Resting during a set

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allother94
allother94 Posts: 588 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
If I am on a program that demands 10 reps in a set, can I do 6 reps, rest 30 secs and then do 4 reps?

How long can I pause between reps during a set without “failing the set”?

My program basically says to increase the weight once I complete 3 sets of 12... I’m guessing there is a cut off for rest between reps. Otherwise I could do 1 rep each day for 36 days and say I completed the set...

Replies

  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,978 Member
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    If you are doing a program that requires a specific # of reps in a set, then you should do all of the reps before you rest. So, in your example do all 10 reps before you reps

    There is no specific rule about how long to rest between sets but generally the lower the wt, the shorter the rest period between sets. In your case, 30-90 secs should be sufficient, but for heavier/more demanding wts, 3-5 mins of rest is not unheard of either

    There are hyperthrophic reasons to reduce the rest periods in order to increase the stress of the muscles to promote muscle growth but I see no point in getting into all that here.

  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    IMO it is ok to rest in the middle of a set if you need to. To me it’s part of building up at a new weight level. When you can easily complete the set without rest, it’s time to move up. This is my opinion based on experience, I have no science to quote. 🤗
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    edited October 2019
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    Do you mean like a rest-pauses? I don't do it with everything but in particular when it comes to my glute hypertrophy work especially hip thrusts, glute bridges and accessories. It depends on your goals and program but I find it helps me keep things fresh, add variety or push through when I want to keep up the volume but get too burned out to complete the set with good form. There are many advanced techniques like this (ex. Pyramids, constant tension, isoholds, pause reps, dropsets, etc) but I wouldn't go overboard with them and just add them in whenever especially if your program isn't calling for them. But experimentation shouldn't be discouraged either.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    If the program you are trying to follow requires 10 reps then you should pick a weight that you can do 10 reps at.
    Only being able to do 6 of 10 means you should adjust or you aren't actually folowing the program you picked.

    What sort of weight progression does your program stipulate?
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited October 2019
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    Drop the weight and do the required dosage of useful stress.

    *assuming you are taking the required or adequate break in between sets.

    I usually dose rest periods any where from 15 seconds to 2.5 minutes for hypertrophy work depending on the load, rep scheme, and actual lift.

  • allother94
    allother94 Posts: 588 Member
    edited October 2019
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    I’m doing allpro. It tells you the weight to start with for your first cycle. You must do 8x3 the first week, 9x3 the second, and so on until the 5th week where you do 12x3. If you get the 12x3, you increase the weight and restart the cycle. If you don’t get the 12x3, you start the 5 week cycle over at the beginning with the same weight.

    I got12x2 and then got like 8 reps on the last set before I gave out. I rested 45 secs and got the last 4 reps. Not sure if this is cheating though...

    I tried the second day with the same result, but I did the last 4 reps by waiting 7 second between each rep. I’m wondering how many seconds I can rest between reps without breaking the set. 3?
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    So it's a souped up linear progression.

    LP's generally don't last long because at some point you simply can't recover.

    This "may" be the case here.

    What rest periods are you taking in between sets?

    I'm not similar with allpro. What is the protocol when you miss a set?
  • allother94
    allother94 Posts: 588 Member
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    If you miss a set, you just keep going until the end of week 5.

    I’m resting about 1m 30 sec between sets
  • CipherZero
    CipherZero Posts: 1,418 Member
    edited October 2019
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    If you’re a novice lifter Allpro program is not for you. From what you’ve described It’s a five week periodization program. Those tend to be for lifters who are far past even the intermediate weekly progression programs.

    This isn’t a dig at your lifting; if you’re a novice lifter it’s well within your grasp to add weight to the bar every session for months rather than every five weeks.

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