fitness, working out, strength training Weights on a jump crate, image: Unsplash
One of the main questions we have when we start strength training is how much to rest between sets. There are times when we finish a round and immediately feel ready to start another; and, on other occasions, it seems that even after 5 minutes between exercises we are not able to catch our breath.
Added to this confusion is the fact that we are all prone to procrastination: who hasn't spent ten minutes on their phone after finishing an exercise? In the end, this is something that not only makes us waste time, but it also becomes an obstacle when it comes to achieving our goals.
However, knowing how much to rest between sets is not easy and the information regarding this is usually clear. It will depend a lot on the duration of exercises we are doing, what capacities we want to work on in that specific training and our own objectives. In general, there is a guide that we can follow and that will be very useful when organizing our training sessions.
For starters
If you're just starting out with strength training , you're probably still getting used to its structure, its movement patterns, and the different techniques you need for each exercise. That's why it's important to take longer breaks, because you should always prioritize technique , and if you don't rest enough, you may be forced to sacrifice it.
For compound exercises, such as push-ups, squats, or deadlifts, it's ideal to rest for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. On the other hand, for isolation exercises, such as bicep curls or leg extensions, 60 to 90 seconds will suffice.
However, we must avoid falling into the temptation of entertaining ourselves with our mobile phones. We must try to maintain concentration, mentally review the technique or prepare the necessary material.
To gain muscle
If our goal is hypertrophy, we should focus on muscle performance, trying to lift more and more weight. Therefore, we will most likely have to take longer breaks, in order to allow the muscles to recover and be able to give their all in each repetition. Typically, the rest should be 1 to 3 minutes, so we should listen to our body to know if we need more or less.
To improve our resistance
If we are looking to improve our muscular endurance, we will need much less rest than in the previous cases. This is because we will do more repetitions with less weight, and the muscles are able to recover much sooner. 30 seconds will be enough between sets and if, in addition, what we want to do are high intensity circuits or HIIT, they should be 10, 15 or 20 seconds, at most.
To gain strength and power
The same thing happens with strength and power as when we want to gain muscle: the rest periods should be longer, since we will be lifting more weight and doing fewer repetitions. However, if what we are doing is muscle power training, since the exercises are more intense and explosive, the rest period should be even longer: between 3 and 5 minutes.
This may seem like a lot at first, but believe us, it is necessary. We need our muscles to be at 100% so that they can give their all, exerting the greatest possible force in each movement.
These are just general guidelines that we can use to guide us at first, but the most important thing will always be to learn to discern how our body reacts to different stimuli and, from there, decide for ourselves how much rest we need.
[via GQ Spain]
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