I’ve been resting a ton between longer weeks. So I’ll do 2-3 weeks 4-6 days a week then take a week off. After my week off I look bigger; leaner and toned as F. It’s wild how far I’ve come with t being optimized. No longer have to spend hours at the gym.
I recently watched a video with Jay Cutler where he discussed how he was always a short rest period guy (ex: 45 seconds). I personally enjoy that type of workout more than resting 2-3 minutes. But I know there’s a bunch of research about longer rest periods and strength gains.
That makes sense. I believe research indicates it’s optimal to take a deload every ~8 weeks, and you’re probably able to do it more often and benefit from it because of your hormonal profile. I think I’m just a little too addicted to working out and the mental benefits of exercise lol. It really gives my day a boost!
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I think it depends on your rep ranges, lower reps higher weight need more rest, higher reps less weight, less rest. And I think you should mix it up so you getting both hypertrophy and strength and hitting both fast and slow twitch fibers. I could never go as low as 45 seconds on squats and deads though, I would kill over and die lol.
Could just program a good deload. Decrease your weights 20-30% but keep the same rep range for a week or two. That way your still getting in work but allowing more recovery.
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Oh for sure brother, squats/deads would kill me with 45-second rest periods! I agree that you should do both to get the benefits of both. Lately, though, I’ve been thinking the lighter weight/shorter rest period/pump type style might be optimal for longevity.
For example, I was watching this interview with Dexter Jackson today – he said Ronnie Coleman and Dorian Yates both regret their style of training and told him they wish they had trained like him. Jay Cutler is another guy who looks and moves great today, and he said he avoided heavy lifting for most of his career. I have a real soft spot for heavy training, but I am starting to veer away from it. I want to look and move even better at 80 than I do today at 27!
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Legs get jacked and ripped with that type of work. Non stop load with very little rest like a runner or cyclist. Legs are made for it brother.
The long rest shit on legs is the last thing I wanna do. For me it’s always kill the legs. It just feel good walking around with rock hard legs. Haha 
I agree with you – the feeling is awesome – but this type of training also leaves me more sore, typically, which has been a big problem lately. So many tradeoffs to keep in mind with programming!
I’m starting to move over to the higher reps also. I’m already dealing with injuries as it is. I was forever in the 4-6 rep range now I am in the 8-12 range for “low” reps and 12 to 100 reps for high. Sometimes I am probably pushing myself to much in those rep ranges as it is though.
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When I know I’m super soar the next day I take extra clicks of my cream lol… it helps man. If I take 4 clicks instead of 3 it’s like I recover much faster. Somedays I wake like i didn’t even touch a weight until I flex or squeeze the muscle.
100 on one sitting?legs?
Every now and then I will with leg extensions, using rest pause or drop sets. I had one workout that was 75 reps on the leg press supersetted with 20 squats. I quit following that workout plan soon after that lol, that one was brutal.
I don’t use 100 reps often but I will throw them in once in a while or a 50 rep set as a finisher. 15-20 reps are my usual high rep sets
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Cool makes sense. Was hoping you weren’t doing 100 reps of 10lb dumbbells or something
Sounds like hell on earth! I wouldn’t be able to walk out of there. Reminds me of the Hungarian Oak leg workout from TN I tried last month - brutal!
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Today is the day wifey and I celebrate my career milestone with a trip to Montanari Bros. Powerhouse Gym in New Haven! Back (especially lats) and biceps (for Ze Pump) are on deck. So excited to be celebrating in a way that I genuinely love - hitting the iron!
And then we’re following it up by hitting an awesome Mexican place in the area. Guac, steak and chicken tacos coming my way! 
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Working out at Montanari Bros. yesterday was exceptional! Got in a great back & bis lift.
I’d never visited a renowned gym before – this place is awesome and I can’t say enough about the hospitality. The owners rock.
The floor is loaded with cool equipment that I hadn’t seen anywhere else, too.
Highly recommend you lift here if you ever get the opportunity! And I’d love recommendations for other epic gyms to visit in the Northeast. The wife and I turned it into an amazing day trip.
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My daughter went to school there and I never even knew about this place. Of course visits were short and wasn’t much time for anything else.
No kidding. You should check it out if you ever make it back! I bet you’d get a kick out of it. Very cool environment. Yale? Just saw the campus for the first time. Beautiful buildings.
Yep. My little redneck went to Yale for her Masters. Very beautiful campus. The area of town surrounding it wasn’t so nice though.
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Very impressive! You must’ve done a great job raising her, brother.
Yeah, it was interesting to see how the campus is integrated into the city. Didn’t seem like the safest area but eclectic community for sure – could be a fun place to go to school.
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Today marks Day 4 off of all training completely (will be doing 7 days off), as I aim to overcome Recovery Purgatory (TM to the great @bmbrady77). I was still hitting 10K steps a day for the first few days, but my legs were still very sore, so I lowered it to 7.5K yesterday – wasn’t shooting for any target, that’s just what I got. I also won’t shoot for any target today. Hoping these puppies will stop feeling so exhausted all the time!
It’s been a really good week. I can tell my body and soul both needed this. I’ve been crushing it at work this week, with insane output – I can’t believe how much time it feels like I have on my hands now that I’m not training for an hour, spending time planning before/after it, and lining up my meals around it.
I’ve been surprised by how little I’ve been tempted to lift – not at all. I think I was just totally wiped, and my body is embracing the rest. I bet I’ll be ready to hit it hard again by next week, though…but for now, I’m perfectly content resting and staying away from the weights.