You check the clock. It seems like the numbers are slowly creeping down. You tap your foot. You look around, then you pace for a second. “Screw it, hot stuff, let’s do it,” you say to yourself. Then you grab the weights, and you do your next set. But it’s only been 30 seconds. You do the same thing before the next set. And you do it again after that. You notice that your performance is declining – you had to drop the weight, or at the very least, each set is getting harder. “Oh well, hot stuff,” you think again. “At least we’re getting this bread.”

 

But the truth is, you’d be getting more of that bread if you just took it easy for a hot-damn minute and rested between sets. 

 

Here’s why.

 

 

Strength Loves Rest

Strength is mostly a neurological adaptation. Many misinformed individuals would have you believe that it’s all about muscles. But that ain’t so, dawg. Here’s what happens.

 

Your brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system communicate to get you into position to lift a weight. As you lift the weight, they continue communicating to contract the right muscles in the right way so that you can hoist with appropriate vigor. But this hoisting is viewed as a threat to the body because it costs energy. So, your brain and the rest of your nervous system say, “No, no no, this won’t do at all! This must cost us less energy!” Then they go about things like rate coding and neuromuscular synchronization to make you more efficient at lifting weights so that the same amount of weight costs you less energy to lift. Yes, the muscles are involved – they must be. But the main adaptation is that of your nervous system adapting to be better at telling your muscles what to do. 

 

Your response might be, “Hey, bucko. I feel recovered after a minute or so and I’m ready to party!”

 

No, my dear, you are not.

 

Your muscles feel recovered. That’s because they are recovering from metabolic stress – the process of mobilizing energy so that they contract. It’s a much faster process than neurological recovery. Depending on fitness and the type of exercise, metabolic recovery can happen in as little as 20 to 30 seconds. That’s why you feel ready to go again so quickly.

 

 

What you need, however, is neurological recovery. That is a much slower process. It takes two to five minutes of rest for your nervous system to fully recover from an appropriately heavy lift. So, while you feel ready to go, you aren’t. At least not if you want the best chance for neurological adaptation.

 

 

A Little More Understanding

If you’re currently a Beyond Strength member, it makes sense if you feel the need to move fast. We’re coming off of a capacity block. At times, we kept a hardy, quick pace. But we were training for strength endurance – the ability to repeatedly express strength over time. Now we’re training for maximum strength – the total amount of strength we’re able to express. They are different ends, so they require different means, especially when it comes to rest periods. We’re no longer training for strength endurance. We have to slow down and rest between sets.

 

We have another thing to check in on.

 

I’d like you, to ask you, a question.

 

Am I really hitting the reps in reserve—the RIR—as prescribed?

 

 

Now, listen, don’t clam up. Santa Claus isn’t real. He’s not watching. Jesus might be watching. But if he is, he’ll forgive you. There is one person that’s certainly watching, and it’s not me from the ladder outside your window…anymore. It’s you. Only you know the true answer to that question.

 

Here’s that same question in different phrasing: Are you using enough weight?

 

That question is directed to you if you feel as though you are supremely, and quickly recovered and feel the need to rush on to the next exercise.

 

It is not directed to you if you are one of the folks that we constantly remind to leave reps in the tank.

 

If you feel as though you can rush from one exercise to the next, you might not be using enough weight. Yes, your muscles always recover faster than your nervous system. But if the weights aren’t challenging enough, you’ll feel immediate muscular recovery rather than needing a minute.

 

Check in with yourself after each set and stick to the RIR. It’ll be easier to stick to the rest periods.

 

 

Putting More into Each Set

We’ll close with what makes rest fun – putting more into each set. If you give yourself ample time to recover between heavy lifting sets, you’ll have more gas to put into your next set. You’ll consistently use heavier weights, and you’ll have yourself a better time during the session.

 

 

After the session, you’ll get stronger much faster. (Provided that you’re taking care of yourself outside of the gym.)

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You might also like:

• HOW TO RECOVER FROM YOUR WORKOUTS
  
• WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO COOL DOWN AFTER TRAINING
• MORPHEUS HEART RATE TRAINING: WHAT IT IS, WHY WE USE IT, AND HOW YOU CAN GET THE MOST OUT OF IT
• START NOW: WHY WAITING FOR THE PERFECT TIME IS THE WORST THING TO DO
  
• HOW TO BE INTELLIGENT WITH YOUR WEIGHT SELECTION
• HOW TO PROGRESS YOUR WEIGHTS DURING A STRENGTH PROGRAM
  
• HOW (AND WHY) OUR YEAR-LONG TRAINING PLAN WORKS
• WHY WE TEST AR BEYOND STRENGTH
• TIPS FOR COMPETING WITH YOURSELF IN THE GYM
  
• HOW MANY REPS SHOULD YOU DO? (Spoiler alert, it matters in more ways than you think)