If you're already trained, doing light weights with short or long breaks between sets gives you about the same strength boost in your chest and legs after 8 weeks.
Scientific Claim
In trained individuals, low-load resistance training to failure using 40% one-repetition maximum, performed twice weekly for 8 weeks, results in similar strength gains in the bench press and squat regardless of whether rest intervals are 30 seconds or 150 seconds.
Original Statement
“One-repetition maximum also significantly increased for the bench press (S: 9.9±6.9%, L: 6.5±5.8%, p<0.05) and squat (S: 5.2±6.7%, L: 5.4±3.5%, p<0.05).”
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
overstated
Study Design Support
Design supports claim
Appropriate Language Strength
association
Can only show association/correlation
Assessment Explanation
The claim implies equivalence, but the study was not designed to test equivalence. 'Similar' is acceptable, but 'regardless of' implies causation and exclusion of effect.
More Accurate Statement
“In trained individuals, low-load resistance training to failure using 40% one-repetition maximum, performed twice weekly for 8 weeks, is associated with similar strength gains in the bench press and squat whether rest intervals are 30 seconds or 150 seconds.”
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
Acute and Long-term Responses to Different Rest Intervals in Low-load Resistance Training
People who lifted light weights to exhaustion twice a week for 8 weeks got just as strong in the bench press and squat whether they rested 30 seconds or 2.5 minutes between sets.