Breaks between sets/exercises

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hmhill17
hmhill17 Posts: 283 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I tried searching the forum, but there's too much. How long should I wait between sets? Between exercises? I've been doing 1 minute between sets and about 5 between exercises. That seems to give my muscles enough time to recover before moving on.

Not trying to be bulky, just build a little muscle to help with fat burning.

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  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    hmhill17 wrote: »
    Not trying to be bulky, just build a little muscle to help with fat burning.

    A pound of muscle burns approximately 6 cals a day at rest. You would have to gain a huge amount of muscle to make a significant difference to your calorie balance.
    Building muscle really isn't a very valid tactic for "fat burning".
    (There's plenty of other good reasons to do it though of course!)


    Enough time to recover before your next set is fine, that doesn't have to be a fixed time.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    hmhill17 wrote: »
    I tried searching the forum, but there's too much. How long should I wait between sets? Between exercises? I've been doing 1 minute between sets and about 5 between exercises. That seems to give my muscles enough time to recover before moving on.

    Not trying to be bulky, just build a little muscle to help with fat burning.

    It depends on what exactly you are doing. There is no standard answer here. Power lifters and such who are lifting at a very high % of max usually take between 3-5 minutes between working sets to recover to ensure they get the next set up. On the other end of the spectrum, people doing circuits take very little time between sets...maybe 20-30 seconds.

    Taking 5 minutes between exercises seems pretty excessive...I usually take the same time between exercise movements as I do between sets which is usually 90 seconds to 2 minutes.

    There is no hard and fast rule here...this is something you'll have to experiment with. You want to take enough time between sets to recover and get the next working set in without failing, but you don't want to take too long.

    I would also recommend that you follow an established, structured program rather than just making up your own thing...results will be far more efficient, and an established program will outline what you should be doing and when you should be doing it.

  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 1,995 Member
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    I don't lift real heavy so I need less recovery time. maybe 30 seconds tops between sets and 1 min between exercises.
  • hmhill17
    hmhill17 Posts: 283 Member
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    Annoying that it doesn't burn more. For years people have always said can't burn fat without muscles blah blah blah. Still, some muscle better than none.

    My plan is to get into the habit using a set of 10 exercises I found. I started out just doing two and waiting a day between. Then I did 3, wait, 4, wait, and today I'm up to 5. I try to do 5 sets of 10, but if one really, really hurts I stop at 3 (damned scaption). Once the habit is there, I'm going to look for programs or even talk to a professional.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
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    hmhill17 wrote: »
    Annoying that it doesn't burn more. For years people have always said can't burn fat without muscles blah blah blah.

    As with most things you've heard/been told... the statements themselves are usually based in truth, but the context (or lack of context) is usually the problem. This is a big reason why it's so important to consider the source, and the source's motivation.
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,210 Member
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    hmhill17 wrote: »
    My plan is to get into the habit using a set of 10 exercises I found. I started out just doing two and waiting a day between. Then I did 3, wait, 4, wait, and today I'm up to 5. I try to do 5 sets of 10, but if one really, really hurts I stop at 3 (damned scaption).

    No need for a beginner to do 5 sets of 10. Do yourself a favor and follow a professionally-designed program, so you get results without getting injured.
  • CipherZero
    CipherZero Posts: 1,418 Member
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    What building strength does is manifold, but to some quick points:
    • Increases work capacity so tasks take less of your total energy stores
    • Build muscle
    • Increase thickness and strength of ligaments and tendons (albeit slowly)
    • Increase bone density
    What strength training doesn't do it burn a crapton of calories because time under the bar performing work is a small portion of total time in the gym.
    A trainee doing a novice program (Starting Strength, PHAT, Stronglifts, etc.) can expect to spend one to two hours in the gym three days a week - but their time resting between sets will easily be 90% of the time.

    The reason for the rest between sets is to re-oxygenate the body - because if you're lifting you're not breathing while doing a repetition - and to allow muscle tissues to reflood with adenosine triphosphate. This process can take between one and ten minutes depending on the trainee's age, recovery potential, load compared to maximum output, and a host of other factors.

    On a personal level, in the beginning of a linear progression program I recommend three minutes between sets, and increase to five or six nearer the end of the program out of necessity.

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