Hey everyone, Andrea here!
One of the questions I get asked:
“Andrea, how long should I rest between sets if I want to build the most muscle possible?”
For years, the fitness industry has been split:
- Some say “keep rests short, stay pumped, grow!”
- Others swear by 3–5 minutes “as the powerlifters do.”
I explored recent research from 2023 and 2024 to provide a clear and straightforward answer you’ve been looking for—let’s clarify this together!
Here’s exactly what the research says in 2025.
1. When total reps (volume) are exactly the same → rest time barely matters
A brand-new 2023 study (Schoenfeld et al.) had untrained men train one leg with only 20-second rests and the other leg with 2-minute rests on the leg extension.
They kept going with the short-rest leg until the total reps matched those of the long-rest leg.
Result after 10 weeks?
→ Identical muscle growth in every single quad muscle (measured with MRI).
→ Identical strength gains.
“Grow from total work done, not just metabolic stress.”
2. When you do the same number of sets (what 99% of us actually do) → longer rests win
My favorite study on trained lifters (Henselmans et al., 2016, and several follow-ups) compared 1-minute versus 3-minute rest periods while keeping the sets identical.
The 3-minute group:
- They did more repetitions per set, focusing on higher-quality reps.
- They experienced a significant increase in muscle growth, achieving approximately 50% to 100% more hypertrophy in most muscle groups.
- They become much stronger.
A 2021 meta-analysis by Longo and colleagues confirmed that, when sets are fixed, shorter rest periods significantly impair performance, potentially resulting in a 20–30% loss of growth.
3. The trick of adding more sets to the short-rest group is effective, but it can be quite a hassle.
Some studies allow the short-rest group to perform additional sets to match the volume of the long-rest group. The surprising result? Growth becomes equal again. However, the downside is that you may end up doing 30% to 50% more sets, which significantly extends your workout time and increases fatigue. Most of us don’t have 2.5 hours to spend in the gym.
What is the practical recommendation for 2025?
Here’s exactly what I have all my clients do (and what I do myself):
- For compound lifts such as squats, deadlift variations, bench presses, pull-ups, rows, and overhead presses, I recommend resting for 2.5 to 4 minutes between sets.
- Isolation/accessory work (curls, triceps, lateral raises, leg extensions/curls): 1.5–2.5 minutes rest
- If you’re purposely doing high-rep “pump” sets or drop sets at the end → 30–90 seconds is perfect
This lets you:
- Recover almost fully between sets
- Lift heavier / do more quality reps
- Hit the highest possible volume in the shortest gym time
- Still walk out with an insane pump
Quick cheat sheet you can screenshot
| Exercise Type | Goal: Max Hypertrophy | Rest Time |
| Big compounds | Strength + size | 2.5–4 min |
| Accessory compounds | Size | 2–3 min |
| Isolation | Size | 90 sec–2.5 min |
| Finisher / metabolic | Size & conditioning | 30–90 sec |
Give yourself the rest you actually need to crush the next set. Your muscles will thank you with more growth, I promise.
Try these rest times for the next 8 weeks and watch how much stronger you get!
Keep going forward,
Andrea
