The official advice to rest 30–90 seconds between sets might be outdated — newer data suggest resting a bit longer (over a minute) could help your arms and legs grow a little better.

Pro

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

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Give it a rest: a systematic review with Bayesian meta-analysis on the effect of inter-set rest interval duration on muscle hypertrophy

Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

Human

2024

This study found that resting a bit longer than a minute between sets helps muscles grow slightly better in arms and legs, even though resting longer than 90 seconds doesn’t help much more. So the usual advice to rest 30–90 seconds might be improved by aiming for more than a minute.

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

Source Study

Give it a rest: a systematic review with Bayesian meta-analysis on the effect of inter-set rest interval duration on muscle hypertrophy

Score: 55

DOI: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1429789

Similar Assertions

The common advice to rest only 30–90 seconds between sets to build muscle might need updating — longer breaks (over a minute) seem to help a little, but not enough to be sure it’s worth changing your routine.

90%

The common advice to rest 30–90 seconds between sets to build muscle might need updating — resting a bit longer (over a minute) might help a little, but not enough to be sure it’s worth changing your routine.

89%

Inter-set rest intervals exceeding 60 seconds promote greater skeletal muscle hypertrophy compared to rest intervals of 60 seconds or less, when training volume and intensity are matched.

83%

Resting more than a minute and a half between sets doesn’t seem to help you build more muscle than resting for about a minute — it’s not worth the extra time.

83%

You can build muscle just fine whether you rest for 30 seconds or 4 minutes between sets — the exact rest time isn’t a make-or-break factor.

82%