Rest: The Most Important Part of Building Strength

Rest and recovery is a really hot topic right now in the fitness industry.  At this point I think we all are aware that we need to take rest days to feel our best, as well as to perform at our best.  But what about rest between sets?  Look at any fitness class and you’ll see participants move from one exercise to the next with little-to-no rest in between.

Is this a bad thing?  Not necessarily, unless training true strength and power are your goals.  If that’s the case, then you are definitely going to want to take more time between your sets if you want to see your numbers go up.  Let’s get into it!

The Three Energy Systems

When we think of energy, we think of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.  But our bodies don’t actually use those directly to make energy.  Rather our bodies use carbs, proteins, and fats as fuel to create our biologically usable type of energy, a molecule called ATP.

ATP as a molecule stores a lot of energy.  So our body actually breaks down ATP and when this happens, the reaction releases energy and that’s how our cells get the energy they need to carry out all of our processes including voluntary and involuntary processes.  Pretty cool right?

So in order to have continuous energy, our body needs to keep creating and breaking down ATP.   Depending on the intensity of what we’re doing, our body has three different energy systems to provide ATP at different rates.

We have our Phosphagen System which produces ATP the fastest.  This is great but the downside to producing ATP so quickly is that it doesn’t produce very much ATP.  The phosphagen system is used mostly during high intensity, low duration movements, like max squats (1-3 rep range) or short but fast sprints.

Then we have our Glycolytic System.  This is our middle ground system.  It doesn’t quite produce ATP as quickly as our phosphagen system but it does produce ATP fairly quickly.  This energy system provides energy for high intensity, longer duration activities (30s-3min).  This is generally the energy system that is dominant during transitional strength training (5-10 rep range).

Then finally we have our Aerobic System which means that this system requires the use of oxygen.  The perks to that is that it can produce very large quantities of ATP.  The downside to that is that it takes a long time to do so.  This energy system is dominant at rest, as well as during all long duration and low intensity exercise (like distance running).

So if we’re doing a lot of circuit style training, we are using mostly our aerobic system.  This isn’t a bad thing, it just means we aren’t lifting weights at a high enough intensity to see the largest strength gains.  

Because traditional strength training is done using predominantly the glycolytic system, that means it doesn’t produce ATP at a fast enough rate in order to sustain us over a long period of time.  So therefore, by adding in sufficient rest times between sets, we give our bodies a chance to restore ATP to levels high enough to perform our activities.

Work-to-Rest Ratios

Phosphagen System:  The typical exercise time for this system to be dominant is 5-10s.  It has a work-to-rest ratio of 1:12-1:20.  That means if you max lift and your set takes about 10s, you need to rest anywhere from 2-3.3 minutes.  It’s not uncommon to see powerlifters or olympic lifters take 5-7 minutes between sets.

Glycolytic System:  The typical exercise time for this system to be dominant is 15s-30s.  It has a work-to-rest ratio of 1:3-1:5.  That means that if your set lasts 30s, you need to rest anywhere between 1.5-2.5 minutes.  I usually have athletes start with about 3 minutes to be on the safe side during strength training.

Aerobic System:  The typical exercise time for this system to be dominant is greater than 3 minutes.  It has a work to rest ratio of 1:1-1:3.  So if you perform an exercise for 3 minutes, you should rest 3-9 minutes between sets.  1:1 is usually the standard with aerobic intervals.

So what does all of this mean for strength training?

Well it means that rest is super important for true strength training because if we don’t wait long enough, we don’t give our bodies enough chances to recover between sets.  And when this happens, it means we usually can’t sustain the weight or the repetition count over sets.  Or worse, our form starts to deteriorate!

So if you do 2 sets of an exercise, and during your first set you start with 20lbs of weight, and then the second set you drop to 15lbs because 20lbs feels too heavy, it usually means you haven’t rested long enough.

It’s the same thing if you start with 10 reps of an exercise, and the next set you can only do 8 reps.  It means you probably didn’t rest enough.

For true strength training, we want more consistency to see better results.  Doing multiple sets at a higher weight will do way more for you than if you can only do one set.

And I know what you’re probably thinking. What about Crossfit athletes?  They’re super strong and they do a lot of circuit training.  While of course that’s true, the top athletes do a lot of separate strength training outside of the WODs.  And I’m sure a lot of Crossfit coaches recommend that their amateur athletes should do the same thing.

So next time you’re in the gym, bring your phone to set a timer between sets.  I’m sure you’ll have a much better workout and you won’t leave the gym feeling quite so gassed.  And overtime, you’ll definitely see better results.

And if you want to create even better results for yourself, it’s best to work with a qualified coach!  I’m taking on in-person clients in the evenings in Bend, OR however, Online Training will be available as of July 17th!  Click here to contact me for a free 15 minute consultation to see if online training is right for you:)