Hi, Recently I’ve gotten lazy, for instance yesterday I did one exercise bench press, but it took me 30 minutes. After each set i took a long break 2-5 minutes, I did 7 sets, funny thing is I have gotten alot stronger, added 15 pounds to bench in hte last 2 weeks by just doing this 2 times a week. Maybe i wasn’t resting enough before. what do you guys think
I think a lot of lifters make the mistake of not resting long enough. Short rest has its advantages too and should be included in some parts of a training cycle, but other parts, perhaps even most of the cycle, should be 4 or even 5 minutes in my opinion.
Im just going into a heavy part of my cycle and used 4-5min rests as mentioned after reading a quote of Ed Coan where he said he views rests of less than 5mins for heavy sets as “some kind of goofy cardio program”. The sets were far more intense so I’ll be using long rests alot more.
Absolutely! In a strength training phase, as opposed to hypertrophy, my rest periods go up to 5-7 minutes for the maximal lifts. You’re right: it makes all the difference in the world. - Nylo