Sets reps and rest times please. For a hard set of say 5 where the 5th rep was a nigh on failure rep and it’s going to be tough to do another set of 5,how much rest do u give yourself
Just my own personal rule of thumb- the closer to max effort, the longer the rest time between sets. So 3 or 4 minutes.
This assumes strength is the goal and volume/time is secondary.
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Heavy weight and low reps near max effort, I always rested 3 to 5 minutes between sets.
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Yeah, 3 minutes + between really strenuous lifts. Science guys say it takes that long to replenish ATP.
But I probably sat around longer than that, “until I was ready” a bunch too.
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For a hard set of say 5 where the 5th rep was a nigh on failure rep and it’s going to be tough to do another set of 5,how much rest do u give yourself
That exercise is done. Why am I going to do another set?
That just complexes all replies.
I assume people are doing sets of 5 to get stronger.
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I assume people are doing sets of 5 to get stronger.
In such situations, I find most trainees don’t get that close to failure in a set. If I have a set that DOES get that close to failure, and my goal is strength training, that informs me that I am done using that weight for that rep range. That either means I’m done with that exercise for the day, or I need to modify it to get more productive sets out of it.
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Up to 5 minutes
Love sets of 5 for growth too
It was my strategy to use sets of 5 reps to increase my strength so that I could lift more weight for sets of 8 to 10 reps for hypertrophy.
I am not saying sets of 5 reps will not grow muscle size, just that higher reps are more effective at growing muscle size.
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MT can be achieved through lower reps to higher BUT the higher reps accumulate more fatigue and are just prolonging recovery. I do enjoy a bit higher rep range occasionally just for fun.
3 sets of 5 with 1 or 2 RIR has been amazing. 5 x 5 was always very successful too. I do 3 to 7… like odd numbers for some reason. 4 to 8 is solid, too.
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IMO, these are some of the parameters for adding strength using 5 sets of 5 reps
- This program should have some progression in bar weight planning
- The chosen starting bar weight should be light enough that you are sure that you will get all 5 sets for all 5 reps with some left in the tank.
- The rest between sets should long enough that ATP has reasonably recovered.
- Each week increase the weight a small amount.
- When the last sets become extremely difficult, add addition rest between sets (5 minutes max rest)
- It is okay to get only 4 reps in the latter set(s)
- Once you cannot do 4 reps the 5th set, it is time for a deload period.
Now after the deload, you can restart 5 sets of 5 reps (hopefully starting with a higher 1st week bar weight because you are stronger.) Or, switch to sets of 8 to 10 reps for a period.
Ideally, you should be able to complete at least 6 weeks before failing to complete 4 reps on the 5th set. Avoid going to failure where you cannot complete the final rep on any set.
I have been doing this intuitively. But it depends,I could hit my top set of 5 and go wow 2 reps left,go again. My reason being is it’s going to be hit and miss and it’s better to perhaps rest up 4-5 days and go again rather than 3-4 mins and perhaps not hit. And then beat myself up mentally for missing. I do reduce the load however,I feel there’s not enough done just with 1 top set of 5 however this could be hampering me down the line
Warm-ups or back offs can fill the gaps here.
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Not confirming what I already know and practice,just reassuring me that I’m doing ok lel. I’ve been hitting a sequence of rep pbs for a number of weeks on an assortment of exercises,not large ones and my bw hasn’t gone up exponentially but I can go for a bit longer
You must forgive me, but I’m having difficulty understanding you.
I love 6-8 sets of 12-15 reps. I rest 30 seconds on most every exercise and 0 seconds on supersets. I’m basically just copying the blueprint already laid out by Serge Nubret 50+ years ago. This is, of course, with muscle gain in mind, not max strength gains.
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On really heavy sets of five, 3-5 mins is good. That said, when you are still a novice and first finding out what a hard set is, fifteen minutes is acceptable.
I had a portion of linear progression on squats where i would go do a set in the garage, then go back to my computer and watch strongman, then pause it and hit the next one. Workouts drag out a long time like that, but you can push to new limits for awhile doing that. Then you will get used to it and can go back down to a reasonable time
I think we all have to look for a break even point for rest times that maximizes our effective volume, expressed as tonnage.
What I mean is, we each have some finite amount of time to train. Within that time, we likely aim to maximize recoverable tonnage (whether you’re doing this through a single set to failure or a bunch of submax sets or whatever, this tends to be at least a proxy measure). More rest means I get more out of each set, less rest means I can fit more sets in; there’s silly points of impracticality on either end of the spectrum.
So: maybe I do 10x10 with very little rest with 135 or 3x10 with lots of rest with 425.
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For that scenario, as much time as needed.
I see zero point in even knowing or putting pressure on myself for rest time for a near max of 5 and going for another tough set of 5.
And I would have no issue going for another set, especially if I’ve already hit 1-set of 5 with a weight before. I do another for a volume PR.
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