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Strong Opposition

Whether you rest for 1 minute or 3 minutes between sets doesn’t make a difference in muscle growth, as long as you do the same total amount of work.

0
Pro
39
Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (0)

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No supporting evidence found

Contradicting (1)

39

Community contributions welcome

39

Volume Load Rather Than Resting Interval Influences Muscle Hypertrophy During High-Intensity Resistance Training

Randomized Controlled Trial
Human
2022 Jun 1

Even when people did the same amount of work, those who rested longer between sets (3 minutes) grew bigger thigh muscles than those who rested less (1 minute), which means rest time does matter for muscle growth.

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

Volume Load Rather Than Resting Interval Influences Muscle Hypertrophy During High-Intensity Resistance Training

Score: 39
DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003668

Similar Assertions

If you do the same total amount of weightlifting work, it doesn’t matter much if you rest 20 seconds or 2 minutes between sets—your muscles grow and get stronger about the same either way.

51
0
88%

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.

51
0
81%

You can do more sets with shorter rests to match the total work of fewer sets with longer rests—and you’ll still get the same muscle growth and strength gains.

51
0
80%

When lifting heavy weights, doing more total reps and sets (higher volume) makes your muscles grow bigger, even if you rest less between sets.

39
0
79%

Taking a little longer break between sets of weightlifting (more than a minute) might help your arms and legs grow slightly bigger, but the difference is so small it might not even matter in real life.

55
0
79%