rest is like doing interval-cardio training and really boosts your fat burning. I have read that for pure size/bulk you should rest somewhere in-between - like 1.5 min. Not sure what the science is on that. For strength you want muscle ATP fully recovered before the next set.

 

[brikis98]

The amount of rest you take between sets depends on your goals. Rest Interval between Sets in Strength Training and What Is The Optimal Time Between Sets For Muscle Growth? are two decent articles that discuss the research on these topics. General conclusions:

* Strength training: 3-5 minutes.

* Hypertrophy: 1-2 minutes. Primary reasoning is that these shorter intervals result in a greater release of anabolic hormones. However, some studies show this also increases catabolic hormones and few studies show that this actually leads to greater hypertrophy. My personal opinion: for the majority of lifters, getting stronger is the most efficient route to hypertrophy, so 3-5 minutes is the best choice.

* Endurance: 30 - 60 seconds. Lighter weights, high rep sets and circuit training are the name of the game here.

 

[darkxshade]

Heh, learned something new but I also find a problem here. I generally rest 2 mins tops for the reason that I don't have time during my lunch hour to do all my lifts with longer rest intervals... I try to limit myself to 10 mins for each workout. If I rest the 5 mins after each set, that would mean it would take just about half hour[if you include time for the lifts itself] just to complete a lift. So how does that work? Obviously you don't go to the gym to do 2 exercises and you generally don't want to stay longer than an hour. Do I do some other lift in between? I also heard that's not ideal. Your thoughts?


This may be why I've stalled with some of my lifts... I can't seem to get over the hump with my bench pressing. Stuck at 235ish.

 

[crt1530]

If you only have an hour to lift, then you only have an hour, but the stuff about your muscles breaking down if you spend more than an hour in the gym is complete crap. Two minutes can work. I usually do my work sets on three minute intervals, which ends up being two minutes and change after you subtract the time spent lifting.

 

[darkxshade]

In any case, I need to squeeze in my workout in under an hour because that's all I get during my workdays during lunch.

 

[brikis98]

If I rest the 5 mins after each set, that would mean it would take just about half hour[if you include time for the lifts itself] just to complete a lift.

5 minutes is on the high end. It's useful if you are doing something like multiple 1RM efforts, but if you are just doing work sets of 5, you can probably do just fine with ~3 minutes of rest. If you do 3 sets per exercise, you can be done in ~10 min.

Obviously you don't go to the gym to do 2 exercises and you generally don't want to stay longer than an hour.

That depends on your goals. Some routines have you do just 3 exercises per day: legs, push, pull (e.g. squat, bench press, deadlift). Use full body compound movements with heavy weight and you don't need 10 different exercises to get a very effective workout. Moreover, there is nothing wrong with working out for more than an hour if that is what the routine calls for.

Do I do some other lift in between? I also heard that's not ideal. Your thoughts?

Well, the amount of time it takes for your ATP-PC stores to recover isn't something you can modify too much. So really, you have two options:

1. Keep going with your current routine, resting less than 3 minutes in between sets. As a result, you are likely to have much smaller/slower gains.

2. Modify your routine to allow proper rest periods. One option is to do fewer exercises per workout. Another is to work different (non overlapping) muscle groups during your rest periods. For example, alternate sets of upper body and lower body exercises.

 

[Eric62]

If you rest longer, you can use heavier weight or do more reps per set.

Agreed...

 

[The Sauce]

I would just like to take this opportunity to point out that this is the very first thread I have read in H&F where everyone seems to be in complete agreement. I'm speechless.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

I would just like to take this opportunity to point out that this is the very first thread I have read in H&F where everyone seems to be in complete agreement. I'm speechless.

Where's Alkemyst when you need him?