How Long Should You Rest Between Exercises To Maximize Muscle Growth?

Even experienced bodybuilders and strength trainers are confused at one question.

How Long Should You Rest Between Sets for Muscle Growth?

Whether you perform strength training or weight lifting, resting between sets is important. However, as people are concerned about working out, the concern isn’t of that level in terms of resting between sets.

Thus, people aren’t aware of how long should you rest between exercises.

Obviously, the harder you train, the more your body would require time to adapt it.

But, how long should you rest to achieve specific health and fitness goal?

This blog is an attempt to answer How Long Should You Rest Between Sets for Muscle Growth, weight loss, and strengthening.

Let’ start…

Different Workouts Demands Different Rest Periods

Like the different types of workouts, the rest period to vary. Surprisingly, for different physique goals, different rest periods are applicable.

In fact, the resting time varies with the level of your workouts as well.

In this segment, our key concern is to acknowledge you with the different resting periods.

• Short rest periods – about 30 seconds
• Long rest periods – 2 minutes to 5 minutes
• Moderate rest periods – about 60-90 seconds

#1: Short Rest Periods

Exhausting your muscle by lighting heavier is the key to getting bigger and massive. In fact, shrinking the rest period to 30 seconds between sets will help get maximum strength training exercises.

However, the downside of the short rest period is insufficient recovering leading to strength degradation. Obviously, if your strength undermines, lifting heavier weight would be impossible with a shorter rest period. Muscle growth won’t be impressive in such a case.

#2: Long Rest Periods

The main perk of the long rest period is strength restoration. Hence, when the next turn of lifting weight comes your strength would be at its peak. So, lighting heavier weight won’t be a big deal, which would result in a monstrous elevation in strength.

Nonetheless, long rest periods have their own drawback. It relaxes your muscle enough to slow down the process of muscle building. Going big with long rest periods is short of impossible.

Still, elevated strength will help you lift heavier and strengthen your muscle fiber as well.

#3: Moderate Rest Periods

Don’t rest for long between the sets, because bulking up means tiring out the muscle. However, you’ve to take much rest to repeatedly perform your movement. Eventually, this will trigger the muscle growth required for bigger muscles.

This why moderate rest periods are most preferred and recommended by experts. It hits the sweet spot of muscle gaining. Not only it exhausts the muscle enough to stimulate the muscle bulking process but provides enough rest to elevate strength for maximum performance.

Nonetheless, the rest period varies with your workout goals as well as the level of your training. Read further segments to know what rest period fits for you.

How Long Should You Rest Between Exercises Depending on Your Workout Goals?

Resting between workouts depends primarily on your workout goals and the type of workout you are performing. Here’s a short description…

For Muscle Tone, Weight Loss, Or To Increase Endurance…

Rest for: 20 to 60 seconds between sets

When your goal is to enhance your shape by increasing muscle fitness and function, the resting period should be minimum.

According to experts, doing so has actually a good impact on your body in terms of shaping. In fact, they recommend shrinking the resting time and continuously perform.

To push your muscle function up and keep your heart up, trainers suggest client complete the whole circuit in a go.

Indeed, this involves resting during the transition from one workout to another for only 30 seconds.

Surprisingly, adhering to this approach helps clients burn maximum calories in comparison to resting between sets.

However, resting is enough for muscle recovery and weight loss. How long to rest between sets for weight loss? Well, the segment has given the required answer.

For Strength Elevation

Rest for: 2 to 5 minutes between sets

This helps your muscles refill the energy required for contraction. Also, it helps the nervous system recover quickly at the same time. Obviously, it is highly applicable when you are lifting heavy weights while performing 10 reps or less. In such cases, adequate rest and recovery are indispensable for the activation of muscle fibers. Eventually, it improves hormone response liable for muscle building. Of course, the mechanical damage of weight light requires time, nutrients, and hormones to repair and initiate growth.

For Bigger Muscles

Rest for: 1 minute between sets

Do you want to go big and aim for hypertrophy? This is it! An elevation of the cross-sectional size of the muscles in the perfect rest period. However, resting more than 60 seconds between workouts would compromise the metabolic stress facet of the workout. Hence, lessen the potential of your bodybuilding. On the contrary, pausing for less than a minute doesn’t allow sufficient recovery for the muscle. Thus, the performance hinders in the next set.

For Mastering Workouts

Rest for: 3 minutes between sets

According to a study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 3 minutes have magical effects. This will help your recovery quick than resting for two minutes or less in between sets. Moreover, it allows you enough time and energy to focus completely and mastering your workout.

Newbie In Workout

Rest for: longer than you think you need to

New to strength training? You might want to compete with your partners, right? However, their training levels and yours vary. So, vary the requirement of theirs and your body.

Performing more than the limit of your body and no rest between sets puts on the additional strain. Hence, you’re likely to experience nausea, muscle fatigue, and more.

For beginners, experts recommend taking as much time as needed by their body. Gradually, when you are habituated to workouts, shrinking the recovery period would be helpful and easier.

How long should I rest to gain muscle? Now, you have found the most awaited answer to your query. Nonetheless, the recovery timing is likely to vary according to your workout level.

Resting Periods Varies Depending on Your Workout Level

The more you train, the more your body reaches a state of equilibrium.

The requirement of rest at the beginning differs from the time when you are used to it.

Here’s we’ve demonstrated the requirement of rest according to the time you have spent at the gym.

If you’ve been working out consistently 3 to 6 months:

If you fall in the category, you would have developed a good workout technique.

Obviously, the big exercises bench press, chin-ups, shoulder press, squat, deadlift, etc. have taken your workout to a whole new dimension.

Now, concentrate on strengthening your body. Switch your goal to activating more muscles in a time.

Go for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps of big workouts with longer rest periods.

If you’ve been working out consistently for 6 months to a year:

At this point of your training, aim to ascend the volume of the workout taking your muscle gains to a new height.

Do 2-4 sets of 3-5 reps with longer rest periods. Afterward, work on the same muscle groups with a moderate rest period with 2-4 sets of 6-12 reps.

If you’ve been working out consistently for 12 to 18 months:

At this phase of your training, you require a stronger stimulus to go massive.

Thus, focusing on either strength or muscle size development is mandatory.

Experts recommend switching your training program.

• focusing on strength for 4-6 weeks
• size development for another 4-6 weeks

Go for 3 sets of big exercises on your strength training weeks by lifting a bigger lift 1-5 times. In contrast, on your muscle weeks, lift weight 6-12 times.

Working out is important when you want to take your physical attribute to the best shape. However, too much of anything is bad.

Exercises put strain and pressure on your muscle fiber. Thus, your body requires enough time to repair and heal.

Depending on your workout goal, mode and level, you should either go for short, long, or moderate rest. This would help you get most of the workout regime.

Nonetheless, our endeavor on how long should you rest between exercises hasn’t ended yet.

We’ve further cleared the common doubts about workouts through our FAQs.

FAQs | How Long Should You Rest Between Sets for Muscle Growth

Bodybuilding myths are running everywhere, even in the time of the internet.

Well, some common misconception runs about the rest periods as well.

Here, we’ve tried to clear such doubts…

Q1: Does rest time between sets matter?

Yes, it does. Working output your muscle fiber in strain and pressure. Not resting would simply not heal it and you can have serious muscle damage. Thus, at least 30-second rest between sets is necessary.

Q2: How long should I wait between sets to build muscle?

To go bigger quicker, resting for 1 to 2 minutes between sets is best. One of the crucial factors in terms of how much you gain is how much anabolic hormones your body generates post-workout. A short rest period between 1 to 2 minutes provides greater secretion of these hormones leading to a longer resting period.

Q3: Can you rest too long between sets?

Typically, you should rest only for a few minutes between sets. resting too long between sets will decimate your chance of gaining muscle. However, it would help you in elevating your strength level and performance. Resting too much would shut down muscle activation, requiring a warm-up again.

Q4: How many sets are best for muscle growth?

If you want to bulk up and go massive performing sets of 3 or sets of 5 or sets of 10 is best. However, this would help you only when you have a respective diet to aid your workout and make it functional.

Q5: How much should you rest between each set?

This resting period varies depending on your workout.

• Strength Elevation requires a rest period of 2 to 5 minutes between sets
• Bigger Muscles requires a rest period of 1 minute between sets
• For Mastering Workouts need you need to pause for 3 minutes between sets
• Beginners require a rest period of longer than you think you need to

Q6: Should you go to failure on every set?

Failure training isn’t applicable for each set. Indeed, if you really want to apply failure training, perform it on the last set of a workout. The best would be on a hypertrophy day. Moreover, Individuals employing “beyond failure” intensity procedures should rely on additional resting periods. This would allow your body enough time to recover.

Q7: Is it better to do reps or time?

Performing body with time under tension will adapt to changes quicker. Thus, increasing the effective time under tension rather than performing reps would get you results. So, next time keep it in your head.

Q8: Are 2-hour workouts too long?

Training sessions should be not less than 60 minutes and no more than 90 minutes. In fact, it is the ideal time to challenge your body with standard reps. Anything more would disturb the return of your work. Doing less than won’t get you a significant difference.

Q9: What to do when resting between sets?

Actually, you can do a lot of things when resting between exercises. Using the small period will further maximize your workouts.

Here’s what you have to do

1. Go for a record.
2. Stretching
3. Get activated.
4. Time to mobilize.
5. Do a pre-lift list. …
6. Ignore your phone.

Q 10: How long should you rest between exercises?

If you are going for intense workouts, you would require a much larger period to fix. Plus, you should perform the maximum workout twice a week. In fact, such intense training requires 48-72 hours between sessions. Even if your body feels ready, your nervous system is likely to require much time.

These were a few of the questions around resting time and workouts. Lastly, we’ve ended up our blog with a few takeaway and suggestions. Do have a look!

Takeaway | How Long Should You Rest Between Sets for Muscle Growth

Most bodybuilders or fitness freaks have full concentration on performing workouts. How intense they are performing and how long they perform. However, among these vital questions, the most important thing is missed. How Long Should You Rest Between Sets for Muscle Growth and other workout goals?

You would find it weird, but different rest periods have different impacts on our bodies. In fact, the variations of the rest period result either in muscle gains, strength, elevation, and even weight loss.

So, be careful of How Long Should You Rest Between Sets for Muscle Growth or other fitness specifics.

Here’s a bit of help.

• Strength Elevation requires a rest period of 2 to 5 minutes between sets
• Bigger Muscles requires a rest period of 1 minute between sets
• For Mastering Workouts need you need to pause for 3 minutes between sets
• Beginners require a rest period of longer than you think you need to

Lastly, we can say, working out is important, so is resting. The next time you are at the gym don’t pressurize your body for too much too soon.

Good results and lasting differences come in a long run. Oftentimes, by the small rest and breaks, you take. Technically, it’s the thing that keeps everything functional.

We hope the article helped. For more on bulking do check our other blogs!