Workout rest time3/1/2024 ![]() Rest times don’t have to be JUST real short or JUST real long. Most Ideal For: Strength and muscular power.Īs you can see, it doesn’t have to be JUST incomplete or JUST complete rest times.Most Ideal For: Building muscle, getting “toned,” looking good, increasing strength.Most Ideal For: Building muscle, getting “toned,” looking good.Most Ideal For: Muscular endurance, metabolic training/circuit training, burning some additional calories.Which type of rest is best for me?Īs you can see, there is something good and bad about each, and this is when your primary goal comes into play.ĭepending on exactly what your goal is, certain rest times (complete, incomplete, or a combination of both) would be better suited for you than others. However, the amount of neural recovery will be lower, and this means your strength and work capacity from set-to-set will be a lot lower as well. This type of rest is shorter in duration and allows for more accumulated fatigued (which is associated with higher increases in growth hormone) along with various metabolic benefits as well. However, the amount of fatigue and metabolite accumulation (all of which play a role in fat loss, building muscle, and improving muscular endurance) is typically lower. This means you’ll be able to maintain your work capacity better, maximize strength performance and basically be at your strongest from set-to-set and able to lift the most amounts of weight for the most amounts of reps. This type of rest is longer in duration and allows for more recovery of your central nervous system. You see, rest time between sets can be classified 2 different ways, complete and incomplete, and both have their own pros and cons depending on your goal. The final major factor influencing rest times is your specific fitness goal. How Your Primary Goal Influences Rest Times Meaning, exercises for bigger muscle groups like legs, chest and back typically need more rest between sets than exercises for smaller muscle groups like biceps, triceps and calves.Īt the same time, more demanding compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, and various presses and rows typically require more rest between sets than less demanding isolation exercises like lateral raises, dumbbell flyes, biceps curls, triceps press-downs, leg extensions or anything similar.Įven if the isolation exercise is for a bigger muscle group, it still needs less rest between sets than a compound exercise for that same muscle group.Īgain, it makes perfect sense. The less demanding an exercise is on your body, the less rest you need.The more demanding an exercise is on your body, the more rest you need.Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? How An Exercise’s “Demand” Influences Rest TimesĪlong with how many reps you’re doing per set of an exercise, the exercise itself and how demanding it is on your body also plays a big role in how long you should rest. So, for example, if you are doing 6 reps per set of an exercise, you would need more rest between sets than if you were doing 12 reps per set of the same exercise. The lower the rep range/higher the intensity, the more rest you need between sets of that exercise.The higher the rep range/lower the intensity, the less rest you need between sets of that exercise.This all has a direct effect on the amount of rest you need between sets. ![]() You know, like how only being able to lift a weight for 5 reps means you are training at a fairly high intensity, while being able to lift a weight for 15 reps is a fairly low intensity. And, the more reps you can do per set of an exercise, the lower the intensity. ![]() In my post about weight training intensity, I explained that the fewer reps you can do per set of an exercise, the higher your training intensity is. How Your Intensity/Rep Range Influences Rest Times Luckily, this range can be narrowed down greatly by applying each factor to your exact situation. Your primary goal (building muscle, increasing strength, losing fat, etc.).īased on these three factors, it’s pretty common to see rest time recommendations of anywhere from 0 seconds to 5 minutes between sets and exercises.How demanding that exercise is on your body as a whole.What intensity/rep range you are using for a given exercise.When you find that, you’ll have found your optimal rest time.Īs it turns out, there’s primarily 3 major factors that influence what your ideal rest times should be: ![]() The goal is to find that sweet spot right in between resting too much or too little. Simply put, if your rest periods are too long or too short, you’ll end up sacrificing the results you want to some degree. How long should you rest between different exercises?.How long should you rest between sets of an exercise?.After you’ve selected the exercises you will perform in each of your workouts and put them in their ideal order, the next important step is to answer the following questions:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |