How Long Should You Rest Between Sets For Muscle Growth?

Thanks to the wonderful world of social media, we now have direct access to some of the greatest fitness minds (and bodies) in our industry, keen to dish out their opinion and share the educated knowledge that helped shape their bodies/fitness/abs.

One athlete worthy of a follow is CrossFit athlete and owner of California's CrossFit Chalk, Ryan Fisch. The man is quite clearly a beast, ripped beyond all belief, yet is full of real-world wisdom for his clients and followers. The good-guy of CrossFit regularly shares training advice, personal stories, transformations and inspiration in spades to his almost 100k Instagram followers.

Just this week, Fisch took to the platform to share some valuable muscle-building tips, an area that he is clearly well-versed in. Ryan tackles a frequently asked, yet rarely addressed, question by gym-goers; how long should I be resting between sets to optimise muscle growth?

"Which way is best to increase growth? Should you ever change the amount of time between sets over time, or stick to one, proven method?" asks a knowledgeable Fisch.

Proving his knowledge on the subject, Fisch first recognises that there's no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to applying these methods, breaking his answer down by training type and goal; Strength, Hypertrophy, or Endurance.

"Having a degree in exercise physiology, I never even think about it," says Fisch of his own training, "but for some of you this may help a ton, so here we go!"

THICK TUESDAY! What Is The Optimal Time Between Sets For Muscle Growth? _ How long should you wait between sets? Should you try to spend only a few seconds between sets to fully work the muscle and increase the "burn", or should you wait longer until your muscles have fully recovered from the last set? _ Which way is best to increase growth? Should you ever change the amount of time between sets over time, or stick to one, proven method? Having a degree in exercise physiology, I never even think about it, but for some of you this may help a ton, so here we go! 👇🏽 _ 🔘Strength Training To get stronger faster, the best rest period is 3 to 5 minutes between sets. This is because it takes your body about 3 minutes to fully replenish phosphagen stores aka ATP. In other words, if you give your ATP-PC system at least 3 minutes to recharge, you'll lift more weight and get stronger faster. _ 🔘Hypertrophy Training (AKA "getting swole") To get bigger quicker, the best rest period is 1 to 2 minutes between sets. One of the key factors in how much muscles grow is the amount of anabolic hormones your body produces after weight training. Short rest periods of between 1 and 2 minutes cause a greater release of these hormones than longer rest periods. Fact. _ 🔘Endurance Training (most likely best for CrossFitters) To increase muscular endurance as quickly as possible, the best rest period is 45 seconds to 2 minutes between sets. Basically, endurance training is aimed at making your muscles more resistant to fatigue. Without going into complicated details, a major cause of fatigue in endurance activities is lactic acid build-up. Regularly lifting weights in a 15-20RM makes your body more efficient at clearing lactic acid from the muscles by boosting your body's hormonal and vascular systems. _ Hope that clears things up! If you want see what works best for "me" click the link in my bio to follow my day to day program 💪🏾 (@aaronstrelecki 📸)

Strength Training

To get stronger faster, the best rest period is 3 to 5 minutes between sets. This is because it takes your body about 3 minutes to fully replenish phosphagen stores aka ATP. In other words, if you give your ATP-PC system at least 3 minutes to recharge, you'll lift more weight and get stronger faster.

Goals when I was kid: _ 1.) Live in California ✅ 2.) Own my own business ✅ 3.) Go to the Olympics (Not a check mark here, but I got really close. I trained with the Olympic team for years and loved it.) 4.) Make a name for myself that was known around the world ✅ 5.) Travel the world ✅ 6.) Look like I do in this photo ✅ _ I'm so so incredibly lucky to have been able to live out so many dreams I had even as a small child. However, no one really tells you the bumps in the road that will happen. No one tells you about the countless failures you're going to have. Friends and girlfriends that you're going to have to let go because they aren't a positive impact. Hell, I've evens had to fire some and I literally cried as I fired them. I had to do it, to get to where I wanted to be. I've had a TON of lows and setbacks. I remember trying to sleep at night and I didn't even feel worthy of sleep because I had nothing to truly wake up to... What a feeling and time that was... I did know deep down what I wanted though, just like when I was a kid. And no matter how bad it got, I tried to visualize the end goal and I never gave up. There's never a time where I think about doing anything else. This is my dream job hands down and even with the stressful times (there's a lot) I wouldn't trade it for anything I "thought" doing while growing up. _ What were some things you wanted as a kid and did you accomplish them!? Write it 👇🏽

Hypertrophy Training (AKA “getting swole”)

To get bigger quicker, the best rest period is 1 to 2 minutes between sets. One of the key factors in how much muscles grow is the amount of anabolic hormones your body produces after weight training. Short rest periods of between 1 and 2 minutes cause a greater release of these hormones than longer rest periods. Fact.

STOP being scared of being YOU. _ There's really only 1 way to live and do this whole social media thing. Be yourself! Ya, I'm the guy who curses every other word... I publicly told a judge at the height my career that I was going "fucking kill him." The very brand that I live for tried to destroy me... I've been homeless and successful in the matter of just a few years... I've done all the right things AND all the wrong things multiple times. However, the most important factor to me and to everyone who's ever came across me is the same. I was always "me" and everyone who ever met me would say the same. I never changed who I was even when I really probably should have. But then what!? My job basically becomes "acting" for most of the day. Fuck that. I love being different and although it may not appeal to every single person on earth, I love the 100k loyal fans that I have right now. Because you guy/gals build me up on he daily and always make me feel fulfilled. 1M followers with a fake persona would never suffice for me. New Jersey born. My mom curses more than me (god, I love that woman). I've never given a fu*^ about who I "should" be. I see and work with the fake stuff ALL DAY. Please for the love of god, just be yourself and all the right things will happen. Every successful person on earth is a little weird, there's nothing wrong with it 😘 #letsgetweird

Endurance Training

To increase muscular endurance as quickly as possible, the best rest period is 45 seconds to 2 minutes between sets. Basically, endurance training is aimed at making your muscles more resistant to fatigue. Without going into complicated details, a major cause of fatigue in endurance activities is lactic acid build-up. Regularly lifting weights in a 15-20RM makes your body more efficient at clearing lactic acid from the muscles by boosting your body's hormonal and vascular systems.

It's been an incredible week of meeting new people from out of town. People that have been following me and the gym for years! Driving up and getting full of excitement just to walk inside and be part of this amazing culture that's been built in these walls. I remember that feeling when I was younger. There was a few places I couldn't wait to see one day. Growing up in New Jersey and dreaming of California while watching the TV. Graduating college and dreaming of owning my own business with absolutely no clue of how I was going to get there. Losing everything and hitting rock bottom... Every time I got close to something great... Something REALLY bad happened. I put my head down and kept steam rolling. I now own that place that makes people excited to visit. I'm one of the people you think of for advice when it comes to strength and conditioning. I've created fitness routines that are only unique to me. And thousands of people follow my programs and ideologies around the world everyday. Feeling motivated yet? You're just a few years and a couple thousand hours of hard work away. But it is achievable. That's a promise. #istayfiredup #onlife #24/7 _ 📸: @aaronstrelecki

Scott Henderson

As a fitness addict, adventure sport lover, and passionate story-teller, Scott Henderson is committed to living the Men’s Health brand. When he’s not researching and writing about the latest health and fitness news, you’ll find him crushing it in the gym, running up a mountain, or out on the waves.