Why Inadequate Rest Between Sets Will Murder Your Muscle Gains

Why Inadequate Rest Between Sets Will Murder Your Muscle Gains

By Sean Nalewanyj

Bobby finishes a hard, focused set of barbell squats and re-racks the weight. His
legs are wobbly, his heart is racing and he feels light headed as he takes a big swig
from his water bottle. He looks down at his watch and presses the “start” button to
begin counting down backwards from 2 minutes.

Bobby read that 2 minutes is the ideal rest time between sets in the gym, and he
wants to get it exact. Once that watch beeps at the 2 minute mark, he'll be back in
the squat rack to perform another set.

He stands up tall and paces around trying to catch his breath in preparation for his
next battle with the weights.

*Beep*

2 minutes is up. His legs still feel weak, his heart still beats frantically and he doesn't
quite feel 100%, but that watch beeped and that means his time is up. He must
perform his next set regardless of how he feels.

He unracks the weight and squats down. His legs still burn and he wishes that he
could have had more time to prepare for this set. He puts forth a mediocre effort, re-
racks the bar, and sets his watch for another 2 minutes.

Bobby, just like a ton of other aspiring lifters in the gym, is making a deadly,
critical mistake.

By having a set rest interval between sets, he is forcing his body to train at an effort
level that is far less than his maximum potential and is severely sacrificing the
amount of muscle growth he can ultimately stimulate because of this.

Muscles grow because of an adaptive response to stress. You lift X amount of weight
for Y number of reps, and your body adapts to this level of stress. In order to see
continual gains in muscle size, you must continually force X and Y to higher and
higher levels.

In other words, building muscle is all about progression in both weight and reps. It is
about lifting as much weight as you possibly can for the greatest number of reps that
you possibly can (within a given rep range of course) and then continually striving to
improve.

Because of this, you must always go into every single set of every single workout at
your maximum strength potential. By sacrificing the amount of weight you can lift, you
sacrifice the amount of muscle you can build. And there is no worse way to make this
sacrifice than by not providing your body with enough rest between sets.

Throw out your stopwatch and forget about looking at the clock.

You should only begin your next set when you feel that you can perform it with 100%
of your strength potential. A stopwatch cannot tell you when that time has arrived;
only you can by listening to your body and relying on your own instincts.

The set rest period theory is also highly flawed because it does not take into account
the fact that certain exercises tax the body much more heavily than others and
therefore require more rest between them.

A deadlift and a tricep pressdown aren't exactly in the same boat here. After a heavy
set of deadlifts to failure I'll usually be resting for at least 5 minutes, often even more.
A set of tricep pressdowns is obviously not as taxing and may only require a rest
period of 2.5 minutes for me to feel fully recovered.

Go on your instincts and only perform your next set when you feel that you can do so
with 100% of your strength. Implementing just this one training technique can have a
drastic effect on your muscle size and strength gains.

What about proper rep ranges? Workout length? Exercise selection and layout? For
more details on proper workout structure make sure to visit my website below for
exclusive details. Most people are dead-wrong in the way that they perform their
workouts, and I can help you to clear up the confusion once and for all...

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked "social reject", Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned
bodybuilding expert, fitness author, and creator of the most celebrated natural
bodybuilding program online today: "The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System".

If you can spare just 24 minutes a day, then you too can build a powerful new head-
turning body that will skyrocket your confidence, drive gorgeous women crazy, and
leave your friends, family and co-workers staring in disbelief... ALL in just a matter of
months: http://www.MuscleGainTruth.com/
___________________________________________________________________

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web's premier muscle building and fat
loss support community, currently accepting new members at
www.SchoolOfMuscle.com.

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