Time-out

When working out in the gym most people will do more than one exercise. And usually they will do more than one set of each exercise. That begs the question “How long should I rest between sets/exercises?” After all, if you had no rest then doing 3 sets of 10 reps would be the same as doing one set of 30 reps. How much of a difference does it make to take rest between sets, and how much rest should you take? The answer to those is “A lot” and “it depends”. 

When training in the gym we are looking to make specific changes to the muscles being worked. Weight to lift, speed of lifting and rest periods will be different depending on whether the goal is to get stronger, bigger or more stable. Rest period is one often overlooked factor in this equation.

The purpose of rest between sets is to allow the muscles being worked to recover sufficiently to allow you to perform the required number of sets at the specified intensity. But more than this the rest period will influence the hormonal changes taking place in the muscles to deliver the effect the program is trying to achieve. If the rest was simply here to give your muscles a break to recover you would think that taking half an hour off between sets would allow you to lift more weight. True, it would, but because the hormonal balance within the muscles cells would not be affected in the same way you wouldn’t see the same results as having a rest period of say 1min. 

The same holds true for endurance training. During an interval workout the length of the recovery period completely shapes the nature of the session and dictates how fast you can run each interval and how many of them you can do.

Determining the appropriate rest period for the targeted training response is an essential part of any program design. If it is not included in a program you are following make sure you ask the question of how long you should rest!