Squaggleboggin

I've read that when using maximal weights (assuming this means 90%+), RIs should be between 3 and 7 minutes. I use at least 90% every time I work out (with proper rest; no overtraining here) and my RI is about 30 seconds between sets. Why do they recommend such a long RI? Could it be that because I'm young I'm able to take less of a rest? Or it could be that, that number is way off from the norm and most recommend less than 3 - 7 minutes.

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CowPimp

The idea is to allow your ATP and creatine phosphate stores to fully recharge. This will allow your successive attmempts to be performed with the ability to put forth a maximal amount of strength.

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Mudge

Yep, powerlifters take longer breaks. For legs I do it just to avoid throwing up, or having massive and complete failure with no spotter yada yada yada.

I usually take 2 minute breaks for most things other than legs. If I train legs really heavy (spotted) I go as long as 10 minutes, right now more like 4-5.

Since bodybuilders typically dont care what weights they use, this doesn't apply to them nearly as much.

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Squaggleboggin

I know that many powerlifters use doubles as sets, which is exactly what I do. I also am using weights that are extremely heavy for me. I wonder if they need the extra rest because they use things like bands, chains and shirts that can allow them to work harder at different parts or use more weight than they could normally handle. It just seems odd that I can do it with such short RIs.

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Mudge

Bands can reportedly be very hard on the joints, not everyone uses them, and those that do of course are selective when and how much resistance are used.

There are several reasons why they use more rest, to avoid injury (think of 50 things to throw in there as for why), and to be able to put up decent numbers from set to set instead of being completely spent. Different purpose, different training.

A powerlifter trains the body to use a higher percentage of muscle fibers at any given time. So while new you might bench 165 for a single, and be able to do that for 3 sets consecutively with only 1-2 minutes of rest between sets. A highly developed powerlifter who is benching 820, probably can't do that even twice in a row without some serious rest time - and even then from day to day there may be a 50 pound variance raw or assisted in what they can put up.

Ryan Kennely has been into the 950 range, once and once only in his life and I'm sure it has to do with more than drugs, I'm sure its many factors. With the laws of diminishing returns, humans can only do so much. If you can lift more, there is going to be a cost. Look at the gators, incredibly fast, but spent very quickly and require lots of rest. Sprinters, same story.

Before this becomes 50 pages, I'll stop there. Thats just how it is, yada yada.

I'm trying 5g creatine pre and post workout, once again, to try and assist. So far as I can tell its never done anything for me though in the past.

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JayBee

anthony ellis preaches 3 minutes. id go with that..

chunky34

4-5 min when Im in my strength cycle (P), 2-3 min in my RR, and 45 sec in my shock cycle.

Depending on what rep range you're training, your goals, you should adjust your recovery time. It is a personnal thing. There is no specific guideline.

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The Monkey Man

I'm floating between 60 and 90 seconds, right now

But as Mudge said, I will go into minutes for superheavy max movements

the key is, if you are taking 30sec RP's... You aren't going as heavy as you can - IMO

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Yanick

exactly, i've recently started playing around with my RI's to see what works for me. IMO listening to other's 'expert' advice is foolish because we are all built differently, with different conditioning, mechanics etc which allow us to perform worse/better at certain things than others.

if you're interested in aerobic conditioning, or you are just a masochist who enjoys the pain short RI's with the big compound moves and high'ish reps like 8-10 will fuck you up big time but your conditioning will go through the roof.

when pyramiding up, or doing a bunch of sets of 1,2,3's i'll wait no less than 90s and sometimes as high as 10 min if i'm going for a PR that is scaring me psychologically. On assistance work i like to keep the RI's fairly short, 90s or less, unless i see that my reps are getting too low at which point i'll wait longer so i can move the weight because for a strength athlete it doesn't make sense to drop the weight so you can hit the reps. i'm fairly conditioned now that with 90s RI's i can pretty much hit the same number of reps on consecutive sets until i get to like set 4 and 5, then i start dropping a rep here and there. you should also note that i do not work to failure, i stop with 1-2 reps in the tank.

so basically, you should be varying your reps both within the workout and within your whole routine to coincide with your goals.

"...we have to remember that training is a complicated dance of stimuli and response. Our goal is to understand how to manipulate the stimuli in order to evoke the responses we desire." -Nathan J. Polenchek