If you take only 20 seconds between sets, you can still lift the same total weight as someone taking 2 minutes—you just have to do more sets to make up for the shorter breaks.
Scientific Claim
In untrained young men, a 10-week unilateral knee-extension resistance training program using 20-second rest intervals can achieve the same total volume-load as a program using 2-minute rest intervals by increasing the number of sets performed to failure, demonstrating that rest duration can be compensated for with higher set volume.
Original Statement
“SHORT rests (10RM, multiple sets to failure until matching the volume of repetitions done in LONG; 20-s rest)”
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
appropriately stated
Study Design Support
Design supports claim
Appropriate Language Strength
definitive
Can make definitive causal claims
Assessment Explanation
The description of the intervention is factual and directly quoted from the methods. No causal or probabilistic language is used, and the claim accurately reflects the study design.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
The study found that doing more sets with only 20 seconds of rest between them gave the same muscle growth and strength gains as doing fewer sets with 2 minutes of rest—because they made up for the short breaks by doing more sets.