Whether you take short or long breaks between sets at the gym, both can help you build muscle — as long as you train at least twice a week for a month or more.

20

Pro

0

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

20

Community contributions welcome

20

The effects of short versus long inter-set rest intervals in resistance training on measures of muscle hypertrophy: A systematic review

Systematic Review

Human

2017 Sep

The study looked at how long you rest between sets in weight training and found that both short and long rests can help build muscle, which supports the idea that either way works.

Contradicting (0)

0

Community contributions welcome

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

The effects of short versus long inter-set rest intervals in resistance training on measures of muscle hypertrophy: A systematic review

Score: 20

DOI: 10.1080/17461391.2017.1340524

Similar Assertions

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.

55

0

88%

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.

55

0

86%

If you're someone who lifts weights regularly, taking longer breaks between sets might help you gain a bit more muscle than shorter breaks—especially if we're using precise tools to measure those gains.

20

0

84%

If you lift weights with either light weights and short breaks, or heavy weights and long breaks—but keep the total work the same—you’ll still build muscle in about 8 weeks. So, there’s more than one way to get stronger and bigger muscles.

38

0

84%

Taking longer breaks between sets of weightlifting doesn't hurt your muscle growth—you might even grow more muscle with longer breaks than with very short ones.

1

0

84%