For a lot of people, a rest period means endlessly doom scrolling on their phones, but it really shouldn't. In fact, according to research, what you do during your rest periods could be just as important as your rep and set prescriptions. By cutting rest short you could be leaving gains on the table.
But how long should you rest between sets? Below we break down the very latest research so you can decide exactly just how long your recoveries should be for muscle gain, strength and endurance.
How Long Should I Rest Between Sets: For Hypertrophy (Muscle Gain)
The general consensus is that for hypertrophy we should be resting at least two minutes. Now, a new meta-analysis suggests that we may not need to take quite so long for muscle growth, and that the current guidelines regarding rest times warrant reconsideration. The study suggests that rest periods of 1.5 minutes may maximise gains, which is also supported by a previous review.
The study also noted that resting for less than 1 minute between sets reduces the total possible muscle growth obtained from a set, and resting for 2-3 minutes upwards didn't increase or change muscle growth substantially.
While more studies are necessary, this meta-analysis mentioned that when it comes to saving time during workouts, the trade-off between greater time efficiency vs reducing hypertrophy to a small extent could make shorter rest periods beneficial to those who have poor time constraints. The study explained that time is often reported as a significant barrier to exercise participation and adherence, so this could potentially be an attractive option for time poor lifters.
However, many variables will impact rest times needed for muscle growth. Therefore it's important to individualise your rest periods to suit your needs. As a general rule, resting for longer than 1 minute between sets is most beneficial for muscle growth.
Researcher Dr. Milo Wolf claims that if you're not resting for long enough between two sets and the performance of that next set takes a big hit, there's a chance that set becomes less effective for muscle growth.
'Rest long enough to get a solid performance on your next set,' says Wolf. 'Generally if you only see a drop of one or a few reps on the next set, it's a good sign you've rested for long enough.'
For beginners, two minutes would likely be sufficient, however more may be needed. From the current evidence we have available for muscle gains, it's hard to give a definitive answer, however, you can aim for:
For muscle gain: 1-2 minutes rest is beneficial. However, tailor this advice to suit your needs and performance during sets.
How Long Should I Rest Between Sets: For Strength & Power
It seems that for strength improvements we could all be resting a little longer, especially for our big compound lifts. A review published by Sports Medicine revealed how multiple studies have supported three-to-five minutes rest as being superior to shorter rest times.
Beginners may not necessarily be lifting the heavier weights necessary for longer rests, although longer rests wouldn't necessarily hurt progress if strength and power is the goal.
For strength gains: a prescription of 3-5 minutes is most beneficial.
How Long Should I Rest Between Sets: For Muscular Endurance?
For muscular endurance the research is a little less clear. However, from the evidence we have available it seems that rest times can be shorter. Research has concluded that training with short-rest intervals (e.g. 20 seconds to one minute) resulted in better performance during a cycle test. These findings support the use of shorter rest intervals for improvements in muscular endurance. This makes sense if you are using circuit like training with shorter rest times and lower weights with higher reps.
For muscular endurance: 20 seconds to 1 minute is most beneficial.
Kate is a fitness writer for Men’s Health UK where she contributes regular workouts, training tips and nutrition guides. She has a post graduate diploma in Sports Performance Nutrition and before joining Men’s Health she was a nutritionist, fitness writer and personal trainer with over 5k hours coaching on the gym floor. Kate has a keen interest in volunteering for animal shelters and when she isn’t lifting weights in her garden, she can be found walking her rescue dog.
