How long should I wait between sets?

[Scizzorz41]

cardio

[why_not_fandy]

It really depends on what kind of exercise you're doing. Are you lifting for muscular endurance, hypertrophy, strength, power?

[Scizzorz41]

I'm not entirely sure, but muscular endurance sounds the most accurate! :P

[RTE]

Originally Posted by Qimbz

How long should I typically spend between sets?

There's a lot of information out there about exercises to do, but I haven't been able to find a decent answer to that.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

I have always tried to keep my rest down to 60 sec or less, no matter what I am trying to achieve. It will keep your heart rate up.

[Doubleoqueso]

Start with 60 seconds between sets, work your way to 30 seconds between sets (or raise the weight and stay at 60 sec).

EDIT: RTE just beat me to it :P

[why_not_fandy]

Originally Posted by Qimbz

I'm not entirely sure, but muscular endurance sounds the most accurate! :P

In that case you should be doing 12+ reps per set, and 2-3 sets per exercise at less than 67% 1RM. Resting in between sets should be no longer than 30 seconds.

[Scizzorz41]

Excellent, thanks guys

A bit of an unrelated question, but how many different exercises do you guys usually do each time you're in the gym?

I'm trying to follow this regimen:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/louis1.htm

(Near the bottom of the page)

Only reason I'm really looking at that one is it provides links to all of the exercises, which makes it pretty easy for someone new to all of this. The thing that was a bit surprising was that he says he does abs every day, and calves every other day, so you could potentially have a day where you do a body part + abs + calves, and end up having 10 different exercises. Is that too many for a single time at the gym?

Thanks for all of your help!

[Mr.P]

bump....i had the same question as Qimbz and didnt want to post another thread about it.

Im just getting back into lifting after a LONG hiatus (aka laziness) and in looking around at people's routines/splits it seems as though 3 exercises per muscle group seems to be the norm but is it really? I have a friend who does anywhere from 5-7 per muscle group but is that efficient or optimal? (btw hes no bodybuilder just the average joe)? thanks in advance!

[jdb-44]

Originally Posted by why_not_fandy

It really depends on what kind of exercise you're doing. Are you lifting for muscular endurance, hypertrophy, strength, power?

I've seen these terms used before, and I'm a bit confused: what's the difference between "strength" and "power"?

And hypertrophy--increase in muscle size, I guess--I could see how you could train for that instead of endurance, but wouldn't that imply strength and/or power?

Jared

[bradh]

Originally Posted by jdb-44

I've seen these terms used before, and I'm a bit confused: what's the difference between "strength" and "power"?

And hypertrophy--increase in muscle size, I guess--I could see how you could train for that instead of endurance, but wouldn't that imply strength and/or power?

Jared

Strength is basically how much you can lift(load).

Power takes in account the speed and load.

[bradh]

Originally Posted by Qimbz

Excellent, thanks guys

A bit of an unrelated question, but how many different exercises do you guys usually do each time you're in the gym?

I'm trying to follow this regimen:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/louis1.htm

(Near the bottom of the page)

Only reason I'm really looking at that one is it provides links to all of the exercises, which makes it pretty easy for someone new to all of this. The thing that was a bit surprising was that he says he does abs every day, and calves every other day, so you could potentially have a day where you do a body part + abs + calves, and end up having 10 different exercises. Is that too many for a single time at the gym?

Thanks for all of your help!

That routine is very high in volume. Something you don't really need.

[Sent]

When resting it just depends on what you're doing. Your CNS needs a little more time than you think though

[Hockey4]

Originally Posted by jdb-44

I've seen these terms used before, and I'm a bit confused: what's the difference between "strength" and "power"?

And hypertrophy--increase in muscle size, I guess--I could see how you could train for that instead of endurance, but wouldn't that imply strength and/or power?

Jared

Power takes speed (explosiveness) into account. Olympic weightlifting, therefore, requires more "power" than the actual powerlifting events.

And hypertrophy doesn't necessary mean big increases in strength or power. Training the CNS to recruit more muscle fibers to each lift can increase strength dramatically without growing the muscle a whole heck of a lot.

Obviously, there's overlap in any training. For example, someone who lifts heavy, heavy weights for low reps will still get some hypertrophy, and people working in a mid-range will still get some strength gains.

But there are different ways to train and for different goals. Put a ridiculously strong, but looking overweight powerlifter next to a massively muscled but not as strong bodybuilder and you have an extreme example of the difference.