Short vs Long Rest Periods for Muscle Growth

When it comes to optimizing your workout program, you have to account for every variable – one often overlooked variable is how long to rest between sets. Your rest periods between sets have a major impact on how well you perform during each set of your workout, and as you’ll see plays an important role in hypertrophy and strength. Short rest periods have the advantage of inducing more metabolic stress, which is important since we know it’s one of the main drivers of muscle growth. However, long rest periods have the advantage of enabling you to achieve more total workout volume since you’re better rested for each of your sets. They also lead to better strength gains in the long run. But how long should your rest periods between sets be? Well, it depends on the type of exercise you perform and how heavy you’re lifting. For compound movements like the bench press, squat, deadlift, and overhead press, etc. - at least 3 minutes of rest is ideal. And when performing these movements for very low reps and heavy weight (e.g. 3-5 reps), then resting even longer (4-5 minutes) would be ideal. Whereas for isolation movements and less taxing exercises, rest periods of around 2 minutes would be ideal. Adding in a few sets with very short rest periods towards the end of your workout is also a smart move, since it adds a little more metabolic stress to your workout without negatively impacting your total workout volume. All in all, longer rest periods seem to be the better option for mass and strength gains. But as always, experimentation is key. It’s vital that you try things out for yourself and see what works best for you.

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Studies:
Mechanisms of muscle growth:
Brad’s Rest study:
Other rest studies with similar findings:

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[SSchithFoo]

I take 1 week rest between my pushups.

[JohnJohnson-jqde]

I finished this whole video between sets.

[destructor]

You and Jeff from athleanx are the heroes we need in the fitness community

[briobrandon]

Honestly we dont deserve this kind of content & its free!! The fact that they are well-detailed, and sourced too makes your videos even more educating and high-quality, a class above the rest. So thank you!

[JeremyEthier]

For those concerned about your workouts taking longer:
1) Distribute your volume into more training days such that each workout can be shorter - e.g. train 5 days per week instead of 4.
2) Utilize "supersets" in your workout such that you train the antagonist muscle instead of resting (e.g. train triceps while "resting" the biceps). However, supersets do have their limitations which I'll discuss in a future video.
3) Your workout itself could be too high in volume and that may very well be the reason why it's taking so long for you to complete. If so, consider reducing the volume of your workout or refer to tip #1 above!

Hope this helps!

[SXbit]

Compound moves: 120-180 seconds
Isolation moves: 60-90 seconds
The shorter the rest the more metabolic stress, longer rest the better strength gains also higher volume as you can lift heavy

[Luke-cztm]

3-4 min rest (heavy compound multi joint exercises):
- Chest press
- shoulder press
- squat
- dead lift

1-2 min rest (single joint exercises):
- Tricep pushdown
- bicep curl
- etc

45-60 seconds:
- push ups
- etc

[STEM]

This is why I hit each muscle twice a week. The first time I hit it, I do heavy 4-6 reps, 3mins rest time and the second time I do 10-12 reps, 30sec-1m rest time. This way I can do both of heavy and light and hit muscle hypertrophy. Been doing it for a few months and have seen gains in mass and strength

[skyfe]

Great! I've been doing like 3-4 min for compounds, 1.5-2 for isolation exercises. This was just based on trying out what seemed to work best for me, as I felt like I needed more rest for heavy compounds to perform better. Glad to see science support this. Science based videos are the best :)

[MeijinSensei]

This is interesting, I’ve always been told that shorter rests are better, but naturally took longer ones because I felt personally better gains. Looks like I was doing it right .

[ABCabc-ohuh]

I love how these studies you present destroy nearly all the gym myths that exist - keep up the work

[sergeantbigmac]

Jesus I was JUST thinking about this while weightlifting yesterday, and I swear this has happened several times with the content from this channel. Its like youre reading my mind man! Thank you

[cambunn]

This is why this one of the only YouTubers I consistently follow for more than a year. Interesting content that doesn’t overlap or repeat itself. Finally a YouTuber that isn’t all about clickbait.

[SiimLand]

BASICALLY: Hit 1-2 compound exercises with heavier weights and longer rest periods to focus on strength. Then finish off with 1-2 hypertrophy focused exercises with shorter rest

[greenicerebbel]

Literally the best fitness channel on youtube.
I've been following other channels aswell, but Jeremy has the best one so far.
It's simple to understand, provides examples and quotes documentation. What else do you need?

100% would recommend to every one who's starting or has reached a dead point in his fitness activity.

Thank you so much for your splendid work !

[robertjusic]

What if you take 12 minutes after every set like i do while everybody impatiently waits for me to free up the bench

[bioches]

I can’t do nothing for 3 minutes at the gym. Feels like I’m hogging the equipment

[Cheesus]

Always done this since I started lifting, at least 4 minutes on compounds and at least 2 mins in isolations! I’ve had so many people say to me you’re resting too long, you’re not guna make gains etc. It’s always them guys who have looked the same for 5 years lol.

Plus timing and longer rest periods it’s easier to apply progressive overload!

[carlylemasuret]

one of the only channels that actually quote academic research papers, well done!!!!

[joshuabyrne]

Wow, incredibly fascinating video. I’ve always been told rest for 30 seconds to 60 seconds in between sets and I just never thought about questioning it. This video was very informative, as all your videos are Jeremy, thanks for the amazing content! ❤️