How Long Should You Rest Between Sets for Muscle Growth?

If you’re serious about building muscle, watch the clock between sets.

Researchers recently performed a meta-analysis of nine different studies examining rest periods and their effects on muscle growth. 

While the authors pointed out several limitations (small sample sizes, varying workout schedules and structures, differences in training experience), they were still able to draw some interesting conclusions.

New Research: What’s the Best Rest Period for Building Muscle?

After analyzing the results across multiple studies, here’s what the researchers found when it comes to rest and muscle growth during workouts .

• For beginners and untrained lifters: Rest periods didn’t matter much. Whether subjects rested under 1 minute or more than 3 minutes between sets, they still built significant lean muscle.
• For experienced lifters: Resting longer than 60 seconds between sets (around 1 minute to 90 seconds) appeared to be better for muscle growth than shorter rest periods. However, resting longer than 90 seconds didn’t seem to provide any additional benefit.

In short, for trained individuals, the sweet spot appears to be between 60–90 seconds of rest between sets to maximize hypertrophy.

The theory behind this is simple: Longer rest allows you to recover enough to push harder on your next set, completing more reps and lifting heavier weight—both of which drive muscle

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