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Here are two really really simple ways to vastly improve your training outcomes.
First, is to standardize your rest time in between sets.
It’s amazing to me how many people don’t do this. They simply “go when ready.” This isn’t a great idea.
You can have wildly different performances on the next set on a two minute rest versus a five minute rest.
Try it for yourself and see. Push some maximal effort sets in the 5-8 rep range on a 2 minute rest vs a 5 minute rest and see what the differential is.
For me there is a pretty stark dividing line between 2 and 3 minutes.
At 2 I’m not definitively not recovered. At 3 minutes I’m starting to get there. At 5 minutes I’m about as recovered as I’m going to get.
Your heart rate or your breathing is not a good guide.
Very aerobically fit people are going to recover their heart rate very fast between sets of heavy squats. They might “feel” like they are ready to go again in 60 seconds.
But they aren’t. It’s a different energy system at play.
If you are one of those types that rushes through your sets because you’re an impatient neurotic then discipline yourself with a stop watch to SLOW DOWN. You’ll make better progress.
Additionally, if you’re unfocused and distracted, taking calls or scrolling social media in between sets then you might be taking way more than you need.
The problem is not always with the exact amount of time you are taking but that it isn’t standardized.
1-2 minutes today because you’re in a rush and 4-5 minutes tomorrow because you are distracted on your phone.
This makes programming very difficult.
If you’re an RPE guy, your RPEs are going to be HIGHER on short rests. The fact that 315×5 was a 9-10 today and was a 6-7 last time doesn’t necessarily mean you got weaker. Might just mean your rest times were off.
If you like dealing in objective numbers, unstandardized rest times bring even more chaos to programming.
Why did I Bench 3 x 5 x 225 last week and this week I only got 230 for a set of 5, a set of 3, and a set of 2??
Check your rest time between sets. Were they the same both workouts?
If they’re standardized then you know you have another issue.
If they aren’t then you don’t know if you have an issue or not???
So how long should you take?
If you are doing intentionally doing lower intensity work – like the way I prescribe Dynamic Effort or CAT sets….you don’t need a ton of rest. Could be as low as 30-120 seconds between sets depending on loads, volumes, and rep ranges.
But if you are pushing sets that are high in absolute (load) or relative intensity (proximity to failure) then I recommend 3-5 minutes of rest.
There may be some instances with certain types of bodybuilding type work where we intentionally create high fatigue with short rest periods but on standard straight sets I’m always gonna go with 3-5.
Part 2
The second thing that we need to look to standardize in our training program is our range of motion.
This seems to be a “no-brainer” or one of those “Ya, no shit, Andy” type of rules EXCEPT for the fact that people violate it so routinely.
Aside from the fact that fuller range of motion is typically better physiologically, there is also an element of “programming chaos” created by a non-standardized range of motion.
I mentioned this in the previous email…….”programming chaos.”
Non-standardized rest times can create programming chaos, and so can non-standardized ranges of motion.
Both of them, when not controlled can result in huge INFLATION or DEFLATION in performance from one workout to the next.
5 Squats to Depth and 3 Squats 2 inches high does not equal a set of 8 squats!!!
But if it is reported to your coach or your APP or your ego as 8 reps then it has some programming implications.
What if next time you decide you’re going to “Bury those squats to depth !!!! Roar!!!” and you decide to take all 8 reps to depth but this time with 5 more pounds on the bar.
You probably aren’t gonna get 8. Maybe you only get 4 or 5?
And you think you had a roughly 50% decrease in performance.
Your APP doesn’t know what to do. It crashes the whole system. Your phone explodes in your hand, and your ego is forever destroyed. You take up Pickle Ball, never to lift again.
All because your form wasn’t standardized.
Squat depth is the most common example but it happens on other exercises as well.
Chins, Dips, Dumbbell Pressing, etc, etc
It all interferes with the lifters’ or coaches’ ability to program them or judge performance week to week.
Here’s what happens…..the lifter gets tired and starts to approach failure, but he or she has a numerical goal in their head for that set.
They’re going for 10, but they start to peter out around 6 or 7.
So they start reducing the range of motion or otherwise bastardizing the technique on the exercise just so they can hit that goal number.
I’m all in favor of having numerical goals to hit each set.
But you have to get there honestly.
7 good reps and 3 shitty reps is just that.
The 3 shitty reps give you A LOT of fatigue and very little stimulus.
It’s better to just stop when you can no longer complete the set on the agreed upon range of motion.
If you don’t hit your goal, you don’t hit your goal.
But don’t delude yourself into thinking you hit a new rep-PR when all you really did was dunk on an 8-ft rim.
