How long should I rest between sets?
Two to three minutes on the big lifts, like squats, deadlifts, presses and rows, and about a minute on small moves like curls or core work. In an eight-week trial, men who rested 3 minutes between sets gained more strength and more muscle than men who rested 1 minute.
Short rests feel like hard work, and hard work feels like it should build more. Classes that run you from station to station with no break leave you sweaty and out of breath, so it’s easy to believe sitting on a bench for three minutes is wasted time. For strength it’s the opposite. The rest is what lets the next set be heavy enough to count.
What we’d do
Rest long enough to lift the same weight for the same reps again. That’s usually 2 to 3 minutes on the big lifts. On small moves a minute is plenty. If you’re short on time, pair a push with a pull and alternate between them, so one set of muscles rests while the other works.
Nobody sprints twice in a row
Think of a 100 meter sprint. Nobody runs a second one a minute after the first and expects the same time. Your legs need a few minutes before they can go that hard again. A heavy set of squats is a short, all-out effort too, and it works the same way. Cut the rest short and the next set is lighter or has fewer reps, which gives the muscle less to adapt to.
The trial
One minute against three
21 men with lifting experience, eight weeks. Schoenfeld and others, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2016
The men were split into two groups doing the same program, one resting 1 minute between sets and one resting 3. The 3-minute group’s squat and bench press maxes rose more, and their front thigh muscle grew more. Muscle endurance improved about the same in both.
A small trial in young men who already lifted.
3 minbeat 1 minute
More strength and more thigh muscle in eight weeks, in 21 trained men.
982people, two reviews
Short and long rests didn’t consistently change strength across them (ACSM, 2026).
The other side
The 2026 position stand from the American College of Sports Medicine looked at rest across two reviews covering 982 people. Short rests (under a minute) against long ones (over a minute) didn’t consistently change how much strength people gained. Their line between short and long was one minute, which lumps 90 seconds in with 5 minutes.
We still recommend 2 to 3 minutes on the big lifts. The trial above measured heavy squats and bench presses directly and found the longer rest built more, and the only cost of resting longer is time. On curls, calf raises and planks, where each set is light and short, a minute is fine.
How it adds up
| Move | Rest |
|---|---|
| Squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press | 2 to 3 minutes |
| Rows, pulldowns, lunges, step-ups | 1.5 to 2 minutes |
| Curls, raises, core work, carries | About 1 minute |
With five moves of three sets, rest is most of your workout. That’s why a strength session takes 30 to 45 minutes even though the lifting itself is about ten. How long should a strength workout be? does the math, and pairing a push with a pull is the easiest way to shorten it without shortening the rest.
2 sources
- Schoenfeld BJ and others, Longer interset rest periods enhance muscle strength and hypertrophy in resistance-trained men, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2016europepmc.org
- Currier BS and others, ACSM position stand on resistance training, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2026pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
