A typical strength- or muscle-building workout happens in sets.
But how long should that rest be?
The answer will depend on a few factors, including the purpose of the workout.
Theres also a good argument that, for many of us, rest times dont matterthatmuch.
Why rest times matter
The longer you rest between sets, the more recovered you’ll feel.
Choosing the most appropriate rest time for each exercise will get you the best gains in the gym.
So let’s go over some pros and cons of long and short rest times.
After all, you need practice at lifting heavy if you want to be able to lift heavy.
Resting for several minutes gives you the best chance of coming back to the next set at full strength.
The longer you restwithin reasonthe more fully recovered youll be for the next set.
If you only allow yourself one minute, youll still be fatigued when you pick up the weight again.
But if you wait longer, youll be able to handle more weight.
The downsides of long rest times
The main disadvantage of long rest times is time management.
Your workouts will be longer if you rest five minutes between exercises instead of one or two.
You may also find yourself getting distracted between sets.
Setting a rest timer can help with this.
Some people get antsy during long rests, and will pass the time by doing pushups or jumping jacks.
That kind of defeats the purpose of long rests.
How long is a “long” rest time?
Warmup sets don’t need as much time.
To be clear, strength and muscle growth are related, but not the same thing.
These will be shorter than for pure strength.
Traditionally, trainers say that 90 seconds or less is a good rule of thumb.
But research has shown that short rest periods may not actually be better for muscle growth than longer ones.
A2016 studyfound that three-minute rest periods actually yieldedmoremuscle growth than one-minute rests.
Resting one to two minutes between sets is best for muscle growth, they say.
More than two minutes doesn’t really help.
You may be able to make up for this by doing more sets of the exercise.
If you enjoy the go-go-go feeling of short rests, that may be totally fine with you.
Add an extra set or two and you know you’re using your time well.
How long is a “short” rest time?
One to two minutes is likely the sweet spot, according to recent studies.
That’s on the higher end of the recommended 30 to 90 seconds.
Supersets are a great way to split the difference.
For barbell squats and deadlifts: These are compound lifts that use many muscles in your body.
Theyre pretty much always done (relatively) heavy, and its useful to build strength in these moves.
Treat them as a strength exercise and wait three to five minutes.
For rows and lat pulldowns: Same as the presses, for the same reasons.
Two to three minutes may be enough, but up to five would still be reasonable.
Take 30 seconds between sets.
These are just guidelines, so feel free to experiment.
If you want to work on your cardiovascular conditioning, take a little less rest between sets.
If you’re trying to move a heavy weight, you probably want to rest aminimumof three minutes.
Still, it’s not bad to rest too long, just slightly inefficient.
Can you rest an hour between sets?
At that point I wouldn’t call it a rest time, just a different workout.
This could be pushups while you’re waiting for a bench to free up, for example.
How long should I rest if I’m new to the gym?
As a noob, you’re probably not lifting very heavy (yet).
That means you don’t have a lot to restfrom.
Say you’re doing squats: your body is still learning how to squatat all.
You aren’t taking 300 pounds for a ride and needing to rest several minutes to recover.
For that reason, newer people may not need to rest as much.
Two minutes between squat sets?
Sure, that’s fine if you feel ready.
What happens if I don’t rest between sets?
There’s supposed to be a difference between three sets of 10, and one set of 30.
But remember: Everybody rests between sets!
Or at least, they should.
