The Optimal Rest Period For Muscle Growth

You may have heard that you should rest 1 minute for muscle growth and 3 minutes for strength gain. But is it true?

• One study done by Brad Schoenfeld (a famous muscle growth researcher) found that resting 3 minutes as opposed to 1 was far better for muscle growth.

• In 2009, another study found better muscle growth for people who rested 2.5 minutes as opposed to 1.

• Another group of researchers compared a powerlifting program with 3 minutes of rest between sets and a bodybuilding program with 1.5 minutes of rest and found similar levels of muscle growth.

• One research group found similar levels of muscle growth for one group resting 5 minutes and another group resting 2 minutes. Interestingly, in the study, the 2.5 minute group did more sets than the other group. So the fact there were similar levels of growth means the 5 minute group was seeing better growth.

• Most importantly, a review of 74 studies found better or the same amount of muscle growth for people who rested 2+ minutes between sets.

Based on all this evidence, it seems that two minutes is the minimum amount of rest you should take between sets. This is another of the myriad reasons I suggest full body training and super setting (or even giant setting) as a training modality. Waiting 2-3 minutes between sets wastes a lot of time. But it is more optimal. 

So instead of just sitting and waiting for 2-3 minutes, add an exercise for a different body part. While you're training the other body part, the original body part will be resting. This will allow you to train several body parts in a very short amount of time, and will also force your cardiovascular system to work a bit harder. 

Citations: [1] [2] [3]