hey guys,
i just have a quick question. when you do a program like a 10x3 or a 10x5 how many minutes do you usually rest between sets? i am going to start this type of training and this is the last question i need help with. thanks in advance.
if you are doing the ABBH program, you are working two antagonistic body parts, such as bench press and barbell row. you do a set of the bench, rest 60 sec, then do a set of rows, 60 sec, repeat. basically, you will have a total of a little over 2 minutes of rest between each set of the same exercise.
if you are not doing ABBH or something similar, i would recommend still resting around 2 mintues. in my experience, insufficient rest when doing this type of scheme will quickly fatigue you. this is because you are burning your ATP (the energy source used for all exercise) faster than your body can re-synthesize it in an anaerobic environment (without O2).
TS
I believe CW suggests 1 minute.
hey thanks guys. currently i am thinking of using a 2 minute rest period as i definitely get too fatigued with only 1 minute. i am increasing my weights with each week and the one minute is too little from my past experiences with a modified west side for skinny bastards.
i guess a followup question is what do you do when your weight progress halts? for example, if i am increasing my weight on bench 5 lbs from week to week and one week i cannot complete all 10 sets without a spot, what do i do? to me it doesnt make any sense to keep increasing my load if it will be an exercise in futility.
i was thinking maybe take a week off and modify the program. thanks again in advance for the help.
Around 90-120 seconds would do you good. It also depends on how heavy your going as well. But I tend to go 60-90 when I’m doing my 5x4
[quote]trailer36 wrote:
hey thanks guys. currently i am thinking of using a 2 minute rest period as i definitely get too fatigued with only 1 minute. i am increasing my weights with each week and the one minute is too little from my past experiences with a modified west side for skinny bastards.
i guess a followup question is what do you do when your weight progress halts? for example, if i am increasing my weight on bench 5 lbs from week to week and one week i cannot complete all 10 sets without a spot, what do i do? to me it doesnt make any sense to keep increasing my load if it will be an exercise in futility.
i was thinking maybe take a week off and modify the program. thanks again in advance for the help.[/quote]
I wouldn’t abandon your current program unless you absolutely feel that your not getting anything out of it. Once you reach the point where you can’t continue to add weight from week to week, stay with the same weight until you can complete all of the reps for every set on your own. Then add a little more weight to the bar. Either way, you’ll be increasing your workload.
i guess a followup question is what do you do when your weight progress halts?
Trailer36, some years ago ((before T-Nation appeared) Mc Roberts suggested training cycles of 3 months, starting with loads 15% lower then your best performance. Add 5% more load at each subsequent workout. End the cycle with a new better performance. Take a week off. Start a 2nd cycle lowering the loads 15% and so on. Evidently Mc Roberts concept was: you cannot stay always at your peak performance. Coming to T-Nation: ABBH has a clear periodization pattern. You start ABBH in a relatively easy way, you end ABBH probably SCREAMING !
Afer Quattro Dinamo CW prescribes 5 days off. It is therefore a good habit to take some days off every 2 or 3 months and periodize your training.
Ciao
Luca