Rest times

paprad

I asked about rest and recovery over at the ETP thread and there was a general opinion to over think it :laugh: and to go by how my body feels - and anyway at a deficit it doesn't matter that much

However, for my own learning, I want to understand what this means (copied from the FAQs)

Question: Why should I keep to 60 s rest between warm up sets and 90 s between work sets?
A: The rest times are cut a bit short on purpose. If you make them longer strength gains will out pace endurance and size gains.....and the program will stall long before it should. You have to push the endurance side hard to increase work capacity up as fast as possible. The programs beyond this level require a higher work capacity.

How does longer/shorter rest affect strength versus endurance?

pandorakick

I stumbled over All pro's in-depth explanation of that last night, will post it when I get home from work!

jimmmer

It's to do with the muscle fibres used. The first set taxes the muscle fibres that predominantly are used for explosive strength. They won't recover in time after 90s, so the second set has to be born by the muscle fibres responsible for strength-endurance.

If you wait longer, the initial muscle fibres will recover and shoulder the load for the second set. But the other muscle fibres won't be taxed and therefore your endurance won't increase.

It's a balanced routine in multiple ways: i) balanced in terms of body parts being hit ii) balanced in terms of recovery (last two weeks of the cycle you overtrain, then the first two weeks of the next cycle you undertrain and your body adapts readying you for the third week where you lift your 10RM) and iii) the routine is balanced between strength/endurance/size gains (as per the muscle fibre discussion above)

The more you do it, the more cleaver you realise it is. This is why it's perfect for beginners: all this complicated stuff has been factored in for you!

- Just show up. Move some iron. Put in the time. Eat enough food. (and do the routine as written!)

paprad

jimmmer - thanks for that explanation, that helps a lot

jimmmer

jimmmer - thanks for that explanation, that helps a lot

No problem! I read and re-read AP's 3 threads for months before I started the routine. It's all in there and worth slogging through. You get to see how he used to respond to people when he was still around. In the end you can kind of intuit what he would have said on a particular issue! It's a bit like asking what would Jesus do? But with less Jesus and more All Pro!

If you want a real challenge read (and re-read the All Pro Intermediate thread). I'm probably going to do Intermediate 4 (the 636) next and it's taken me months to properly work out how to set it up.....

pandorakick

Below the quote from All Pro I was refering to:

Originally Posted by All Pro
Some where way back in this thread I posted a chart of what you're burning for fuel and the recovery times required. I put the rest interval at 90 seconds to force your body to use glycogen rather than ATP on the second set. This will increase size gains while slowing down strength gains. I'm using the first set for strength and the second for endurance. It's tough going but it works pretty well. If you have to take more than 90 seconds between sets then so be it. The price you'll pay will be in slightly less anaerobic endurance and the sarcoplasmic size gains that go with it. But myofibrillar hypertrophy (the muscle fibers) will be a little better. It takes about 2 minutes to restore ATP to 90%. A 90 second rest interval forces 2As to carry a much higher percentage of the load and that was my objective. The lactate/glycogen system which sadly the chart doesn't show is fueling the medium fibers, 2A and 2D medium. ATP fuels 2X and 2D fast.

I agree btw with Jimmer about reading through all the available threads: lots of good info and explanations there!

paprad

Thanks Pandorakick. I did read that when I did my first AllPro reading but I suspect I glazed over the ATP and stuff - which now suddenly makes perfect sense. I think lifting has also added synapses to my brains!

I read a large chunk of his first thread - it went to some 10000 posts and I was amazed at the patience of the man in answering already-asked-and-answered questions, again and again and again. I will go back and read the rest of that thread and the followup threads.

claston77

All Pro is a wise dude :happy: His response in one of the many "All Pro's Simple Beginner Routine vs. Starting Strength" was what made me switch programs and I've not regretted it for one minute.

sun_fish

Tagging so I can explain this correctly to my husband!