Ask the Strength Coach
By Mark Philippi
Philippi Sports Institute
How much rest should I take between my sets during my workout? The average person that visits the gym often overlooks rest intervals. Rest depends on your workout goal and the amount of weight being used. If you are trying to improve your general conditioning, recovery, and increase muscle endurance, use lighter loads. Fifty to sixty-five percent of one repetition maximum or rep ranges from 12 to 20 reps and rest periods shorter than 75 seconds between sets.
If your goal is increase muscle mass the rest periods also need to be relatively short, in the 60 to 75 second range but you need to increase the amount on weight on the bar. Use sets with weights in the 65% to 75% of one repetition maximum range or 8 to 12 reps for each set. The short rest periods will create muscle growth or the “bodybuilding” effect
If gaining strength is your focus, you need to take longer rest. Too often individuals want to lift heavier weights and get stronger without taking sufficient rest. Focused strength training uses percentages of >85% and longer rest will be needed to recover from one set to another. Powerlifters lifting near maximum weights may even take 5 to 10 minutes in between the heaviest sets. Don’t make the mistake of missing reps during a heavy strength workout by not allowing your body to recover 3 to 4 minutes between heavy sets. The number of opportunities to attempt heavy weights during a strength workout is limited so take time to rest. Workouts that will produce elements of strength and size (5 sets of 5 reps or 5x5) also take more recovery time, usually around 2 to 4 minutes rest between sets.
Athletes performing ballistic movements to increase explosiveness need to treat the workouts similar as heavy strength workouts and take the same rest periods. You are working the nervous system and it will take time to recover between sets. If you don’t rest you will lose the ability to coordinate your movements properly. I have seen too many explosive plyometric workouts turn into conditioning workouts where the movement technique breaks down increasing the injury potential. All due to lack of sufficient rest between sets.
If you want to keep your natural hormone levels high during you workout, perform multiple sets of various exercises with moderate to high intensity levels (10 repetition maximum or heavier) with short 6o second rest intervals. Performing workouts in this manner will keep both testosterone and growth hormone levels elevated during your workout. This provides an anabolic effect to your workout. This type of resistance training is the best way to fight off the effects of aging in older adults.
Know why you are training and what the overall goal of your workout is before choosing your rest intervals.