The more demanding an exercise is on your body, the more rest you need.Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? How An Exercise’s “Demand” Influences Rest TimesĪlong with how many reps you’re doing per set of an exercise, the exercise itself and how demanding it is on your body also plays a big role in how long you should rest. So, for example, if you are doing 6 reps per set of an exercise, you would need more rest between sets than if you were doing 12 reps per set of the same exercise. The lower the rep range/higher the intensity, the more rest you need between sets of that exercise.The higher the rep range/lower the intensity, the less rest you need between sets of that exercise.This all has a direct effect on the amount of rest you need between sets. You know, like how only being able to lift a weight for 5 reps means you are training at a fairly high intensity, while being able to lift a weight for 15 reps is a fairly low intensity. And, the more reps you can do per set of an exercise, the lower the intensity. In my post about weight training intensity, I explained that the fewer reps you can do per set of an exercise, the higher your training intensity is. How Your Intensity/Rep Range Influences Rest Times Luckily, this range can be narrowed down greatly by applying each factor to your exact situation. Your primary goal (building muscle, increasing strength, losing fat, etc.).īased on these three factors, it’s pretty common to see rest time recommendations of anywhere from 0 seconds to 5 minutes between sets and exercises.How demanding that exercise is on your body as a whole.What intensity/rep range you are using for a given exercise.When you find that, you’ll have found your optimal rest time.Īs it turns out, there’s primarily 3 major factors that influence what your ideal rest times should be: The goal is to find that sweet spot right in between resting too much or too little.

Simply put, if your rest periods are too long or too short, you’ll end up sacrificing the results you want to some degree.

How long should you rest between different exercises?.

How long should you rest between sets of an exercise?.

'But in terms of strength training, 3 seconds is ideal, with 10 seconds as a maximum for all.' So if you're truly dying, you can breathe it out for up to 10 seconds and still crush that workout.After you’ve selected the exercises you will perform in each of your workouts and put them in their ideal order, the next important step is to answer the following questions: 'This applies to all workouts in terms of reps,' says Maxfield, noting that it's different in workouts like HIIT where you can increase the timing and intensity of reps. It's the golden rule for all methods of strength training, whether you're suffering through bicycles (like moi) or lifting weights. In turn, you won't make the best use of your workout.' 'If you are consistently going over 10 to 15 seconds in between each rep, you're not going to keep your heart rate in its optimal zone.

'Three seconds is the ideal amount of time between reps,' he tells me. I (literally) breathed a sigh of relief, stopped doing the bicycles for three quick 'Mississippis,' then went back into it-and guess what? My abs are sore today, so clearly the workout was still effective.Ĭertified trainer and owner of Fitness Together studio Derek Maxfield agrees. Last night, my Peloton instructor Oliver Lee said that you can take a 3-second break to breathe, then get back into the move.

Optimal rest time between sets