One area of our exercise program which doesn’t receive much attention is rest. How much rest should you take between your exercise sets? How about the rest between your workouts? Without rest we cannot repair properly. Just banging the weights and not getting adequate rest leads to overtraining. Overtraining leads to injuries and we don’t want that.
The goals and structure of your workout effects how much rest you need between your sets. If your goal is to increase your strength, you will need more rest between your sets. The typical formula is 2-5 minutes of rest between sets with power training. Your muscles need time to reset for the next set when the focus is on power and strength. Power lifting or training for strength typically involves some of these exercises: Dead lifts, squats, cleans and presses to name of few of the core lifts. The longer rest is important to allow for maximal recuperation.
Most people are working out for conditioning and to get in better overall shape. The rest between sets may be shorter (30 seconds to one minute). The structure of the workout may include supersets (two exercises performed (back to back) or a mini circuit (3 different exercises performed in sequence. I’ve found performing antagonistic exercises (muscles which work opposite each other) work well with this idea. An example of that would be opposing a flat bench press with a low row exercise. Another example would be biceps and triceps. While on muscle is being worked, the other is resting. By minimizing the rest, you increase the conditioning.
How about the time (rest) between workouts? 48 hours is the basic answer to that question. You’d be directly working each body part twice per week. But if your intensity is high, you may need more time between workout. You may require a week between each body part in order to recuperate maximally. I’ve always been a fan of working each body part 3 times every two weeks.
Now let’s flip it and look at rest from a spiritual component. It must be important since the fourth commandment is it “honor the Sabbath.” God recognizes the importance of rest in our lives. I believe that many people lack the peace of knowing Jesus, making it difficult to truly enter into His rest. In Mark 2:27 Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. I believe having a day of rest on a weekly basis is of such beneficial both physically and spiritually. Slowing down (resting) helps us get a better perspective on our lives. A familiar saying: “No Jesus, no peace. Know Jesus know peace speaks to our ability to come into His rest. What a wonderful gift to share with everyone during this busy Holiday season. Without Jesus there is rest, no peace. Rest in HIM and be blessed.