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short rest vs long rest between sets

A

arthuroarti

New member
For hypertrophy training, moderate reps 6-15 are better. What about rest periods between sets?

After a set, you recruit certain motor units and fatigue muscle fibers. Why would you wait long and allow these fibers to start recovering? According to the Size Principle, as motor units get recruited more and more muscle fibers are called in the game. At loads that are heavier than 60% you can stimulate all muscle fibers? Will shorter rest periods not achieve that better?
 
I think bodybuilders utilise 30sec-1min 30sec between sets. I'm not sure on the advantages of each.

My guess is one factor is ..... .. Towards the upper end of bodybuilding and powerlifting you will find bodybuilders who can rep, say, 170kg on squat 20 times, and a powerlifter who can do it 10-15 times max, but the powerlifter will have a much higher max single rep squat. If you train like a powerlifter with lots of heavy weight, I would imagine your ability to recover between sets, or do a lot of reps with very short breaks would be somewhat less than the bodybuilder. For this reason I think 30 sec breaks for powerlifters would be too short to get in a lot of volume at a certain weight?
 
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I think this thread needs to be moved to the "Lifting weights for some reason other than competitive powerlifting or bodybuilding, but not solely for strength" section.
 
You really are a knob sometimes Bazza
I hope you don't post in the powerlifting section since you're not a competitive powerlifter
 
Darkoz said:
You really are a knob sometimes Bazza
I hope you don't post in the powerlifting section since you're not a competitive powerlifter
Click to expand...

Just learning from you darko.

I post there but I have never once called myself a powerlifter.
 
Why do people think that the two are so different?
I would have thought no matter what sets/reps you are doing, as you progress, weight gets heavier and muscles get bigger....
 
D1cko said:
Why do people think that the two are so different?
I would have thought no matter what sets/reps you are doing, as you progress, weight gets heavier and muscles get bigger....
Click to expand...

This is pretty much it. For most of us blokes wether you are training to get stronger or grow muscle the training is pretty much the same until you are high level in either activity.
 
I'm still confuzzled???

Whether a bber or a pler.... Both would need to use a mixture of long and short rest periods... Including low and high rep ranges...

To only use one approach seems quite restrictive to me irrespective of the final goal...
 
nazzysmith said:
I'm still confuzzled???

Whether a bber or a pler.... Both would need to use a mixture of long and short rest periods... Including low and high rep ranges...

To only use one approach seems quite restrictive to me irrespective of the final goal...
Click to expand...

bodybuilders train with moderate rep range 6-15. Although heavy weights in 1-5 rep zone activate all motor units, they do not train them enough and do not cause sufficient fatigue and are mostly neurological. Training with moderate rep ranges does it all.
 
arthuroarti said:
bodybuilders train with moderate rep range 6-15. Although heavy weights in 1-5 rep zone activate all motor units, they do not train them enough and do not cause sufficient fatigue and are mostly neurological. Training with moderate rep ranges does it all.
Click to expand...


Are you saying that body builders never do singles or heavy triples or fives???

They are after all just another tool in the box...
 
arthuroarti said:
bodybuilders train with moderate rep range 6-15. Although heavy weights in 1-5 rep zone activate all motor units, they do not train them enough and do not cause sufficient fatigue and are mostly neurological. Training with moderate rep ranges does it all.
Click to expand...

If you train in the 1-5 rep range and do multiple sets it causes plenty of fatigue.
 
Bazza20 said:
If you train in the 1-5 rep range and do multiple sets it causes plenty of fatigue.
Click to expand...

fair enough, but it is not practical for bodybuilders.

Also, let's say you take a load that you can curl for 8 reps. First, slow twitch motor units are recruited and as you progress into your set, they get fatigued and then the fast twitch get to work. If you then rest for a long time, won't you allow your slow twitch fibers to recover again?
 
Bazza20 said:
Why is it not practical
Click to expand...

because to work with such loads and achieve enough stimulation, your workout will have to be awfully long.


Using moderate rep range 6-15 > 1-5 as you can increase the volume of your workouts. Hypertrophy is different from strength training.

Hypertrophy is work-induced. Work, contrary to common belief, is not merely a function of weight lifted or force applied or tension created. Work is done when that force is used to move things. Maximum work doesn’t mean maximum weight — it means using a heavy-enough weight and moving it around a lot.

Strength training is neurological. I can show you hundreds of skinny guys who lift ridiculous weights and are yet small
 
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