By Miguel J. Ortiz
When it comes to training, many get obsessed with sets, reps, tempo, weight and other variables. Yet, many people miss, or undervalue, rest. The rest you get between sets helps to maintain a high level of force production for the next set. It is one variable that can tremendously change how your workout feels.
You’ll see people in a gym who will lift weights until it burns, put the weights down, and when they feel good they will go back to work. Sometimes people aren’t even that disciplined to how they feel as they are easily distracted on their phones or talking to friends, which again completely deviates from the workout. Studies have shown that typical rest periods for increasing strength are between 2 and 5 minutes for optimal strength development. If you do 2-3 exercises you could be resting for upwards of 10 minutes. And you may not have that much time. But, the better question is, are you even working hard enough to really need or earn that much rest? In this column, we’re going to simplify how much time you should truly be resting depending on your goals.
First, here is a quick rundown of how much rest you should be taking between sets to elicit the proper change in the body to support your fitness aspirations.
- For muscular endurance development, you need 20-60 seconds of rest.
- For muscular hypertrophy development, you need 30-90 seconds of rest.
- For maximum strength and power, you need 2-5 minutes of rest.
New to lifting weights? Try 1-2 minutes of rest. If your trying to perfect your form, rest for at least 1-2 minutes.
By following the suggested rest variables above and applying them vigorously to your training routine, you will find that you might possibly need to drop weight, increase weight, slow down form and/or change your routine depending on what kind of feeling these new rest periods produce. I have found – when monitoring rest – that people actually start realizing they can lift more weight and they start seeing much better, progressive changes physically in their body. And isn’t that what we all ultimately want?
Now, let’s take the three exercises below and apply the rest principles above to see how the body feels.
- Dumbbell neutral grip chest press
- Dumbbell hinge and row
- Dumbbell walking lunges
Do these exercises two different ways. You can do them in a circuit 1,2, & 3 only resting when all 3 are completed, so very minimal rest between and focusing on the rest at the end of each round. Or, you can do them one at a time, exercise 1, then rest accordingly until 3 rounds are completed and then move to the next exercise and repeat. What you’ll notice is a completely different heart rate range and depending on how you do these exercises you’ll probably use different weights.
Have fun with your movements, continue to stay active and be disciplined about monitoring rest.
