If you lift heavy weights and take long breaks between sets, you might get stronger faster than if you lift lighter weights and take short breaks—though the study didn’t say exactly how much stronger you’d get.

38

Pro

0

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

38

Community contributions welcome

38

Effects of rest intervals and training loads on metabolic stress and muscle hypertrophy

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2018 Mar

The study compared two ways of lifting weights: heavy weights with long breaks vs. light weights with short breaks. It found that heavy weights with long breaks probably make you stronger, even though it didn’t give exact numbers — and that matches what the claim says.

Contradicting (0)

0

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No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Effects of rest intervals and training loads on metabolic stress and muscle hypertrophy

Score: 38

DOI: 10.1111/cpf.12409

Similar Assertions

If you lift light weights with short breaks between sets for eight weeks, your upper arms might grow bigger than if you lift heavy weights with long breaks—even if you do the same total amount of work. Light weights + quick rest = more muscle growth in this study.

38

0

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If two groups of young men lift weights with the same total effort but one rests longer with heavier weights and the other rests briefly with lighter weights, they both get just as strong after 8 weeks—even though you’d think the heavy weights would win.

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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.

51

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Lifting heavier weights might help you get stronger a bit more than lifting lighter weights, but the difference is so small that we can’t be sure it’s real — it could just be luck.

45

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Even if you rest only 20 seconds between sets, you can still get just as strong as someone who rests 2 minutes—as long as you do the same total amount of lifting.

51

0

77%