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Rest periods in strength training: how long should you rest?

Rest periods in strength training seem like a simple matter at first glance — until you notice that different experienced lifters rest for completely different lengths of time between sets. Is the right answer one minute, three or five? In this article we cover points 5–8 and wrap up the topic. The short answer: the right rest length depends more on you than on any general rule.

Why rest periods in strength training matter

The bigger and stronger you are, the more functional muscle tissue moves during each repetition — and the longer your nervous system takes to recover after a heavy set. A lifter with a low body weight and a short training history works with a lower absolute load, so recovery between sets is also faster. That isn’t an opinion, it’s simple physiology.

A good example is Marisa Inda, an IPF champion in the women’s up to 52 kg weight class. Her best results — squat 142.5 kg, bench press 95 kg, deadlift 182.5 kg — come out of workouts that usually last about an hour. Chad Wesley Smith, a super-heavyweight lifter from the same gym with a body weight of 136 kg, spends 1 hour 45 minutes to 2.5 hours on the same basic exercises. Smith ranks tenth on the all-time total list. The difference isn’t laziness — it’s how long you actually have to wait after each heavy set for the next one to succeed at all.

Short vs long rest periods

If you doubt whether you’ve fully recovered, it’s better to rest more than less. Brad Schoenfeld’s 21-week study of 21 young men compared 1-minute and 3-minute rest periods. The result surprised many: the 3-minute rests produced better results for both maximal strength and hypertrophy.

For building strength, that’s no news. But when it comes to muscle mass, the traditional bodybuilding school has recommended 60–90-second rests for decades. Schoenfeld’s results directly contradict that — at least for basic exercises.

The practical conclusion is simple. If you rest longer between sets, you lose nothing but time on the way to your muscle mass goals. Your workout simply runs longer. But if you rest too little, your next working set ends sooner than planned and quality suffers. A bad set isn’t half of a good set — it’s a stimulus that only half gets through.

How to choose the length of your rest periods

That advice has a flip side, though. In practice, people tend to rest more than they need to. Parkinson’s law says that work expands to fill the time you give it. The same applies in the gym. If nobody is pushing you, you may find yourself scrolling on your phone for five minutes when two would be enough. The shorter someone’s training history, the more this holds true — beginners’ bodies can’t yet truly exhaust themselves with that kind of training load.

Timing rests to the second is mostly tedious and unnecessary. Only start doing it once you notice your workouts are dragging on unreasonably long. One approach that works: give each exercise a time frame. For example: “squats 4×6 with 150 kg, including warm-up, must be done in 20 minutes.” Within such a limit you subconsciously start focusing more, rests shorten on their own and your concentration on the hard work improves. It’s also mentally easier than staring at the clock after every set.

In summary: if you’re a small, beginner and relatively weak lifter, you can move almost back to back from one exercise to the next and keep rests minimal. But when your squats and deadlifts approach 200 kg, your rests may stretch to 5–10 minutes — and that’s normal, not laziness.

FAQ on rest periods

What rest period is right for most people?

Most lifters’ rest periods fall between 2 and 4 minutes on average. That’s a good starting point until you’ve developed your own feel for it.

When are 5–10-minute rests normal?

If your squats or deadlifts approach 200 kg and you’ve been training for years, your rests may stretch to 5–10 minutes. After a large absolute load, 2 minutes isn’t physiologically enough.

Should you time your rests with a stopwatch?

Not always. Start timing when your workouts drag on pointlessly long. The alternative is to give a whole exercise a time frame — for most people that works better than watching the clock after every set.