Rest time between heavy sets (bear with me please)
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jemhh
Posts: 14,261 Member
This is such a basic question that I am half rolling my eyes at myself for asking it but here goes:
How long do you, personally, rest between heavy sets? I've read plenty about what kind of rest periods are "good" or "sufficient" but I am wondering what people actually find works for them.
I have always used a timer to limit my rest, mostly because I'm afraid I'll somehow get sidetracked and rest too long. Recently I have begun to wonder if I should allow myself longer rests for my main compound movement each day, specifically for squats.
How long do you, personally, rest between heavy sets? I've read plenty about what kind of rest periods are "good" or "sufficient" but I am wondering what people actually find works for them.
I have always used a timer to limit my rest, mostly because I'm afraid I'll somehow get sidetracked and rest too long. Recently I have begun to wonder if I should allow myself longer rests for my main compound movement each day, specifically for squats.
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Replies
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I don't time my rest at all. I just walk around, catch my breath, and check off on my routine where I am in my sets so I don't lose count. When I feel ready, I go for another set. I haven't gotten sidetracked, it's just the weight room, not a whole lot of other things to catch my attention. I'm there for a reason and don't always have unlimited time, so I go and get it done.4
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I don't really time rest. If I'm closing in on a meet and I know how many people are going to be in my flight, I will time my rests for my heavy work to about where I expect rests between attempts to be. Otherwise, it's just based on feeling recovered enough to do the next set.0
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my rest time for heavy sets is about 1 or 2 games of candy crush, depending on how if feel. thats about 2-5 minutes. Take more time if you think you need more time5
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I do 3 minutes on leg day and 2ish minutes on other days. I usually rest 1.5 minutes for accessory lifts.0
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Really it's going to come down to your preferences and goals.
Generally speaking, minimal rest is going to be good for better conditioning/endurance but you're not going to be able to go very heavy so it's not great for hypertrophy or strength.
Resting a moderate amount of time (say 1-2 minutes) will be good for hypertrophy and will likely be enough rest for some good strength gains as well.
Resting a long time between sets is leaning more towards pure strength. I typically rest at least 15 minutes before trying an AMRAP set or a 1RM attempt or something along those lines. I've gotten sidetracked and rested for 30-45 minutes before with no ill effects. The workout just takes forever at that point but I've gotten strong as hell doing this.
At the end of the day I doubt it matters to a HUGE extent, at least until you are pushing the limits of what you are capable of.0 -
my rest time for heavy sets is about 1 or 2 games of candy crush, depending on how if feel. thats about 2-5 minutes. Take more time if you think you need more time
This made me laugh
I've been giving myself an ultimate max of 3 minutes and that's usually only before the final set. I usually start with 90 seconds and work up to 3 minutes. I'm wondering if I'd be better off with 3 minutes rather than working up to it.Resting a long time between sets is leaning more towards pure strength. I typically rest at least 15 minutes before trying an AMRAP set or a 1RM attempt or something along those lines. I've gotten sidetracked and rested for 30-45 minutes before with no ill effects. The workout just takes forever at that point but I've gotten strong as hell doing this.
See, this week I was trying to retest maxes because I want to go back to 531. I very "generously" gave myself four minutes before my last set. Ha.0 -
Unless my rest time is prescribed, (sometimes its specified in my programming for an intended stimulus) anything less than about 90% 1RM in the 1-3 rep range I time my rest for 90-120 seconds. Anything over 90% I go by feel with max effort attempts sometimes in the 5-7 minute range. For max efforts I like to give as much rest as possible without losing that "warm" feeling if that makes any sense.0
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For strength sets: I tend to rest 5 minutes between working sets, whatever I want/need for warm-ups, and 8-10 minutes for AMRAP sets.
For main assistance work: usually about 3 minutes.
For tertiary assistance work: 1-2 minutes, depending on if I'm supersetting or not. 1 minute between each individual superset lift - or isolations, 2 minutes if not supersetting and compound (such as rows or lats).
That's pretty typical, and I'm fairly happy with how things have been going the last couple of months, since incorporating this structure.0 -
Willbenchforcupcakes wrote: »I don't really time rest. If I'm closing in on a meet and I know how many people are going to be in my flight, I will time my rests for my heavy work to about where I expect rests between attempts to be. Otherwise, it's just based on feeling recovered enough to do the next set.
have you found that helps training with rest cycles as if it was meet day? i've wondered about this0 -
I take about 3-4 Minutes on heavy sets. 1-2 Mins on Assistance work0
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I rest 5 mins bet heavy sets and sometimes 10.
Nothing wrong w/taking as much rest that you need to allow you to suceed.0 -
Depends on how I'm feeling and how heavy I'm going. Usually any where from 90 seconds to 3 minutes, but I have gone up to 5 minutes if it's feeling really grindy.1
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my rest time for heavy sets is about 1 or 2 games of candy crush, depending on how if feel. thats about 2-5 minutes. Take more time if you think you need more time
This made me laugh
I've been giving myself an ultimate max of 3 minutes and that's usually only before the final set. I usually start with 90 seconds and work up to 3 minutes. I'm wondering if I'd be better off with 3 minutes rather than working up to it.Resting a long time between sets is leaning more towards pure strength. I typically rest at least 15 minutes before trying an AMRAP set or a 1RM attempt or something along those lines. I've gotten sidetracked and rested for 30-45 minutes before with no ill effects. The workout just takes forever at that point but I've gotten strong as hell doing this.
See, this week I was trying to retest maxes because I want to go back to 531. I very "generously" gave myself four minutes before my last set. Ha.
I mean, if you're able to lift the weight that you need to lift as you work your way up, then the amount of rest seems fine. But on that AMRAP or between your top sets, yeah I'd be willing to add some rest time. I've actually done a bit of experimentation to see how much rest helped my ultimate strength. I've found that 10-15 minutes of rest is optimal for max-effort performance. After 15 minutes I don't seem to gain anything other than boredom. Of course, this depends on the lift too, 1RM OHP is fine with 10 minutes but I'm not waiting a second less than 15 minutes for a 1RM deadlift.
Of course there's plenty of other factors such as actual weight lifted. If I were a 1000lb deadlifter I'd probably want even more rest. And a woman can recover faster than a man. But still, for AMRAP sets? Lay down on the bench for a bit, don't rush it. Leaving pounds on the table sucks.0 -
my rest time for heavy sets is about 1 or 2 games of candy crush, depending on how if feel. thats about 2-5 minutes. Take more time if you think you need more time
This made me laugh
I've been giving myself an ultimate max of 3 minutes and that's usually only before the final set. I usually start with 90 seconds and work up to 3 minutes. I'm wondering if I'd be better off with 3 minutes rather than working up to it.Resting a long time between sets is leaning more towards pure strength. I typically rest at least 15 minutes before trying an AMRAP set or a 1RM attempt or something along those lines. I've gotten sidetracked and rested for 30-45 minutes before with no ill effects. The workout just takes forever at that point but I've gotten strong as hell doing this.
See, this week I was trying to retest maxes because I want to go back to 531. I very "generously" gave myself four minutes before my last set. Ha.
I mean, if you're able to lift the weight that you need to lift as you work your way up, then the amount of rest seems fine. But on that AMRAP or between your top sets, yeah I'd be willing to add some rest time. I've actually done a bit of experimentation to see how much rest helped my ultimate strength. I've found that 10-15 minutes of rest is optimal for max-effort performance. After 15 minutes I don't seem to gain anything other than boredom. Of course, this depends on the lift too, 1RM OHP is fine with 10 minutes but I'm not waiting a second less than 15 minutes for a 1RM deadlift.
Of course there's plenty of other factors such as actual weight lifted. If I were a 1000lb deadlifter I'd probably want even more rest. And a woman can recover faster than a man. But still, for AMRAP sets? Lay down on the bench for a bit, don't rush it. Leaving pounds on the table sucks.
I will sometimes wait up to 15 minutes or more on 1rm day. i definitely do better with more rest for my 1rm days. Most of that time is just spent waiting for my turn on the bar (i lift with a team), waiting for my coach or spotter to come back around, there is lots of sitting and waiting . But i do appreciate that extra time and have my best lifts when i wait longer. On a normal workout heavy day when i'm just going through my lifts, i dont wanna wait 15 minutes or it would take me 3 hours to get through that lift.0 -
3-5 mins on heavy sets. 60-120 seconds on accessory lifts.
Funny, on leg day 3-5 mins never seems enough, on bench day it seems too long, lol.1 -
my rest time for heavy sets is about 1 or 2 games of candy crush, depending on how if feel. thats about 2-5 minutes. Take more time if you think you need more time
This made me laugh
I've been giving myself an ultimate max of 3 minutes and that's usually only before the final set. I usually start with 90 seconds and work up to 3 minutes. I'm wondering if I'd be better off with 3 minutes rather than working up to it.Resting a long time between sets is leaning more towards pure strength. I typically rest at least 15 minutes before trying an AMRAP set or a 1RM attempt or something along those lines. I've gotten sidetracked and rested for 30-45 minutes before with no ill effects. The workout just takes forever at that point but I've gotten strong as hell doing this.
See, this week I was trying to retest maxes because I want to go back to 531. I very "generously" gave myself four minutes before my last set. Ha.
I mean, if you're able to lift the weight that you need to lift as you work your way up, then the amount of rest seems fine. But on that AMRAP or between your top sets, yeah I'd be willing to add some rest time. I've actually done a bit of experimentation to see how much rest helped my ultimate strength. I've found that 10-15 minutes of rest is optimal for max-effort performance. After 15 minutes I don't seem to gain anything other than boredom. Of course, this depends on the lift too, 1RM OHP is fine with 10 minutes but I'm not waiting a second less than 15 minutes for a 1RM deadlift.
Of course there's plenty of other factors such as actual weight lifted. If I were a 1000lb deadlifter I'd probably want even more rest. And a woman can recover faster than a man. But still, for AMRAP sets? Lay down on the bench for a bit, don't rush it. Leaving pounds on the table sucks.
Huh? I've never heard this before.1 -
It's goal dependant along with experience.
I general, I use a internal clock in my head for powerlifting strength. I know when I'm ready to complete a heavy set without cooling off.
When I'm gearing up for a meet and doing doubles/singles I try to keep it around 10 minutes or about the time in between lifts during a meet.2 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »my rest time for heavy sets is about 1 or 2 games of candy crush, depending on how if feel. thats about 2-5 minutes. Take more time if you think you need more time
This made me laugh
I've been giving myself an ultimate max of 3 minutes and that's usually only before the final set. I usually start with 90 seconds and work up to 3 minutes. I'm wondering if I'd be better off with 3 minutes rather than working up to it.Resting a long time between sets is leaning more towards pure strength. I typically rest at least 15 minutes before trying an AMRAP set or a 1RM attempt or something along those lines. I've gotten sidetracked and rested for 30-45 minutes before with no ill effects. The workout just takes forever at that point but I've gotten strong as hell doing this.
See, this week I was trying to retest maxes because I want to go back to 531. I very "generously" gave myself four minutes before my last set. Ha.
I mean, if you're able to lift the weight that you need to lift as you work your way up, then the amount of rest seems fine. But on that AMRAP or between your top sets, yeah I'd be willing to add some rest time. I've actually done a bit of experimentation to see how much rest helped my ultimate strength. I've found that 10-15 minutes of rest is optimal for max-effort performance. After 15 minutes I don't seem to gain anything other than boredom. Of course, this depends on the lift too, 1RM OHP is fine with 10 minutes but I'm not waiting a second less than 15 minutes for a 1RM deadlift.
Of course there's plenty of other factors such as actual weight lifted. If I were a 1000lb deadlifter I'd probably want even more rest. And a woman can recover faster than a man. But still, for AMRAP sets? Lay down on the bench for a bit, don't rush it. Leaving pounds on the table sucks.
Huh? I've never heard this before.
Very true. It's well documented through data. It has to do with females not using as much motor muscles as men, so even on a RPE 10 set, a female can come back and duplicate the set several times, when I male can't because we have more of our muscles motors involved. Therefore we males are spent or cannot recover as easily.
Hence why the majority of the strongest elite female athletes have an extra chromosome simular to males. They have more muscle motors involved.2 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »my rest time for heavy sets is about 1 or 2 games of candy crush, depending on how if feel. thats about 2-5 minutes. Take more time if you think you need more time
This made me laugh
I've been giving myself an ultimate max of 3 minutes and that's usually only before the final set. I usually start with 90 seconds and work up to 3 minutes. I'm wondering if I'd be better off with 3 minutes rather than working up to it.Resting a long time between sets is leaning more towards pure strength. I typically rest at least 15 minutes before trying an AMRAP set or a 1RM attempt or something along those lines. I've gotten sidetracked and rested for 30-45 minutes before with no ill effects. The workout just takes forever at that point but I've gotten strong as hell doing this.
See, this week I was trying to retest maxes because I want to go back to 531. I very "generously" gave myself four minutes before my last set. Ha.
I mean, if you're able to lift the weight that you need to lift as you work your way up, then the amount of rest seems fine. But on that AMRAP or between your top sets, yeah I'd be willing to add some rest time. I've actually done a bit of experimentation to see how much rest helped my ultimate strength. I've found that 10-15 minutes of rest is optimal for max-effort performance. After 15 minutes I don't seem to gain anything other than boredom. Of course, this depends on the lift too, 1RM OHP is fine with 10 minutes but I'm not waiting a second less than 15 minutes for a 1RM deadlift.
Of course there's plenty of other factors such as actual weight lifted. If I were a 1000lb deadlifter I'd probably want even more rest. And a woman can recover faster than a man. But still, for AMRAP sets? Lay down on the bench for a bit, don't rush it. Leaving pounds on the table sucks.
Huh? I've never heard this before.
i never heard this before either lol1 -
About 3 minutes in-between heavy squats and deadlifts, about 1.5 to 2 minutes for almost every other heavy lift. For accessories it's sometimes 45 seconds or so.
i don't really "time" them, but i do look at my watch before and after i perform a lift out of curiosity and that's when i naturally feel good to keep on chuckin.0
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