When we talk about training, we always focus on sets and reps, exercises, tempos, and how much weight we’re lifting.
All this matters … it matters A LOT.
But so few people are talking about rest times, you’d think that rest means jack. This is not the case.
Sure, it might not be as important as monitoring other factors such as volume and progressive overload, and you don’t need to time your rest periods down to the precise nanosecond, but it is one more variable you can manipulate in your training to get bigger and stronger.
More so, it’s actually something a lot of guys get wrong, causing them to screw up their progress, and potentially leave muscle gains on the table.
In this piece, I’ll run through the ins and outs of rest periods:
- How different training styles require different rest intervals.
- Why you’re probably not resting enough on some exercises.
- And why you’re resting too long on others.
Here we go …
Why Rest Matters
We all know that rest between sessions is important, as muscle grow when they’re resting, but what about during sessions?
It’s the same principle really – you need time to recover and recuperate before your next set. Jump into it too early, and you won’t be as strong, which will decrease the weights or reps you lift, and reduce volume.
Likewise, take too long, and your workouts either start taking hours, or you don’t create enough fatigue and muscle breakdown.
The General Principle
If you’ve never given a second thought to rest periods, and aren’t about to start now, then at least use some general advice –
Rest long enough that you feel you can lift to near your maximum potential the next set, but not so long you feel like you’re being lazy.
Strength Training Rests
Your longest rest periods should come in strength sessions, or training exercises in the strength rep range – 6 reps or fewer, using 80% of your 1-rep max or above.
In this range, you’re using your muscles’ stores of creatine phosphate to produce energy and power, and it takes around 3 minutes for these to re-fill.
That said, they don’t top up fully after each set, hence why even allowing yourself 3 minutes of rest, you’ll still tire more and more each set.
When training heavy, you don’t want to rest any less than 2 minutes between sets, and, if you’re shooting for a new personal best, a 1-rep max, or an AMRAP (as many reps as possible) set with over 80% of your maximum, you might want to rest as long as 5 or 6 minutes between sets.
Hypertrophy Training Rests
When looking at hypertrophy training, we’re typically talking sets of 8 to 15 reps, using somewhere in the region of 65 to 80% of your 1-rep max.
As a guide, rest intervals here should be 90 seconds to 3 minutes.
Just like strength work, this is variable though.
On lighter sets or warm up sets, you may find you only need a minute.
Similarly, if you’re going balls to the wall on a drop set with forced reps at 70% of your 1 rep max, you might actually want to give yourself 4 or 5 minutes to prepare for this so you can get the most out of it.
Endurance Training Rests
Most of us here won’t be training for endurance, but if you are, we’re looking at using loads of no more than 65% of your max, for sets of 15 reps plus.
Here, the focus is far less on strength and far more on the aerobic capacity of the muscle and creating fatigue.
The energy systems for this recover and recuperate far quicker, and can run much longer, hence rest periods need only be 30 to 60 seconds.
One Eye on the Clock
With all this being said, you don’t need to be a real stickler for how long you rest.
As a beginner, you might want to stick stringently to the guidelines here, as this will give you a good idea of what your body responds best to.
For intermediate and advanced lifters though, you know what works and what doesn’t, so if you need to manipulate your rest times a little to allow for peak performance, go for it.
Also, there’s no need to time every rest period to the precise second, and you definitely don’t want to sacrifice strength by resting less than you feel you need, just to hit the guidelines.
Top Tips on Resting
Want some hacks to make modifying and monitoring rest periods easier?
- Set alarms on your phone for your rest times before you start your session, and just pick what one you need, then hit “start” after every set.
- If you know you’re prone to being lazy, get a training partner and have them enforce rest periods.
- Try not to get carried away with small talk to other gym members if you’re looking to keep rest periods shorter.
- Take minimal rest between warm-up sets – your “rest” can be getting set up and throwing more weight on the bar.
Rest times might not be as crucial as your sets, reps, and volume, but they still have a part to play, and can become a useful tool for tracking progress.