There Is A Method to the Madness

Rest Between Sets, Explained

• Rob Maxwell, M.A.

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Welcome to There is a Method to the Madness. My name is Rob Maxwell and I'm an exercise physiologist and personal trainer. I am the owner of Maxwell's fitness programs and I've been in business since 1994. The purpose of this podcast is to get to the real deal of what really works and most importantly why things work. Hence the name, There is a Method to the Madness. Before I get to today's show, I want to thank Jonathan and Lynn Gilden of the Gilden Group at Realty Pros. They are committed to providing the highest level of customer service in home sales. Why don't you give them a shout and figure out what your home is worth? 386-451-2412. Alright, everybody, let's start talking about some fitness. Today I'm going to talk about rest times between sets, between exercises. You know, it's kind of like the uh redheaded stepchild of the different uh, you know, variables that go into training such as reps and load and sets, and then you have tempo, and then we have rest intervals. And by the way, isn't that a uh, you know, terrible saying that we use sometimes redheaded stepchild? It's like, and you know, what is wrong with that? Anyway, sometimes I think about those common sayings that we have, and it's like, God, you know, it's terrible, you know, like what's wrong with that? Or beating a dead horse. It's like, uh, okay, at what point did people do that? And that's pretty freaking weird and sick. So, anyway, I will get off my soapbox here. Um now let's talk about the program variables and specifically rest between sets. It just gets neglected, and it's sort of like strange that it gets neglected, and it is so important, not because we need to necessarily micromanage it, but because we need to be aware that it really, really matters. So let me give you some numbers that are out there and then we can talk about it. So the NSCA, which is the National Strength and Conditioning Association, has come out with a lot of different program variables that they suggest. And um, it's kind of like when the chefs write the recipes, right? So that's kind of what it is, but at the same time, we have to still understand why things are being written. But these numbers are out there to give people an idea, to give trainers an idea. But hopefully, if you have a good trainer or if you are a good trainer, you know why these things matter. So, with that being said, let me give you some of the numbers. So, first, for muscular endurance, that is the muscle's ability to do something over and over again. Think like maximum push-ups in a minute or maximum sit-ups in a minute, things like that. So that is all muscular endurance. So the recommendation is the rest time should be around 30 seconds, specifically 30 seconds to a minute. So short, it's supposed to be short, which only makes sense. If you're trying to build endurance, you don't want a lot of rest in between. All right. The second one we have, and I'm just putting them in order of say uh intensity and shortness of rest would be hypertrophy. So ideally we're talking about 60 seconds between sets for hypertrophy, which is muscular size, and the number is 60 to 90 seconds, so that's like the range. Anything more than that, the bodybuilder per se is resting too long. And then finally, you have muscular strength. And I'm gonna kind of explain these here too. So muscular strength is the depth defined as the ability to push a maximal load one time. So when you're training for maximal strength, you're training for maximal strength. You are trying to get stronger, so the rest should be longer and according to the NSCA, somewhere around two to three minutes, with really no longer than three minutes. All right. So, like those are the numbers. Now, where did they come up with these numbers? So basically, what you're trying to do, what your body is trying to do after stress, so after physical stress in this case, or after physical exercise or strength training, is it's trying to replenish your ATP, which is a denison triphosphate. That is the only molecule small enough to provide energy for the immediate use. We only have enough ATP for roughly two to three seconds. That's it. So one, two, three. If I kept going, I run out of ATP. My body needs to go into different forms of energy metabolism to produce more ATP. So the fact that, like, we're looking at muscular endurance, say that is I said, like I said, 30 seconds or so of rest time. Your body doesn't have enough time to regenerate all the ATP. So you're simply going on limited rest and you're going to go into the next set without complete replenishment of all the muscle cells of ATP. So you're still going to be fatigued. So, really, the rest time has everything to do with ATP replenishment. It takes a certain amount of time to replenish the ATP, and that is where the rest comes into. All right. So if you're training for maximal strength, you want all of the ATP resynthesized into the cells when you do your next set. And that way, the only fatiguing factor when you do your next set is going to be some of the breakdown of the muscle fibers, some of the micro tears that are in there that comes from stressing the muscle or fully recruiting every muscle fiber. But that is not going to uh we hear a big slam in the background. That's lovely. So, um, anyway, we will figure out what that was. It was ATP being replenished, right? Probably not. So, anyway, the only thing that would be holding the person back for maximal strength would be partial repair of the muscle fibers. All right. So the ATP is going to hopefully be as replenished as possible in those situations. So that's when you would need it, or if you are needing to perform, you want complete recovery. But here's the thing: we are training at the gym, we are training in our workout. And the reason why this is important isn't so you kind of feel the need to micromanage your recovery. Like we take that in consideration when we train people, but at the same time, we understand why we're training people. So we go to the gym to build fitness and strength. We shouldn't be necessarily going to the gym to demonstrate fitness and strength. In other words, like if you are trying to show off, then I guess you would be maximally recovered before every set. But that would turn into a very long workout for you. And that's why we really can't base our um, you know, what we did at the gym based on time. That's why, like, that should never be a factor. Somebody will say, Man, I go to the gym for two hours a day. And you're like, oh, cool, man, that's a lot. You know, I mean, that's way too much if they're really doing work the whole time. But um, you know, and then what you find is through that there's like 17 minutes of total work. You know, if you ever look at your um your smart watches and you have the strength training component on that, it's pretty interesting, actually. You can like the Garmin, you can hit it before you're set and then after you're set, and you'll see the amount of time you actually spent working, and it's not a lot of time. And and I'm talking strength training, and don't get me wrong, it doesn't have to be. That's not what I'm saying here. It's just we can't use the duration at the gym as our indicator of how much work we did because it really doesn't matter. I mean, you could have spent a lot of time walking around between sets, you could have spent a lot of time waiting for machines, you could have like, you know, gone to the bathroom, you could have gone and got water. I mean, it it's not meant to be tracked that way. So, but why we do want to pay attention to that time in between is because it is going to for affect your performance, but that is okay. And that's the main point of this podcast is to understand that it is okay. Like we are, or I should say, I am going to be as hard on you, the client, as I need to be. And, you know, not everybody is painted with the same brush. So everybody's a little different. We meet people where they are. Some people really, really want to be pushed, and some people say they do, but they really don't. And we know that, we take that into consideration, but we are going to be as hard on you as you need to be. So sometimes we'll say, you know, don't worry about it. You didn't get as many reps as you did last time. And sometimes, you know, clients will be like, Man, does that mean I'm getting weaker, or they feel bad about themselves? It's like, no, so much of it depends on the recovery time. Like maybe there was an extra warm-up set in there that's not normally there, or the warm-up set was slightly different. One trainer might have you warm up with a little more weight, one trainer may not. One trainer may have you do a warm-up set with more reps, one trainer may not. And none of that really matters. The idea is we're trying to get the muscles to a certain level of fatigue with quality form. That's really what matters. So if you're not like programming every rest recovery, which there's no reason to, it's really a matter of understanding it, then like you're you're not stepping in the same river twice. So you come to that exercise, and it's like, well, maybe you did something before you don't normally do, or maybe you're fatigued from the day before. Like all these things matter. So we have to understand that rest really, really matters. Only when you are trying to gauge it by performance. And that's not how we, good trainers, are gauging your performance. We're gauging it on, are you focused? Like that's that's big for us. Are you staying focused on your set? Are you approaching fatigue in good form? Like that's really what counts. We'll use the loads to get an idea of that and the reps to get an idea of that. But that's what really, really counts. So if we did a workout with hardly any rest in between, which I often advise because then you are working on other aspects of your fitness. Number one, you're burning more calories for sure. Number two, you are working more of a cardiorespiratory component to it, which I think is very important for overall fitness. And number three, you're keeping the intensity up in the workout. So, with that being said, you may not be doing as much reps or as much load as before, but the body doesn't know the difference. All right, it is simply working with what ATP, the denison triphosphate, that you have stored. All right. So just a little brief education on the importance of understanding rest between sets. And a quick note on following up on what I just said, what I look for is what is the maximum pace a person can go at and still give me a quality set, whether they are doing a circuit of one exercise to the next or straight sets or supersets, doesn't matter. Like what is the best pace they can keep and still give me a quality set? That's what I look for. So, in other words, yeah, it's I think it's very important to go from one set to the next with a little rest, as long as the person isn't completely gassed and can push out a good set. That's what's key. And remember what good means, in my estimation. It is quality focus with quality form. That's the key. If that means you have to use somewhat less weight, who cares, people? We're here to get fit, not show off our fitness. If that means we have to do a few less reps, who cares, people? I promise you right now, as a physiologist, your body doesn't know. All right, so that's your rule of thumb. Like when you're ready mentally and physically to do your next set. Some people get so gassed they're catch they're trying to catch their breath, and then they're going into, say, a set of dumbbell rows or something. Well, that might not be ideal because they're catching their breath and it's very hard for them to stay focused. So, really, that is a fitness thing that we work on, and we try to push people in that capacity because we want them to get a lot out of their workout completely. All right. So that is your lesson today on rest between sets, and I hope I've cleared up some confusion for you. All right, thank you everybody for listening to today's show. I really appreciate it. I want to remind you to please hit automatic download. It really helps me and it helps the show. And now I'd like to thank Overhead Door of Daytona Beach, the area's premier garage door company. They have the best product and the best service. I personally vouch for Jeff and Zach Hawk, the owners. They are great. They're going to get you exactly what you need. So if you have any garage door needs, give them a shout at 386-222-3165. And now I'm very excited to add another sponsor. ProCharge Liquid Protein Enhancer has joined the team. And let me tell you, they are a great product. I pop one after a workout. Each container has 40 grams of protein, so that's two servings. I take 20 grams after I work out. What's really cool about them is it's portable. You can throw them in your suitcase. You don't have to worry about mixing powders and making a mess. At least that's an issue I've had with some of the protein powders through the years. And you know what? They taste really, really good. So you can check them out on my website, fitintothemax.net, or you can go right to them at prochargeprotein.com.

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Rob Maxwell

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