You ever felt like you needed to take a super quick break before finishing your last one
or two reps of your set?
You gotta get it now especially after all the hard work you’ve just put in and don’t
wanna give up at the very end.
Now the question is: is this resting between your reps a good or bad idea?
First, let’s understand this concept further.
The scenario I just described is similar to something known as rest-pause sets.
A rest-pause set is usually done in the last set upon reaching failure.
At that point, you re-rack the weight, take a quick 10 to 30-second pause, and then jump
right back into it and crank out a few more reps.
The benefit of this is that obviously you do more reps without having to decrease the
weight intensity.
More reps mean more volume, which hopefully means more gains.
Now, there's another popular rest-type method known as cluster sets.
When clustering, you take a regular set, split it into mini sets, and slap a mini rest in
between them.
For instance, instead of a traditional 4 sets of 8 reps per set with 60 seconds of rest
between sets, you create 4 cluster sets by splitting the eight reps to a pair of four-rep
mini sets.
Slap a short 20 seconds of rest in between the mini sets and then rest 60 seconds between
each cluster.
The benefit here is the ability to work with heavier loads which might translate to greater
strength gains.
To clarify, a traditional 8-rep set would have you lifting around 70% of your 1 rep
max whereas you can go heavier with 4 or even 2-rep clusters, bumping the load to 80 or
even 90% of your 1RM.
Now, rest-pause and clusters might be cool concepts and all, but again, are they actually
a good idea?
First, I wanna give a quick thank you to sci-fit.net for providing the following info via their
article on this very topic.
Now, the current research is a bit mixed about rest-pause and clusters.
For general muscle hypertrophy, the studies kind of go either way with traditional, rest-pause,
and cluster sets achieving decent yet similar muscle gains.
In terms of strength, traditional sets seem to be moderately more effective than rest-pause
and clusters for isolated accessory exercises, like bicep curls and knee extensions.
For larger, compound exercises, like squats and shoulder presses, studies kind of swing
both ways with neither having a clear advantage.
However, one caveat is that some studies kept the exercise load for cluster sets the same
as the load used in traditional sets.
As we’ve discussed earlier, you can and should increase the exercise load when doing
clusters.
It’s likely that the cluster subjects didn’t work really hard and missed out on a stronger
muscle stimulus as well as more volume, which could’ve held back some gains.
We don’t know that for sure but it definitely is a limitation to consider.
In any case, the biggest takeaway from this is that clusters and rest pause sets, when
done properly, at the very least, won’t do much harm.
If you need that extra bit of rest or want to lift heavier for more total reps, which
IS great for getting stronger, then give rest-pause and clusters a shot.
Just do it for larger compound movements, like squats, deadlifts, and bench press but
not so much for isolations like bicep curls.
Traditional sets should still encompass the majority of your program, however, since it’s
still tried and true.
Use rest-pause and clusters more as supplementary tools to push through things like plateaus
rather than replace traditional sets entirely.
And with the additional rest times you’re taking, make sure you plan ahead for more
time at the gym.
At the end of the day, resting between your reps from time to time should be fine.
Load up the weights, take your breaks, and happy lifting!
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