When it comes to building muscle and strength, the amount of rest between sets during a workout is an important factor to consider. Taking too little or too much rest can impact your performance, muscle growth, and recovery. Finding the ideal rest period for your goals is key.
How does rest affect muscle growth?
Resting between sets serves several important purposes:
- Allows your muscles to partially recover before the next set
- Restores energy stores like ATP and creatine phosphate
- Helps clear biochemical byproducts like lactate
- Allows your heart rate and breathing to return closer to normal
The right rest period allows you to maintain performance and use an appropriate amount of weight for each subsequent set. Too little rest, and you’ll have to use a lighter weight than you’re capable of due to fatigue.
During rest periods, muscle protein synthesis is elevated. This is the process of building new muscle tissue. However, excessively long rest periods can blunt muscle protein synthesis.
One study found that resting 3 minutes between sets optimized muscle growth compared to 1 minute and 5 minutes of rest. The researchers theorized that very short rest periods caused too much fatigue, reducing the mechanical tension signals for growth. But longer rest periods allowed protein synthesis to return to baseline between sets.
How much rest do you need?
The optimal rest period depends on several factors:
- Your goals – strength, hypertrophy, power, endurance
- The exercises being performed
- The intensity – heavy vs. light weight
- Your level of conditioning
Here are some general guidelines on how long to rest between sets:
Strength training
When training for maximal strength, you’ll use heavy weights for low repetitions. Longer rest periods of 3-5 minutes allow your muscles to recover enough to lift near-maximal loads on each set. This enables you to overload the muscles, promoting strength adaptations.
Hypertrophy training
For muscle growth, moderate rest periods of 60-90 seconds are ideal. Shorter rest promotes metabolic stress. Lactate accumulation contributes to muscle swelling and anabolic hormone release. Slightly less recovery also increases time under tension.
Power training
For power and speed, you’ll perform explosive lifts with lighter loads. Since you’re not lifting maximally, shorter rest periods of 1-2 minutes are recommended. This keeps the nervous system activated and muscles primed for power output.
Muscular endurance training
When training for muscular endurance, you’ll use lighter loads and higher reps. Short rest intervals of 30-60 seconds keep metabolic stress and fatigue elevated, enhancing muscular endurance.
How to determine your optimal rest period
The best way to fine tune your rest periods is to experiment and pay attention to your performance:
- Try shorter and longer rests between sets
- Record the weight and reps achieved for each exercise
- Monitor subjective feelings of readiness before each set
- Select the rest period that allows you to maintain the most weight and reps from set to set
You may need different rest durations for different exercises. Compound lifts often require longer recovery than isolation moves.
Also adjust rest times as needed within a mesocycle to manage fatigue and optimize progression. For example, take longer rests early in a training block when strength is high. Shorten rest periods later on as fatigue accumulates.
Signs you rested too long
While most trainees don’t rest too long, here are some signs your rest periods are excessive:
- Workout duration becomes very lengthy
- You feel cold between sets and have trouble getting re-warmed up
- Your mind wanders and focus drifts
- Each set feels like a “cold” set
- Muscle pumps dissipate between sets
- You have trouble progressing in strength and muscle from workout to workout
If you experience these, try gradually shortening your rest periods. Monitor how it impacts your performance.
Signs you didn’t rest long enough
On the other hand, clues that your rest periods are too short include:
- Unable to complete planned number of reps
- Can’t lift as much weight from set to set
- Form breaks down on later sets
- High levels of fatigue, burning sensations
- Heart rate and breathing don’t lower much
- Feel light-headed or nauseated
Increasing your rest times can improve intra-workout performance and allow better overload.
Other recovery factors
While rest between sets is important, recovery encompasses your entire lifestyle:
- Sleep – Aim for 7-9 hours per night for muscle repair and hormone balance.
- Nutrition – Eat sufficient protein and calories for growth. Time nutrients pre/post workout.
- Hydration – Drink plenty of water and electrolytes like sodium and potassium.
- Stress management – Keep stress in check to avoid raising catabolic hormones.
- Activity outside the gym – Minimize excessive additional cardio and activity.
- Recovery techniques – Strategies like massage, contrast baths, and foam rolling may help.
- Time between workouts – Allow a day or two between training the same major muscle groups.
Optimizing overall recovery allows you to train hard while minimizing overtraining risk.
The bottom line
Finding the right rest period between sets involves balancing several factors:
- Allowing enough recovery to maintain performance set to set
- Limiting rest enough to sustain metabolic stress and tension
- Keeping workouts time-efficient
- Matching rest times to your goals and workout structure
Experiment to find the sweet spot based on your individual response. Adjust as needed over time to continue progressing. While rest is important, don’t sacrifice workout density and intensity by resting excessively long either.
Sample rest periods
Here are some sample rest periods for different training goals and exercises:
Strength
3-5 minutes for compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, benches
2-3 minutes for isolation exercises like curls, leg extensions
Hypertrophy
60-90 seconds for compound lifts
45-60 seconds for isolation exercises
Power
1-2 minutes between sets
Muscular endurance
30-60 seconds between sets
Conclusion
Resting between sets allows your muscles and central nervous system to recover, enabling you to perform optimally on each set. But too much or too little rest can hinder strength and muscle gains.
Fine-tune your rest times based on your goals, the lifts being performed, workout structure, and individual recovery capacity. Getting this variable dialed in can mean the difference between lackluster and exceptional results over time.