rest intervals

[mullet]

I realize its an individual thing, but I'm just wondering what the concensus rest interval for muscle growth is?
I've been going with 1 min, and its making my workouts more intense, quicker, and the pumps are great.

Opinions?

 

[RADAR]

mine is probably 2 min..i don't time it i just go when i;m ready......RADAR

 

[Latimer]

It depends on the exercise I'm doing and the routine I'm following. Generally between 1-3 minutes.

 

[PimpnAintEasy]

It is my understanding that the objective with building muscle mass is MUSCLE OVERLOAD, not MUSCLE FATIGUE, therefore, rest interval should be adequate between sets. For me, ~3 minutes for larger muscle groups, ~2 for smaller ones.

I don't time it, like RADAR, I go when I'm damn well good and ready. Personally, I don't like the idea of my workouts resembling anything similar to circuit training.

 

[Beezers]

I'll take up to 5 minutes and no less than 3. For optimal muscle growth you need optimal muscle performance. The longer you rest (to a certain point) the more work load the muscles can handle. It's not just the muscle that have to recover between sets. The nervous system, that which activates the muscle to move the big weight, takes much longer than the muscle themselves to recover in between and intense set. Without a recovered nervous system the muscles will not be able to handle and effectively move optimal poundages. Bodybuildiing or strength training are NOT endurance activities. Heart rate and calories burned are insignificant when trying to hypertrophy muscles. There is no need to train like it's an endurance event...i.e short rest intervals. Short rest periods do nothing for muscle growth as you are training a different system to accomidate a different lift protocol. For maximum growth you need to be at peak performance for each and every set. That means you need to allow for optimal recovery between sets.

 

[Wyllis]

I go for 2 minutes between sets and 5 minutes between exercises.

 

[he-man]

enough time for me to catch my breath, load the weight for my next set, get a drink of water, take a sip of gatorade, and get myself mentally prepared to hit my next set.