Why Inadequate Rest Between Sets
Will
Murder Your Muscle Gains
Bobby finishes a hard, focused set of barbell squats and
re-racks the weight. His legs are wobbly, his heart is racing and he feels light
headed as he takes a big swig from his water bottle. He looks down at his watch
and presses the “start” button to begin counting down backwards from 2 minutes.
Bobby read that 2 minutes is the ideal rest time between sets in the
gym, and he wants to get it exact. Once that watch beeps at the 2 minute mark,
he'll be back in the squat rack to perform another set.
He stands up tall and paces around trying to catch his breath in
preparation for his next battle with the weights.
*Beep*
2 minutes is up. His legs still feel weak, his heart still beats
frantically and he doesn't quite feel 100%, but that watch beeped and that means
his time is up. He must perform his next set regardless of how he feels.
He unracks the weight and squats down. His legs still burn and he
wishes that he could have had more time to prepare for this set. He puts forth a
mediocre effort, re-racks the bar, and sets his watch for another 2 minutes.
Bobby, just like a ton of other aspiring lifters in the gym,
is making a deadly, critical mistake.
By having a set rest interval between sets, he is forcing his body
to train at an effort level that is far less than his maximum potential and is
severely sacrificing the amount of muscle growth he can ultimately stimulate
because of this.
Muscles grow because of an adaptive response to stress. You lift X
amount of weight for Y number of reps, and your body adapts to this level of
stress. In order to see continual gains in muscle size, you must continually
force X and Y to higher and higher levels.
In other words, building muscle is all about progression in both
weight and reps. It is about lifting as much weight as you possibly can for the
greatest number of reps that you possibly can (within a given rep range of
course) and then continually striving to improve.
Because of this, you must always go into every single set of every
single workout at your maximum strength potential. By sacrificing the amount of
weight you can lift, you sacrifice the amount of muscle you can build. And there
is no worse way to make this sacrifice than by not providing your body with
enough rest between sets.
Throw out your stopwatch and forget about looking at the
clock.
You should only begin your next set when you feel that you can
perform it with 100% of your strength potential. A stopwatch cannot tell you
when that time has arrived; only you can by listening to your body and relying
on your own instincts.
The set rest period theory is also highly flawed because it does not
take into account the fact that certain exercises tax the body much more heavily
than others and therefore require more rest between them.
A deadlift and a tricep pressdown aren't exactly in the same boat
here. After a heavy set of deadlifts to failure I'll usually be resting for at
least 5 minutes, often even more. A set of tricep pressdowns is obviously not as
taxing and may only require a rest period of 2.5 minutes for me to feel fully
recovered.
Go on your instincts and only perform your next set when you feel
that you can do so with 100% of your strength. Implementing just this one
training technique can have a drastic effect on your muscle size and strength
gains.
What about proper rep ranges? Workout length? Exercise selection and
layout? For more details on proper workout structure make sure to visit my
website below for exclusive details. Most people are dead-wrong in the way that
they perform their workouts, and I can help you to clear up the confusion once
and for all...
About The Author
Once an awkward, pencil-necked "social reject", Sean Nalewanyj is
now a renowned bodybuilding expert, fitness author, and creator of the most
celebrated natural bodybuilding program online today: "The Muscle Gain
Truth No-Fail System".
If you can spare just 24 minutes a day, then you too can build a
powerful new head-turning body that will skyrocket your confidence, drive
gorgeous women crazy, and leave your friends, family and co-workers staring in
disbelief... ALL in just a matter of months: http://www.MuscleGainTruth.com/
