The Fundamentals Series - Rest Periods

A Simple Guide to Resting Between Sets for Maximal Muscle Growth & Strength

Rest periods are a hot topic among the fitness community and are the spark that ignites many online debates. However, these debates are usually pointless because they’re between people with different goals, which require different rest period durations. Here’s a few examples of what I’m talking about:

• The endurance athlete will prefer virtually no rest periods in their training.

• The sports conditioning athlete will prefer rest periods that resemble their in-game rest periods.

• The bodybuilding or strength athlete will use the rest period duration that allows them to maximize their output during each exercise set.

Just in these three examples, each rest period is different, but each is also optimal for the specific task at hand. It’s easy to see how these keyboard warriors of all backgrounds find something to argue about, but what these people don’t realize is that they all agree on one thing; regardless of the goal, rest periods are a hugely important part of training success.

Speaking of importance, if I had to list the top ten questions I receive from coaching clients and customers, ‘How long should I rest between sets?’ would certainly be on the list. I can see why it’s so often asked; it’s an important question!

Resting is Not Slacking!

Many people seeking more muscle and strength assume the more they rest, the fewer results they’ll see. They equate resting in the gym to slacking off, which just isn’t the case. If they’re on social media, I can’t really blame them. Have you seen some of the bunk information out there?!

When the goal is growth and strength, resting is actually the opposite of slacking because it mentally and physically prepares you for each new set. This increased preparation allows you to work harder than taking no rest at all or resting for a very short amount of time.

The undeniable thing about weight-room rest periods is that duration matters greatly. The wrong rest period approach will lead to diminished gains.

How Long of a Rest is Best?

Short Rest Periods

Let’s talk about short rest periods first. While short 0-60 second rest periods cause acute anabolic hormonal uptick, there is very little correlation between that acute rise and muscle hypertrophy(growth) or strength. In plain English, the short-term hormonal rise resulting from short rest periods does not result in significant muscle or strength gains over the long-term.

When you couple this with the fact that short rest periods hinder your ability to fully recover and maximize the next set in terms of volume (weight x reps) completed, it’s really a lose/lose situation for growth. Total volume completed is a major driver of muscle size.

From the strength side of the coin, when training with near-maximal loads, the energy system our body relies on for performance requires much longer than 60 seconds to recover between efforts. Resting 60 seconds between maximal strength-focused sets is not ideal for making the most of each set.

Long Rest Periods

If 0-60 second resting isn’t ideal, what amount of time is? Let’s now talk about longer 2-5 minute rest periods, which are usually associated with training for maximal strength. In terms of maximal or near-maximal strength, the performance difference between a 2 minute rest period and a 5 minute rest period is noticeable. The 5 minute rest period allows for more muscle recovery between sets, meaning more capability per set...aka, more strength and more volume.

The disadvantage here is that if you rest five minutes between sets throughout your whole training session, you’ll be in the gym all day. From a practicality standpoint, it just doesn’t work. It’s a great method for maximal output, but it certainly doesn’t play well with your schedule.

Short rest periods work against our growth and strength goals and long rest periods aren’t practical. Where do we go from here?

The Happy Place of Rest Periods

Well, like most situations in life, finding the happy medium and allowing for flexibility results in the best outcome. We don’t want to rush between sets and we don’t want to take a nap between sets either. By using the information above, we can lay out some definitive guidelines for rest period duration and come up with a plan of action, or a rest period philosophy, if you will.

• When muscle growth and strength are the goals, very short 0-60 second rest periods should be avoided. The degree to which they negatively impact total volume per training session reaches a level that the effects of acute anabolic hormonal rise cannot overcome.

• Lengthy rest periods, as in 5 minutes, are great for moving a maximal amount of weight and volume during each set. However, using these long rest periods throughout an entire training day will leave you in the gym for hours at a time. This is impractical for most. Ain’t nobody got time for three-hour gym sessions.

Considering the information above. Here’s my philosophy for rest periods; rest a minimum of 2 minutes and a maximum of 5 minutes between working sets.

When time is short, lean toward the minimum rest period duration. You might not max out your volume potential, but you’ll still feel strong and mostly ready for the next set. When time is abundant, resting longer, up to that 5 minute mark, is beneficial. Got it?

Oh, and this is worth mentioning too. Unless you’re focused on training a specific weak point muscle group over everything else, compound exercises should be viewed as the ones with the highest priority for longer rest periods. They demand more energy, provide more bang for your buck, and maximizing their volume is most important.

If you know you’re going to need to distribute longer and shorter rest periods throughout a training day due to scheduling, reserve the longer ones for the compounds and the shorter ones for the isolations.

And just in case you’re curious, if I had to put an average duration on my own rest periods, I’d say it’s 3 minutes.

Specific Directions for Trainees Using GST

You may or may not know about the main program I’ve built, released, and evolved over the past 13 years. It’s called Growth Stimulus Training and if you’re on a variation of the program, this section is meant for you.

GST Core Exercise Rest Period Recommendations

Depending on which microcycle you’re running, rest period recommendations are going to differ. Since different microcycles require different 1RM percentages, and the weights called for range from moderate to heavy, you can see why differences in rest period recommendation are expected.

For Microcycles 1 and 2, where working weight ranges from 60-70% 1RM, I recommend resting 2 to 3.5 minutes between working sets 1 and 2. Of course, the final set is an AMRAP set, which is max intensity, so I recommend resting 5 minutes afterward. Laid out, it looks like this:

• Complete Core Lift Working Set 1

• Rest 2 to 3.5 Minutes

• Complete Core Lift Working Set 2

• Rest 2 to 3.5 Minutes

• Complete Core Lift Working Set 3 (AMRAP Set)

• Rest 5 Minutes

For Microcycles 3 and 4, where working weight ranges from 80-90% 1RM, I recommend resting 3.5 to 5 minutes between working sets 1 and 2. Again, the final set is an AMRAP set, which is max intensity, so I recommend resting the full 5 minutes afterward. Step-by-step, it looks like this:

• Complete Core Lift Working Set 1

• Rest 3.5 to 5 Minutes

• Complete Core Lift Working Set 2

• Rest 3.5 to 5 Minutes

• Complete Core Lift Working Set 3 (AMRAP Set)

• Rest 5 Minutes

My goal with this section is to provide valuable information to you as a GST user. The above information tells you how to maximize performance during your core lifts. Now I’d like to move to the same information, but for your supplement lifts.

GST Supplement Exercise Rest Period Recommendations

Supplement exercises move through three set/rep schemes, which include high, medium, and low-rep protocols. Here are my recommendations for each:

• High-Rep Scheme - Rest 2 to 3 minutes between working sets.

• Medium-Rep Scheme - Rest 3 to 4 minutes between working sets.

• Low-Rep Scheme - Rest 4 to 5 minutes between working sets.

Each of these rest period recommendations syncs with each set/rep scheme’s target goal. Follow them to maximize the benefits of each different scheme.

You’re now more knowledgeable on the important topic of rest periods for maximizing muscle growth and strength. Cheers to you!

Go forth with your new knowledge and enjoy your enhanced performance during every working set.

And here’s a bad joke before I go: Did you hear about the marathon runners who got married? It started out as a long-distance relationship.