By Michael Krueger
You wouldn’t think recovery would be a subject that would cause argument among people engaged in fitness, but you would be mistaken. How much time to take between sets, exercises, and days of training will always promote spirited discussion.
I know some people who never really give it much thought but have an opinion on it nonetheless. I also know people who have done research on it who also have strongly held positions. Then I know people who have thought about it, tracked it for themselves, and do what they have found works for them …
and the definitive answer is …?
Sets and Exercises
The amount of time you take between your sets and exercises has quite a bit to do with your overall levels of cardiovascular and muscular endurance. That is a simple fact, but it’s also a sure way to start the previously mentioned spirited discussion.
Many lifters who have recovery issues insist that their cardiovascular endurance has nothing to do with their slow recovery between sets. They insist it’s because they train so hard and heavy that it just takes them longer to recover. Well, that’s not true, no matter how much that opinion helps them to rationalize the poor state of their cardiovascular system. Working muscles demand oxygen, and if your heart and lungs can’t provide it in adequate amounts, you will shut down. Endurance training–in particular, interval training–is the only way to improve the delivery of oxygen to your working muscles.
Another factor (though secondary) in determining recovery time between sets is what effect you are training for. Short rest periods tend to promote more hypertrophy, or muscular building, than longer rest periods. Even shorter rest periods tend to promote more muscular endurance. Longer rests are favored by power lifters in the belief that it gives muscles more time to recover and therefor they can lift more weight on the next set. To a certain extent they are right, but there comes a point where it becomes a bit absurd. I’ve seen power lifter types who spend hours in the gym but only the smallest fraction of that is spent actually lifting. I know a guy who trains dead lifts using single reps at probably 90 percent of his one-rep maximum (and since his one-rep max isn’t impressive, his training weight isn’t impressive either), and he will wait eight minutes between lifts. By the time he settles in and goes through all the various gyrations he does before every lift, it is more like 10 minutes. Needless to say, this is very inefficient; he spends hours “working out,” and yet he doesn’t understand why he doesn’t make any progress. Research has shown that 30 to 90 seconds between sets and exercises is about right for most programs, and anything over three minutes is no more effective than three minutes.
The reality of rest periods is that very few people have any idea how long they take. Most people don’t pay any attention to the clock and simply get back to it when they get back to it, not particular scientific. By not being consistent, they don’t know what works best for them, nor do they know if improvements are caused by a little more rest than last time or, on the other hand, if a degrading of their performance is caused by a shortened rest period.
I will admit that when I train clients the rest periods are not as consistent as they could be. This is usually caused in part because the workout is used for teaching as well. We frequently have discussions regarding form, technique, health news, or some other aspect of their workout. With lesser-trained individuals, the inconsistency is occasionally caused by simply having an extended rest period to allow them to “catch their breath.” As important as maintaining a consistent rest period is, completing the workout without feeling like you are going to die is equally important. If you need more rest, take it, but note in your log that you did take extra time and why you did it.
Time Between Workouts
How many days you should put between workouts is an even bigger area for disagreement than time between sets. The biggest reason is because it’s harder not to notice how many times you did or didn’t work out during a week or month. If you trained on Monday and don’t again until Saturday, it’s very obvious that you took a lot of time off.
I know people who insist that they need as much as ten days between heavy lifting sessions. They say that without that much time they are sore all the time and just can’t complete the next scheduled workout. Personally, I think they are taking so much time off that their body never has a chance to experience the training effect needed to adapt to increased workloads (but that is just my opinion). One thing I do notice is that these people seldom, if ever, make any substantial progress.
Based on my personal experience, my experience with clients and other trainers and trainees, I believe that not lifting on consecutive days or doing cardio training on consecutive days is a simple rule of thumb that for the most part works for everyone. It’s fine to do resistance training on one day and cardio the next; one doesn’t negatively affect the other.
Of course, there are always exceptions to every rule, and the previously mentioned one is no exception.
If you are a fairly advanced lifter, you may choose to train using a split routine. In that case, you would be doing something like arms and chest on Monday, back and legs on Tuesday, core and whatever on Wednesday, and so on for the rest of the week. You then might take a day or two off and start again. This is a routine frequently used by bodybuilders and requires that they pay a lot of attention to out-of-gym factors such as sleep, nutrition, and stress management–issues that most regular people aren’t very good at managing.
Endurance athletes also tend to do best with a day off between workouts. Implementing an every-other-day schedule while cycling intensity and volume will generally allow for good progression without causing a buildup of fatigue or an overuse injury. Once again, if you are an experienced and well-trained athlete, you may be training six out of seven days or even more, depending on your goals. For us mere mortals, weight training twice per week and endurance training on three different days with two nonconsecutive days off tends to be very doable and still provides enough stimulus for growth and progression.
When you first begin training, you may find that you want to train on more consecutive days because you are afraid if you miss you won’t go back to it. This is a common issue, one that I experienced many years ago. My advice is to resist it when you can and indulge it when you must. Keep a good log on this behavior, and you will see that other than perhaps a psychological boost, because you really are enjoying your training, you will gain little if anything physically. If you find that you do have more improvement and you are tolerating the increased volume, then go for it; just keep an eye out for any injuries that might sneak up on you and also on your health in general. Over time, you will become more comfortable with a set schedule and you will even grow to appreciate the days off while recognizing how much they contribute to your training success.
As you become more seasoned, you may also find that training more often appeals to you. I also went through this and occasionally still do. Once again, my advice is the same: Avoid when you can, indulge when you must. Monitor whether or not the increased workload is doing good or harm, and then use your head and adjust your training schedule accordingly.
End Game
All this training advice must be tempered with experience that you glean from your own trial and error. With a little luck, your errors won’t cause any lasting harm and your successes will lead to more success.
So go ahead and try some variations on conventional wisdom when it comes to recovery, but do it in small doses. Pay close attention to the results (even if they aren’t what you had hoped for) and then incorporate that new knowledge into your program.
So, if you train hard and rest hard, you will find that you’ll benefit greatly from both and have a lifetime of progressive, healthy, and happy training.
Michael Krueger is an NSCA-certified personal trainer. He got his start in fitness training while serving in the United States Coast Guard. He works with firefighters and others in and around Madison, Wisconsin. He is available to fire departments, civic organizations, and athletic teams for training, consulting, and speaking engagements. He has published numerous articles on fitness, health, and the mind-body connection and was a featured speaker at the IAFC’s FRI 2009 Health Day in Dallas, Texas. E-mail him at MKPTLLC@gmail.com.
