How Long Should You REST Between Sets? | Fundamentals Series Ep. 5

Summary

This episode of the Fundamentals series revisits the training ladder, emphasizing safety, enjoyment, and sustainability. It delves into the importance of effort, progressive overload, and prioritization for muscle growth. The video challenges traditional rest period advice, presenting new research supporting longer rest intervals for better hypertrophy and strength gains. It concludes with practical rest period recommendations based on exercise type and intensity, advocating for a paradigm shift in rest period strategy to optimize training efficiency and recovery.

Takeaways

• 📝 The training ladder prioritizes safety and enjoyment as the foundational elements for sustainability in a workout routine.
• 💪 Effort is key once a safe and enjoyable routine is established, pushing towards but not necessarily reaching failure for optimal growth.
• 🔁 Progressive overload is essential for muscle growth, involving increasing weight, reps, or sets over time.
• 🎯 Prioritization is crucial; focus on goals and weak points by emphasizing them in the workout plan.
• 🏋️‍♂️ Compound exercises like squats, presses, and deadlifts should form the core of a workout routine.
• 🔢 The 'practical hypertrophy zone' for reps is between six to fifteen, which should constitute about 75% of the total volume.
• ⏱️ Traditional rest period advice suggests one minute for hypertrophy, three to five minutes for strength, and under thirty seconds for endurance.
• 🔎 Recent studies, including one by Schoenfeld et al. in 2016, indicate that longer rest periods (three minutes) can enhance hypertrophy and strength.
• ⏲️ For time management, rest periods should balance full recovery with maintaining an efficient workout pace.
• 🛑 There's a general recommendation to avoid resting for less than one minute between sets except for specific techniques like supersets.

Q & A

What are the two foundational legs of the training ladder mentioned in the script?

The two foundational legs of the training ladder are safety and enjoyment, which are essential for creating a routine that can be sustained over the long term.

Why is sustainability important in the context of the training ladder?

Sustainability is the bottom rung of the ladder and is important because it ensures that the training routine is something the individual can maintain over time, which is crucial for long-term progress and results.

What does the term 'effort' refer to in the training ladder?

In the context of the training ladder, 'effort' refers to the appropriate amount of exertion applied during workouts to stimulate growth without necessarily taking every set to failure.

Can you explain the concept of 'progressive overload' as discussed in the script?

Progressive overload is the principle of gradually increasing the stress placed upon the body during exercise over time. This could be done by increasing weight, reps, sets, or changing the exercise variation to ensure continuous muscle growth.

Why is prioritization important in a training routine?

Prioritization is important to ensure that the individual's goals and weak points are emphasized in their training. This is done by scheduling these aspects early in the workout or week, or by training them at a higher frequency.

What is the recommended volume range for most people to optimize their progress per body part per week?

The recommended volume range to optimize progress for most people is 10 to 20 sets per body part per week.

What does the script suggest about the ideal frequency of training each body part per week?

The script suggests that training each body part twice per week is better than once, and while frequencies of three or more times a week may lead to more hypertrophy if they allow for more volume, equal volume suggests twice a week is superior.

What is the 'practical hypertrophy zone' for reps according to the script?

The 'practical hypertrophy zone' for reps is between six to fifteen repetitions, which is where most of the work should be done for optimal muscle growth.

Why should compound exercises be prioritized over isolation exercises in a workout routine?

Compound exercises should be prioritized because they involve multiple joints and muscle groups, forming the core of the routine and providing a more comprehensive stimulus for muscle growth. Isolation exercises can then be used for smaller assistance muscles.

What is the traditional rest period recommendation for hypertrophy and strength training?

Traditionally, a rest period of about one minute between sets is recommended for hypertrophy, while for strength training, a longer rest period of three to five minutes is suggested.

What recent research findings challenge the traditional rest period recommendations?

Recent studies, such as the one by Schoenfeld et al. in 2016 and the meta-analysis by Griesbach et al. in 2017, suggest that resting for more than one minute between sets can lead to better hypertrophy and strength gains compared to resting for less than one minute.

What are the two main functions of rest periods in training as discussed in the script?

The two main functions of rest periods are to allow for enough recovery between sets and for time management or training efficiency, ensuring that workouts are productive without being unnecessarily long.

What are the recommended rest periods for heavy compound exercises and isolation exercises?

For heavy compound exercises, the recommended rest period is three to five minutes, while for isolation exercises, it is one to two minutes.

What are some exceptions to the general rest period recommendations?

Some exceptions include supersets where antagonistic muscle groups are trained consecutively, allowing for no rest between sets as one muscle group recovers while the other is being trained.

Why is it not recommended to shorten rest periods for the purpose of increasing fat burning during workouts?

Shortening rest periods may increase perceived effort and sweat, but the actual increase in calorie burn is minimal. The focus should be on using training programs to drive muscle gain and diet and cardio routines for fat loss, rather than structuring workouts primarily for fat burning.