When wrestlers who regularly lift weights do bench presses with only 1 minute of rest between sets, their performance starts to drop by the third set, indicating that fatigue builds up more when...

We analyzed the available evidence and found that resistance-trained wrestlers tend to show a decline in bench press performance by the third set when only 1 minute of rest is allowed between sets [1]. This suggests that shorter recovery periods may lead to accumulating fatigue, making it harder to maintain the same level of effort across multiple sets. The evidence we’ve reviewed leans toward this pattern being consistent among wrestlers who regularly lift weights, though we only have one assertion to base this on. We don’t know if this happens to all wrestlers or only under specific conditions like training intensity, body weight, or prior conditioning. We also can’t say whether longer rest periods would prevent this decline, because no studies compared different rest times in this group. The single assertion we reviewed points to fatigue building up quickly with minimal recovery, but we don’t have data on how much performance drops, or whether it affects strength, speed, or technique differently. What we’ve found so far is limited but consistent: when rest is kept to just 60 seconds, performance seems to weaken by the third set. This could matter for wrestlers who use bench press as part of their strength training, since their workouts may rely on maintaining output across multiple sets. If someone is trying to maximize each set, they might need more than a minute to recover — but we don’t yet know how much more. For now, if you’re a resistance-trained wrestler doing bench presses with only 1 minute of rest, you might notice your lifts getting harder by the third set. Adjusting rest time could help, but more research is needed to confirm how much rest is optimal.