Rest Between Sets, Explained

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to There is a Method to the Madness.
My name is Rob Maxwell and I'man exercise physiologist and
personal trainer.
I am the owner of Maxwell'sfitness programs and I've been
in business since 1994.
The purpose of this podcast isto get to the real deal of what
really works and mostimportantly why things work.

(00:21):
Hence the name, There is aMethod to the Madness.
Before I get to today's show, Iwant to thank Jonathan and Lynn
Gilden of the Gilden Group atRealty Pros.
They are committed to providingthe highest level of customer
service in home sales.
Why don't you give them a shoutand figure out what your home is
worth?
386-451-2412.

(00:46):
Alright, everybody, let's starttalking about some fitness.
Today I'm going to talk aboutrest times between sets, between
exercises.
You know, it's kind of like theuh redheaded stepchild of the

(01:06):
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 redheadedstepchild?
It's like, and you know, what iswrong with that?

(01:30):
Anyway, sometimes I think aboutthose common sayings that we
have, and it's like, God, youknow, it's terrible, you know,
like what's wrong with that?
Or beating a dead horse.
It's like, uh, okay, at whatpoint did people do that?
And that's pretty freaking weirdand sick.
So, anyway, I will get off mysoapbox here.

(01:51):
Um now let's talk about theprogram variables and
specifically rest between sets.
It just gets neglected, and it'ssort of like strange that it
gets neglected, and it is soimportant, not because we need

(02:11):
to necessarily micromanage it,but because we need to be aware
that it really, really matters.
So let me give you some numbersthat are out there and then we
can talk about it.
So the NSCA, which is theNational Strength and
Conditioning Association, hascome out with a lot of different

(02:34):
program variables that theysuggest.
And um, it's kind of like whenthe 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 arebeing written.
But these numbers are out thereto give people an idea, to give

(02:55):
trainers an idea.
But hopefully, if you have agood trainer or if you are a
good trainer, you know why thesethings matter.
So, with that being said, let megive you some of the numbers.
So, first, for muscularendurance, that is the muscle's

(03:16):
ability to do something over andover again.
Think like maximum push-ups in aminute or maximum sit-ups in a
minute, things like that.
So that is all muscularendurance.
So the recommendation is therest time should be around 30
seconds, specifically 30 secondsto a minute.

(03:39):
So short, it's supposed to beshort, which only makes sense.
If you're trying to buildendurance, you don't want a lot
of rest in between.
All right.
The second one we have, and I'mjust putting them in order of
say uh intensity and shortnessof rest would be hypertrophy.
So ideally we're talking about60 seconds between sets for

(04:03):
hypertrophy, which is muscularsize, and the number is 60 to 90
seconds, so that's like therange.
Anything more than that, thebodybuilder per se is resting
too long.
And then finally, you havemuscular strength.
And I'm gonna kind of explainthese here too.

(04:25):
So muscular strength is thedepth defined as the ability to
push a maximal load one time.
So when you're training formaximal strength, you're
training for maximal strength.
You are trying to get stronger,so the rest should be longer and
according to the NSCA, somewherearound two to three minutes,

(04:47):
with really no longer than threeminutes.
All right.
So, like those are the numbers.
Now, where did they come up withthese numbers?
So basically, what you're tryingto do, what your body is trying
to do after stress, so afterphysical stress in this case, or

(05:07):
after physical exercise orstrength training, is it's
trying to replenish your ATP,which is a denison triphosphate.
That is the only molecule smallenough to provide energy for the
immediate use.
We only have enough ATP forroughly two to three seconds.
That's it.

(05:27):
So one, two, three.
If I kept going, I run out ofATP.
My body needs to go intodifferent forms of energy
metabolism to produce more ATP.
So the fact that, like, we'relooking at muscular endurance,
say that is I said, like I said,30 seconds or so of rest time.

(05:49):
Your body doesn't have enoughtime to regenerate all the ATP.
So you're simply going onlimited rest and you're going to
go into the next set withoutcomplete replenishment of all
the muscle cells of ATP.
So you're still going to befatigued.
So, really, the rest time haseverything to do with ATP

(06:12):
replenishment.
It takes a certain amount oftime to replenish the ATP, and
that is where the rest comesinto.
All right.
So if you're training formaximal strength, you want all
of the ATP resynthesized intothe cells when you do your next
set.
And that way, the only fatiguingfactor when you do your next set

(06:34):
is going to be some of thebreakdown of the muscle fibers,
some of the micro tears that arein there that comes from
stressing the muscle or fullyrecruiting every muscle fiber.
But that is not going to uh wehear a big slam in the
background.
That's lovely.

(06:55):
So, um, anyway, we will figureout what that was.
It was ATP being replenished,right?
Probably not.
So, anyway, the only thing thatwould be holding the person back
for maximal strength would bepartial repair of the muscle
fibers.
All right.
So the ATP is going to hopefullybe as replenished as possible in

(07:18):
those situations.
So that's when you would needit, or if you are needing to
perform, you want completerecovery.

But here's the thing (07:26):
we are training at the gym, we are
training in our workout.
And the reason why this isimportant isn't so you kind of
feel the need to micromanageyour recovery.
Like we take that inconsideration when we train
people, but at the same time, weunderstand why we're training

(07:49):
people.
So we go to the gym to buildfitness and strength.
We shouldn't be necessarilygoing to the gym to demonstrate
fitness and strength.
In other words, like if you aretrying to show off, then I guess
you would be maximally recoveredbefore every set.

(08:13):
But that would turn into a verylong workout for you.
And that's why we really can'tbase our um, you know, what we
did at the gym based on time.
That's why, like, that shouldnever be a factor.
Somebody will say, Man, I go tothe gym for two hours a day.

(08:34):
And you're like, oh, cool, man,that's a lot.
You know, I mean, that's way toomuch if they're really doing
work the whole time.
But um, you know, and then whatyou find is through that there's
like 17 minutes of total work.
You know, if you ever look atyour um your smart watches and
you have the strength trainingcomponent on that, it's pretty

(08:55):
interesting, actually.
You can like the Garmin, you canhit it before you're set and
then after you're set, andyou'll see the amount of time
you actually spent working, andit's not a lot of time.
And and I'm talking strengthtraining, 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 theduration at the gym as our

(09:16):
indicator of how much work wedid because it really doesn't
matter.
I mean, you could have spent alot of time walking around
between sets, you could havespent a lot of time waiting for
machines, you could have like,you know, gone to the bathroom,
you could have gone and gotwater.
I mean, it it's not meant to betracked that way.
So, but why we do want to payattention to that time in

(09:40):
between is because it is goingto for affect your performance,
but that is okay.
And that's the main point ofthis podcast is to understand
that it is okay.
Like we are, or I should say, Iam going to be as hard on you,
the client, as I need to be.

(10:00):
And, you know, not everybody ispainted with the same brush.
So everybody's a littledifferent.
We meet people where they are.
Some people really, really wantto be pushed, and some people
say they do, but they reallydon't.
And we know that, we take thatinto consideration, but we are
going to be as hard on you asyou need to be.

(10:21):
So sometimes we'll say, youknow, don't worry about it.
You didn't get as many reps asyou did last time.
And sometimes, you know, clientswill be like, Man, does that
mean I'm getting weaker, or theyfeel bad about themselves?
It's like, no, so much of itdepends on the recovery time.
Like maybe there was an extrawarm-up set in there that's not

(10:44):
normally there, or the warm-upset was slightly different.
One trainer might have you warmup with a little more weight,
one trainer may not.
One trainer may have you do awarm-up set with more reps, one
trainer may not.
And none of that really matters.
The idea is we're trying to getthe muscles to a certain level

(11:04):
of fatigue with quality form.
That's really what matters.
So if you're not likeprogramming every rest recovery,
which there's no reason to, it'sreally a matter of understanding
it, then like you're you're notstepping in the same river
twice.
So you come to that exercise,and it's like, well, maybe you

(11:27):
did something before you don'tnormally do, or maybe you're
fatigued from the day before.
Like all these things matter.
So we have to understand thatrest really, really matters.
Only when you are trying togauge it by performance.
And that's not how we, goodtrainers, are gauging your

(11:47):
performance.
We're gauging it on, are youfocused?
Like that's that's big for us.
Are you staying focused on yourset?
Are you approaching fatigue ingood form?
Like that's really what counts.
We'll use the loads to get anidea of that and the reps to get
an idea of that.
But that's what really, reallycounts.

(12:09):
So if we did a workout withhardly any rest in between,
which I often advise becausethen you are working on other
aspects of your fitness.
Number one, you're burning morecalories for sure.
Number two, you are working moreof a cardiorespiratory component
to it, which I think is veryimportant for overall fitness.

(12:31):
And number three, you're keepingthe intensity up in the workout.
So, with that being said, youmay not be doing as much reps or
as much load as before, but thebody doesn't know the
difference.
All right, it is simply workingwith what ATP, the denison
triphosphate, that you havestored.

(12:54):
All right.
So just a little brief educationon the importance of
understanding rest between sets.
And a quick note on following upon what I just said, what I look
for is what is the maximum pacea person can go at and still

(13:15):
give me a quality set, whetherthey are doing a circuit of one
exercise to the next or straightsets or supersets, doesn't
matter.
Like what is the best pace theycan keep and still give me a
quality set?
That's what I look for.
So, in other words, yeah, it's Ithink it's very important to go

(13:35):
from one set to the next with alittle rest, as long as the
person isn't completely gassedand can push out a good set.
That's what's key.
And remember what good means, inmy estimation.
It is quality focus with qualityform.
That's the key.
If that means you have to usesomewhat less weight, who cares,

(13:57):
people?
We're here to get fit, not showoff our fitness.
If that means we have to do afew less reps, who cares,
people?
I promise you right now, as aphysiologist, your body doesn't
know.
All right, so that's your ruleof thumb.
Like when you're ready mentallyand physically to do your next
set.
Some people get so gassedthey're catch they're trying to

(14:17):
catch their breath, and thenthey're going into, say, a set
of dumbbell rows or something.
Well, that might not be idealbecause they're catching their
breath and it's very hard forthem to stay focused.
So, really, that is a fitnessthing that we work on, and we
try to push people in thatcapacity because we want them to
get a lot out of their workoutcompletely.

(14:40):
All right.
So that is your lesson today onrest between sets, and I hope
I've cleared up some confusionfor you.
All right, thank you everybodyfor listening to today's show.
I really appreciate it.
I want to remind you to pleasehit automatic download.

(15:00):
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