How Long Should You Rest Between Weightlifting Sets?
Many guys I speak with hit the gym, but they don’t even look like they lift.
So often we think that putting in more effort gives us more results.
Yet it’s not effort, but being effective that gives you a great ROI for your workouts.
One of the elements that yields great returns is the amount of time you rest in between sets.
The challenge with resting between sets is this.
Rest too much between sets, and you need extend your workout time.
Rest too little between sets, and you risk diminishing your performance due to fatigue.
So we need to find the sweet spot to blend maximum results with minimal time at the gym.
If your primary goal is to get stronger and put on muscle, you’ll want to rest long enough between sets that you’re consistently able to complete all the reps in your subsequent sets.
This is actually a well-researched topic in the world of sports science.
And the consensus is about two minutes.
It all comes down to how quickly your muscles can regenerate ATP.
ATP = Adenosine triphosphate
See it as the fuel you put in your gas tank.
There are 3 energy systems as you can take from the photo of this post.
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Most of your ATP during workouts comes from creatine phosphate.
While the gas tank gets emptied pretty quick, it also restores itself very quick.
After 30 seconds of rest, creatine phosphate levels are up to 50%.
After 60 seconds, back to 75%.
After 120 seconds, back to 95%.
To get to 100% you’d have to wait about 5 minutes.
You can see why it’s smart to pick the 2 minutes mark.
Why wait another 3 minutes to get 5% more energy?
Unless you’ve got nothing else to do in your day, it doesn’t make sense to wait another 3 minutes per set.
Now two minutes is still a long time for most men I work with.
I’ve you’ve got 20 sets in a workout, that’s close to 40 minutes just resting during your lifts.
Tomorrow I’ll show you how you how clients using the Kinetic Method cut their workout time in half without sacrificing results.
Same time.
Same place.