A sports physiologist and international fitness trainer, Amir Hossein Manzouri answers the common question of “how much time we should rest between workout sets.”

Do short rests between sets level down the muscle growth rate? In essence, resting less than one minute between sets is more popular in bodybuilding exercises because it exerts more tension on muscles and is recommended due to the increase in blood anabolic hormones release (for instance, testosterone) compared to long rests between sets. However, hormonal reaction immediately after powerlifting exercise has nothing to do with muscle growth (it is insignificant and short-term). Therefore, it is more appropriate to ask “are short rests between sets beneficial for muscle growth or have negative points? A study has been conducted on this matter by comparing the effect of 1-minute and 5-minute resting between sets on muscle protein synthesis (muscle adaptation process). This research was carried out on trained men (powerlifting exercise) and all subjects did 4 workout sets with 75% of their maximum power and one rep for each movement of leg press and leg stretch. It is not surprising that 1-minute rest protocol led to the 13% decrease in exercise level. In conclusion, the 1-minute rest protocol leads to a 37% decrease in muscle protein synthesis level compared to 5-minute rest. Of course, short rest between sets is more efficient for exercise timing, and we chose 5-minute rest in our study to illustrate the difference better, and maybe 2 minutes is the most effective time to rest between sets. Moreover, you can follow super-set workout programs for better progress and severer muscle pressure. This approach helps to provide you with more time and adequate rest during exercises.  

Amir Hossein Manzouri Biography and BFit team

  BFit is a fitness team and managed by Amir Hossein Manzouri, a sports physiologist and international fitness trainer in 2014, started and run with a scientific sports approach and healthy society perspective. Amir Hossein Manzouri has obtained the degrees of applied sports physiology, IFBB international coaching, ABBF Asian coaching, first-class Iranian bodybuilding federation coaching, international physique and TRX, national teams coaching records, trained in Tehran university, the head of 90-days fitness workers’ sports federation, with many championship records for bodybuilding teams. He with BFit company was able to express and apply the innovative system in the field of healthy, amateur, and professional sports which leads to a high level of satisfaction for many clients and champions. In other fields of professional sports, different athletes in various levels from basic to national teams, under the supervision of BFit team have been able to achieve many national and international championships and gain pride for our beloved country.