How long do you rest for in between sets?

[distantthoughts]

My workouts have felt really stretched out recently, roughly 2 hours on average. Idk if its my rest times or the amount of volume I do. So my question for y’all is for how long do you rest in between sets?

I saw Jeff Nippards video on it, 3 minutes for compound exercises and just over 1 minute for isolation, thats what I’ve been doing.

 

[ljk]

@distantthoughts I rest about 6 months between sets. Need to optimize my recovery, right?

 

[distantthoughts]

@ljk Ure right, overtraining is the killer of gainz bro

 

[helen2002]

@distantthoughts Data showed 3 minutes was considerably better than 1 minute. I think a good guideline is 2-3 minutes on less fatiguing movements and 3+ on the bigger movements.

When I used to do Hack Squats I was resting 5 minutes and even that felt short.

 

[dawn16]

@helen2002 Hack squats and weighted pull-ups are the only exercises where I feel like I can always use more rest lol

 

[aeb2000]

@helen2002 One study showed that. Others show less.

 

[helen2002]

@aeb2000 Less what, rest intervals or muscle growth

Whatever study you use, 1 minute is too short and a poor way to train.

 

[aeb2000]

@helen2002 Less time of rest between sets to achieve hypertrophy.

 

[helen2002]

@aeb2000 AFAIK it's between 2 and 3 minutes for results, there isn't one showing 60 seconds is as effective.

 

[aeb2000]

@helen2002 I just recently switched to 3 min between compound lifts. I just wish there was more of a consensus, so many different opinions when you Google it. But that study you mentioned is hard to ignore.

 

[helen2002]

@aeb2000 It's all peripheral fatigue, so in theory waiting even longer should mean you'll have less negative feedback for the next set. A lot of people here will use 4-6 minutes on a heavy squat set for example. But 2-3 minutes is a good guide, 2 if you're in a rush, 3 if you want to be sure you're optimal. There's no downsides to the longer rests.

 

[mrsneko]

@distantthoughts Supersets are good for saving time and getting more stuff done in a shorter amount of time without affecting performance too much.

 

[stewardmatthews]

@mrsneko This is what I do. I can get 3 exercises done in about 15 minutes.

 

[dawn16]

@distantthoughts 2-3 minutes for isolations, 3-4 minutes for compounds. I take all sets to failure or 0 RIR so anything less than that just isn’t enough. I keep my workouts to roughly an hour by keeping volume somewhat low

 

[distantthoughts]

@dawn16 Thats pretty much what I do, I just try to limit the rest times of isolations. Roughly how many sets per workout do you do?

 

[dawn16]

@distantthoughts Most of my workouts are only 10-12 working sets; 5-6 exercises with 2 working sets each. I lift 5-6 days a week though. I’d definitely have to do more sets if I was in the gym 3-4 days a week, but my schedule just works better for shorter more frequent workouts

 

[distantthoughts]

@dawn16 Very insightful, thank you.

 

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@dawn16 Exactly this.

 

[johnseolinkbuilding]

@distantthoughts I tend to superset most of my workout. On an upper/lower split. I use 2 minutes between sets.

 

[dawn16]

@johnseolinkbuilding I'm a beginner training upper lower split. Please explain how you do it. what exercises you superset? do you rest a little before going to the next set? How many sets per muscle per session, how many days do you workout per week? Just give me your workout routine