The OPTIMAL Rest Time for Muscle & Strength (12 Studies)

foreign in this video we're comparing one three and five minutes of rest between sets for strength and hypertrophy outcomes bodybuilders are historically famous for utilizing short rests between sets an American Paper all the way back from 1987 reported the recruited bodybuilders rested 10 to 90 seconds between sets the legendary bodybuilder Arnold in his book recommended keeping rest periods down to a minute or less strength athletes more commonly utilize longer rests returning to the 87 American Paper their recruited powerlifters tended to rest 120 to 420 seconds between sets does the scientific literature support these practices is muscle hypertrophy enhanced with shorter rest intervals and muscle strength with longer wrists let's Analyze This [Music] interestingly the scientific literature suggests that optimal restoration for muscle hypertrophy depends on whether an exercise recruits a large amount of muscle mass or a small amount of muscle mass exercises involving a large amount of muscle mass include compound exercises but also lower body isolation exercises with these exercises it appears short rest periods are sub-optimal for muscle hypertrophy a 2016 New York study found in trained men performing a range of compound exercises plus a lower body isolation exercise with these training variables muscle hypertrophy outcomes were Superior when resting three minutes between sets versus one minute a 2020 Brazilian study found in untrained men performing the leg press with these training variables quad gains were Superior when resting 3 minutes versus one minute between sets a 2009 study from the USA found an untrained men trading a program heavily involving large muscle mass movements arm and thigh gains were greater when resting 2. 5 minutes as opposed to one minute between sets finally a 2017 Japanese paper found an untrained men training the bench press and squats with these variables triceps gains were similar between resting for 2. 5 minutes or 30 seconds yet thigh gains tended to be better when resting for 2.

5 minutes thus this overview literature is solid evidence with large muscle mass exercises resting 2. 5 to 3 minutes between sets evokes greater hypertrophy versus shorter rest periods what about five minute rest periods this 2016 English study had trains men perform the leg press and leg extension with these variables long-term hypertrophy was not evaluated but the researchers established myofibular protein synthesis elevations after training was overall Superior when using five minutes of rest between sets versus one minute this is mainly evident in the immediate hours after training the temporary increases in testosterone were actually greater when using one minute of rest between sets this finding elegantly depicts how temporary increases in anabolic hormones like testosterone mean nothing for actual contractile protein synthesis and by extension long-term muscle growth this is notable as it's often purported short rests are superior for hypertrophy since they promote greater temporary anabolic hormone increases but again it's evident temporary anabolic hormone spikes aren't associated with hypertrophy other scientific papers corroborate this progressing forward how does 2. 5 to 3 minutes compare to five minutes of rest between sets unfortunately there's no precise research exploring this the paper with the closest relevancy is this 2005 Finnish study which found in-trained men performing squats and leg presses quad gains were similar between resting two or five minutes between sets yet a confounder is the two minute rest condition involved performing one extra set per exercise then the five minute rest condition this may lead one to believe if sets were equated the five minute rest period would have been Superior but I should note this study wasn't the best designed or controlled subjects performed other exercises and training was unsupervised the researchers relied on training Diaries accordingly I believe better quality data is required to evaluate the efficacy of 5-minute rest periods for hypertrophy at the least I think it's sensible to recommend 2.

5 to 3 minutes of rest between large muscle mass exercise sets for hypertrophy an individual may wish the experiment with five-minute rest intervals if they have the time and are willing to do so now if 2. 5 to 3 minutes of rest between sets is difficult for you to achieve due to time constraints super setting exercises that train opposing or non-related muscle groups can be an effective method to shorten your workout duration while still technically resting longer between sets of the same exercise what about rest periods with exercises training smaller amounts of muscle mass I. E isolation upper body exercises the research isn't as refined in this area but what exists suggests short rests are viable if not may be superior this 2016 Japanese study had men trained largely isolated biceps and triceps movements one group trained with repster failure with 20 rep max loads per set and 30 seconds rest between sets while another group trained with reps to failure with 8 rep max loads and three minutes of rest between sets both groups perform the same number of sets and it's worth noting the use of different loads between groups is probably not a major issue as we know reps between 6 and 35 are similar for hypertrophy when reps are performed two or close to failure arm games were greater for the group resting 30 seconds between sets another 2018 Japanese paper had untrained main train dumbbell curls one condition involved three sets of reps to failure with an 80 one rep max load and three minutes of rest between sets a second condition with three sets of reps to failure with a 30 one rep max load and 90 seconds of rest between sets and a third condition involving a drop set with repster failure performed with these five loads back to back with no rest between them elbow flexor gains were similar between all three conditions suggesting a three minute 90 seconds and no rest I.

E drop sets are comparable for gains though I should note the drop set condition technically involved two more sets so this is a potential confounder and consideration yet another 2018 Japanese study had untrained mentoring triceps pushdowns one condition involved normal sets with 90 second rest intervals while a second condition involved drop sets with no rest between reps to failure triceps gains tended to favor the drop set condition suggesting short risks specifically no rest with drop sets may be beneficial though the drop set condition technically involved one more set so this is a consideration and potential confounder again this literature isn't super refined but I think it's decent enough to infer with exercises training a small amount of muscle mass short rests are viable if not potentially and I must emphasize potentially Superior in this studies finding 2. 5 to 3 minutes of rest between sets produces more hypertrophy than shorter rests in large muscle mass movements they equate as sets between the different rest interval conditions which is of course what we wanted but with these large muscle mass exercises could performing more sets with shorter rest be effective to produce equivalent hypertrophy to fewer sets with longer rests most likely yes we brief this 2020 Brazilian study earlier finding when training the leg press with these variables quad gains were Superior when resting for 3 minutes versus one minute between sets yet this study also had a third condition I did not mention this condition performed sets of reps to failure with one minute of rest between sets and aim to match the volume load attained by the condition using three minutes of rest between sets this resulted in this condition performing an average of 4. 5 sets of reps to failure with one minute of rest between sets per session and this condition saw similar hypertrophy to the three minute condition they only used three sets of reps to failure per session so with large muscle mass exercises more sets where shorter rest can likely produce similar hypertrophy to using longer rests with fewer sets it's worth noting from a Time perspective both would be fairly similar of course using the three minute rest would be less fatiguing and the total quality of your volume may be superior but the short arrest may still be useful if you prefer short rests want to change up your routine and or want to enhance cardiovascular adaptations [Music] in line with probably everyone's expectations longer rests between sets appear to be more favorable for enhancing muscle strength we mentioned this 2016 New York study that found in trained to men performing these large muscle mass exercises with these training variables hypertrophy outcomes were great to when Racing 3 minutes versus one minute between sets bench press and squat strength gains were also greater when resting three minutes between sets this 1995 USA study had trains men perform this training program and found squat strength gains tended to be greater when resting for 3 minutes versus 1.

5 minutes or 30 seconds between sets what about even longer rest intervals this 2010 Brazilian study had trained to me to execute this program and found leg press and bench press strength gains were not significantly different between resting for three or five minutes between sets but both rest periods produce larger strength gains versus resting one minute between sets no though the differences between the three and five minute rest periods were non-significant statistically the leg press gains in particular seemingly favor the 5 minute rest period this is only a single measure from a single study and more research is certainly needed to determine if five minutes of rest between cess is superior to three minutes of rest again you could experiment with 5 minutes of rest between sets if you're willing to foreign [Music] looking at large muscle mass exercises with set numbers controlled resting 2. 5 to 3 minutes between sets produces more hypertrophy than resting for one minute or less it's not clear if restoration is beyond 2.