Hey what’s up, guys.
Sean Nalewanyj here at www.SeanNal.com-www.BodyTrnasformationTruth.com and in this video today we’re talking about
the ideal rest time between sets.
So how long to rest to between sets to build muscle and to gain strength as effectively
as possible.
Now you’ll hear all kinds different of recommendations on this one, some people will tell you that
the ideal rest time is one minute, some will say ninety seconds, some will say three minutes
and the reality is that they’re all right and they’re all wrong at the same time.
Because there is no single ideal rest time that you can just apply across the board on
every exercise of every workout, and it really makes no sense to try and do that.
Now the simple reason for that is that the amount of rest that you require in between
two given sets highly depends on how intensely your training as well as which specific exercise
that you’re performing.
There are many different style of bodybuilding training out there varying from a high intensity-low
volume to lower intensity with higher volume and that’s going to play big role in determining
how long to rest between sets.
If you’re training all the way to muscular failure for example then that’s going to
tax your muscles and your nervous system more heavily and you’ll need to rest longer in
order to properly recover.
Whereas if you’re training a few reps shorter failure, then you will need to rest as long.
The specific exercise also plays a big role because the more muscle groups that are involved
and the more total weight that you’re moving the longer you’re going to need to rest
in order to properly recover.
For example a heavy sets of deadlifts is obviously going to take a lot more of you than a set
of dumbbell presses will and a set of dumbbell presses will take more out of you than a set
of triceps pushdowns.
So again try to say with the ideal rest time between sets is just not logical because it
will vary from workout to workout, and from exercise to exercise and it can vary depending
on your energy levels and your mood during any given training session as well.
So how long should you rest between sets to build muscle optimally, the simple answer
that I would give is that you should rest as long as you need to in order to feel fully
recovered from the previous set and to where you’ll be able to execute the next set with
maximum performance.
So if that means resting three minutes after a set of deadlifts of two minutes after a
set of dumbbell rows, or one and a half minutes after a set of lateral raises then that’s
totally fine.
As a general overarching guideline though, you’ll probably find that a rest period
anywhere between one and a half to three minutes is going to be an appropriate for most lifts
most of the time.
But if you do feel that you require a bit more rest on a particular lift or if you’re
performing a really small isolation movement and you feel fully recovered after only one
minute that’s okay too.
Remember that at the end of the day building muscle ultimately comes down to progressive
overload.
That’s by far the most important factor, meaning, increasing your strength on all of
your lifts overtime and consistently improving on the previous week’s numbers.
And if you perform your next set before you’ve had a chance to adequately recover that’s
only going to decrease your performance overall and it could even increase the chance of injury
if you’re consistently performing sets with heavy weights, while you’re still somewhat
fatigue because your overall mental focus will be lower as well.
Intentionally using shorter rest times can be useful for improving endurance or cardio
vascular health if those are goals of yours, but if we’re talking about maximizing muscle
growth and maximizing strength gains then I would say that slightly longer rest times
are going to be superior and there’s actually a bit of data out there to support this.
I’ll link two studies in the description box below.
One compared a rest time of one, two, three and five minutes on the bench press with the
three and five minutes rest period showing significantly better results.
And the other study compared one and three minute rest periods during full body workouts
with the three minutes rest period showing better results.
The only other thing that I would know here is that in the interest of efficiency just
so that your workouts don’t drag on and on, and you’re not spending more time in
the gym than you really need to, just makes sure to perform your next set as soon as you
feel recovered from the previous one and don’t take anymore unnecessary time than you really
need.
So bottom line on the question of how long to rest between sets is just rest as long
as you need to in order to feel physically and mentally recovered.
And as soon as you hit that point perform you next set, simple as that.
Executing your workouts in this way is going to allow you to maximize your strength and
your performance on every single set and as a result you’re going to build muscle and
gain strength more effectively in the long run.
Guys, if you find this advice helpful and you want to get all the tools that you need
to gain muscle and lose fat as efficiently as possible then you can download my Body
Transformation Blueprint by clicking here or by going straight to www.BodyTransformationTruth.com
using the link in the description box.
Make sure to follow me on social media if you aren’t already.
The official website is www.SeanNal.com and feel free to like, comments and subscribe
to stay up to date on future videos.
Thanks for watching and I’ll talk to you guys again soon.