Rest Times Explained

Why rest?

Why not do a continous circuit?

Well you’ll likely know the reason by now. Or reasons… there’s a lot going on 🙄

I’m going to clarify it a bit further though.

There are 3 big physiological things happening, and one big psychological thing.

1. Calcium Ion Fatigue

2. CNS Fatigue

3. Cardiovascular Fatigue

Then we have the psychological, training hard is hard.

The reason you use a rest break is to get the highest mechanical tension and motor unit recruitment.

It’s to get the biggest gains possible.

• Calcium Ion Fatigue is caused by contractions. These cause muscle damage, reduce the mechanical tension you can experience, and cause some CNS fatigue.

• CNS Fatigue is caused as you send commands to your muscles, and from psychological perception of effort during a set.

• Cardiovascular Fatigue is caused from your body having high oxygen, metabolic removal, and heart regulation demand.

So you might take a look at this and ask yourself, what can I fix the best?

1. First thing you’ll recover from is likely going to be your cardiovascular fatigue. This will last 1-2 minutes, isn’t that high on isolations, and is very low if you do proper cardio.

2. Second thing you’ll recover from will be calcium ion fatigue. This will be closer to 2-3 minutes and is something you can’t feel. Because it’s imperceptible all rest periods should be at least 2-3 minutes.

3. Last thing you’ll recover from will be CNS fatigue. This will probably be something you are able to feel, and will be similar to calcium ion fatigue at 2-3 minutes.

So what does all this mean?

If you want the best possible, and most effective rest break, you should focus on the thing you have no perception of.

Calcium ion fatigue.

This is 2-3 minutes.

It also means if after 2-3 minutes you feel like you have crazy CNS fatigue or if you have a super crazy beating heart, you’re going to make it last longer.

Follow these guidelines as you feel is best.

This explains why longer rest times are SIGNIFICANTLY better at producing muscle growth than shorter rest times.

So there you have it, now you understand how to pick a rest time.

Your Hypertrophy Hero,
Fletcher