More Lifts, Bigger Muscles — Rest Time Doesn't Matter
Volume Load Rather Than Resting Interval Influences Muscle Hypertrophy During High-Intensity Resistance Training
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
People lifted weights with the same effort but different rest times between sets. Some did more total lifts (volume), some did fewer. Muscles grew more when people did more total lifts, no matter how long they rested.
Surprising Findings
Rest intervals of 1 minute vs. 3 minutes had no significant effect on muscle growth when volume was matched.
Popular fitness culture insists long rests (2–3 min) are essential for hypertrophy—this study shows that’s not true if you do the same total work.
Practical Takeaways
If your goal is muscle growth, focus on increasing total reps and sets per session rather than extending rest periods.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
People lifted weights with the same effort but different rest times between sets. Some did more total lifts (volume), some did fewer. Muscles grew more when people did more total lifts, no matter how long they rested.
Surprising Findings
Rest intervals of 1 minute vs. 3 minutes had no significant effect on muscle growth when volume was matched.
Popular fitness culture insists long rests (2–3 min) are essential for hypertrophy—this study shows that’s not true if you do the same total work.
Practical Takeaways
If your goal is muscle growth, focus on increasing total reps and sets per session rather than extending rest periods.
Publication
Journal
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
Year
2020
Authors
A. R. Longo, C. Silva-Batista, Kelly Pedroso, Vitor de Salles Painelli, T. Lasevicius, B. Schoenfeld, A. Aihara, Bergson de Almeida Peres, V. Tricoli, E. Teixeira
Related Content
Claims (5)
Higher weekly resistance training volume leads to greater muscle hypertrophy in trained individuals.
Total training volume, training intensity, and consistency are more significant determinants of muscle hypertrophy than the specific muscle length at which training occurs.
Lifting heavy weights for 10 weeks makes you stronger, no matter how long you rest between sets or how many reps you do, as long as you’re lifting around 80% of your max.
When lifting heavy weights, doing more total reps and sets (higher volume) makes your muscles grow bigger, even if you rest less between sets.
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.