Even though exact numbers aren’t given, the researchers noticed that rest-pause training seemed to help people get a bit stronger than regular training, just not by a lot.

Rest-pause training might help you lift a little heavier than regular training, but the difference is small, and we can’t be sure it matters much in real life because the study had few participants.

Even though rest-pause training helps you lift heavier, it doesn’t make your muscles bigger than regular training—meaning strength and muscle growth might be controlled by different things.

The strength gains from this study are about what you’d expect from regular weight training—whether you rest a little or a lot—so rest time doesn’t seem to change how much stronger you get.

You don’t need long breaks between sets to get strong—just do the same total amount of work, even with short rests, and you’ll get just as strong.

Rest-pause training helps you lift heavier without making your muscles bigger—so maybe your nervous system gets better at using your muscles, not just your muscles getting bigger.