For some reason, I've been getting lots of
questions about how long to rest in-between
sets. So let's talk about it.
First of all, there's no right answer here.
Meaning, there's no one way to do it -- and
no magic number of seconds or minutes that
works the best for every lifter in every
exercise.
John Davis used to rest for up to 15 minutes
between sets. It worked pretty well for him.
He won two Olympic gold medals, six World
championships, and set a ton of Olympic and
World records.
Then there was Tommy Kono. Tommy Kono sometimes
did 10 sets of military presses in 20 or 25
minutes. That would be two warm-up sets,
followed by 8 work sets. Do the math, and
you'll see that he was training pretty darn
fast.
And yes, it worked well for him. He, too, won
two Olympic gold medals and six World
championships, and set a ton of Olympic and
World records.
Also, note that you need less rest during your
warm-up sets, and more rest during your heavy
sets. I sometimes just than load the bar and
go when I do my warm-up sets, so there's hardly
any rest at all.
Rest times also depend on what exercise you are
doing. Most lifters need more rest between sets
when they do squats and deadlifts than when they
hit upper body exercises.
In general, the heavier you go, the more rest you
need in-between sets. So if the bar is bending,
feel free to take an extra minute or two before
hitting your next set.
So what's the bottom line?
As a general rule of thumb, most trainees do well
on one to two minutes in-between warm-up sets --
two to three minutes between heavy sets of upper
body exercises -- and three to five minutes between
sets of heavy squats or deadlifts.
And by the way -- one good thing to do is to time
yourself in your next workout. See how long you
typically rest between sets. You might find you're
taking a lot longer than you think, and that reducing
your rest periods may be a simple way to increase
the intensity and effectiveness of your workouts!
As always, thanks for reading and have a great day.
If you train today, make it a good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. If you'd like to know more about John Davis
and how he trained to become a World and Olympic
weightlifting champion, grab a copy of BLACK
IRON: THE JOHN DAVIS STORY:
http://www.brookskubik.com/blackiron_johndavis.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- DVD's -- Dino
t-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies -- and the Dinosaur
Files newsletter are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "You know you've had a
good workout when the bar looks tired after it's all
over." -- Brooks Kubik
