Whether you stick to a fixed rest time or rest as long as you feel you need to, it doesn’t seem to make a big difference for building muscle.

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Pro

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Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

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The Effect of Inter-Set Rest Intervals on Resistance Exercise-Induced Muscle Hypertrophy

Narrative Review

2014 Dec

The study looked at whether sticking to fixed rest times between workouts is better than resting based on how you feel, and found no clear winner — both ways build muscle just as well.

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

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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

The Effect of Inter-Set Rest Intervals on Resistance Exercise-Induced Muscle Hypertrophy

Score: 1

DOI: 10.1007/s40279-014-0228-0

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