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How Long Should You Rest Between Sets?
Sep
Even though it could seem counterintuitive to figuring out—or prefer it’s slowing you down—CPT and ACE Senior Director of Science and Research Sabrena Jo, PhD, says that spending not less than one minute between sets is mandatory to essentially reap the rewards of lifting.
Experts In This Article
- Sabrena Jo, MS, Sabrena Jo, MS, is a private trainer and the American Council on Exercise director of research content. She can be the ACE liaison to the scientific advisory panel. Jo has been energetic within the fitness community since 1987.
The importance of resting between sets while lifting
Spending a minute or more between sets can feel annoying, nonetheless, the advantages of doing so can prove extremely useful. If you take a minute (or more) between sets, you…
Prevent fatigue
“Continuous, intensive exercise without rest can result in premature muscle fatigue, which reduces your ability to keep up form and intensity across everything of your workout,” Dr. Jo says. “This will limit the effectiveness of your training and increase the chance of injury.”
Allow yourself to recuperate neurally
“The central nervous system [CNS] plays a big role in weightlifting,” Dr. Jo says. “Rest periods allow the CNS to recuperate from the high-stress activity, ensuring you’ll be able to maintain control and form during your lifts.”
Give yourself a psychological break
“Resting provides a mental break, which might allow you to maintain focus and intensity throughout your workout,” Dr. Jo explains. “This will be especially essential during high-intensity or high-volume workouts.”
With all this in mind, Dr. Jo says that, ultimately, taking breaks between sets can allow you to train more effectively.
How long it’s best to rest between sets
Now that you already know the advantages of rest periods, chances are you’ll be wondering how long you’ve gotten to dilly-dally to realize them. In keeping with Dr. Jo, it will depend on your lifting goals. “To extend muscle size, or hypertrophy, resting for one to 2 minutes between sets after you’ve lifted to failure can support this goal; to extend strength and power, resting for 3 to 5 minutes between sets allows for more recovery time and may support this goal,” she says.
The one exception for shorter rest periods is for muscular endurance. If that’s your goal, Dr. Jo says resting for just 30 seconds will do the trick.
Remember though, these are merely guidelines. “As with so many things exercise-related, every person can have a novel response to their training sessions,” Dr. Jo says. “So, regardless that these rest intervals are a great place to start out, chances are you’ll find that sticking strictly to them during a workout is somewhat limiting—that’s, chances are you’ll need somewhat more rest when moving between really difficult muscle-building sets, and that’s okay.”
Dr. Jo says it’s higher to feel fully recovered in order that each subsequent set will be performed safely and with good form, somewhat than sticking to a timed rest interval.
Find out how to incorporate rest times into your lifting sesh
Essentially the most accurate method to count time between sets is with a timer. While many trainer-led apps feature built-in timers of their programming, should you’re designing your individual workout, using a Tabata timer and even just your phone’s timer will work.
“A timer will be helpful should you turn into acquainted with how you are feeling during appropriately timed rest intervals, especially for beginners,” Dr. Jo says. “Nonetheless, when you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to go by how recovered your body feels. Ideally, you should feel psychologically and physically rested enough to take in your next set without fear of being too fatigued to proceed.”
