Is Your Rest Too Long?

When it comes to strength training, most people focus on what exercise to do, how much weight to lift, and how many repetitions to complete. But there’s another important part of your workout that often gets overlooked: resting between sets.

The amount of time you rest can directly affect how well you perform your next set and, ultimately, the results you get from your workout. So, how long should you actually rest?

It Depends on Your Goal

There is really no right answer here. Your ideal rest time depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. So let's breakdown what each one should look like based on what you are trying to achieve:

Building Strength: 2–5 Minutes

If your goal is to get stronger and you’re lifting heavy weights, you generally need more rest.

Exercises such as a barbell squat, deadlift, bench press, and other compound movements, 2–5 minutes between sets can allow your muscles and nervous system to recover enough to perform the next set effectively.

If you’re lifting heavy and still feel exhausted after two minutes, take more time. Quality is more important than rushing through your workout.

Building Muscle: less than 3 minutes

If your primary goal is muscle growth, about 1–3 minutes is a good general guideline.

You want enough recovery to perform your next set with good technique and sufficient effort, while still maintaining a productive workout pace.

For larger exercises that use multiple muscle groups, you may need closer to 2–3 minutes. Smaller isolation exercises may require less.

Muscular Endurance: 30–90 Seconds

If you’re training for muscular endurance, shorter rest periods work well.

Exercises performed with lighter weights and higher repetitions may only require 30–90 seconds of rest.

This type of training can also make your workouts feel more challenging because your muscles are working while they have less time to recover.

Circuit Training or Conditioning: as little as possible

For circuit-style workouts, the goal may be to keep moving from one exercise to another.

You might rest only long enough to transition to the next exercise—or take a short break after completing an entire circuit.

However, don’t confuse being exhausted with having a good workout. If your form starts breaking down, take a longer rest. Remember, don't sacrifice quality over quantity.

Listen to Your Body

When you wear devices that tell you your heartrate, we rely on technology rather how we feel. Don't forget, technology is not always accurate so always listen to your body because it gives warning signals.

Your heart rate, fitness level, exercise selection, weight, repetitions, and even how well you slept the night before can all affect how much recovery you need. The goal of rest is to help you perform your next set well—not simply to make the workout harder.

Bigger Exercises Usually Need More Rest

The level of how much the body is taxed based on the movement can vary quite a bit. Squats involve multiple large muscle groups and place a much greater demand on your entire body. The biceps muscle being a lot smaller, curls are much more isolated and don't require as much energy as a squat. Therefore, you need significantly more recovery after heavy squats than after curls.

The Bottom Line

Resting between sets is part of your workout—not a break from your workout.

The right amount of rest allows you to recover, maintain good technique, and put quality effort into your next set. If you consistently rush your rest periods, you may find that your strength and performance suffer. Instead of asking, “How quickly can I finish this workout?”, ask: “Am I recovered enough to make my next set count?”

Train hard. Recover smart. And remember that sometimes the most productive thing you can do between sets is simply take a breath and get ready for the next one.