Rest is the part of a workout nobody plans, and it quietly decides two things: how many reps the next set gets, and how long the session takes. Here is what the studies found, the rests our programs use, and a simple way to tell whether yours are long enough.

The short answer

Rest about 2 to 3 minutes after heavy compound sets and 1 to 2 minutes after lighter and isolation sets. For muscle growth, a 2024 meta-analysis found a small benefit from resting longer than 60 seconds and no clear extra gain past 90. For strength in trained lifters, a systematic review favors more than 2 minutes. The right rest is the shortest one after which you still hit your target reps.

Why rest changes the next set

A set leaves the muscle tired for a while, and a short rest carries that fatigue into the next set. One study had 15 trained men do five sets with a load they could lift three times, resting 1, 2, 3 or 5 minutes between sets:

Rest Bench press, reps over 5 sets Machine chest fly, reps over 5 sets
1 minute 7.6 10.3
2 minutes 9.5 12.6
3 minutes 11.7 13.7
5 minutes 12.9 12.9

The authors concluded that 2 minutes was enough for the fly, which works one joint, and 3 to 5 for the bench press, which works several. Fewer reps on the same weight means less work per set. The 2024 meta-analysis below points to this as the way rest affects growth, and to why its benefit levels off once the reps come back.

What the research found

  • Strength. A review of 23 studies found solid gains even with rests under a minute, but more than 2 minutes worked best for trained lifters; for beginners, 60 to 120 seconds was enough. In an 8-week trial, trained men resting 3 minutes gained more squat and bench press strength than men resting 1 minute on the same program.
  • Muscle. The same trial found more thigh muscle with 3-minute rests. A 2024 Bayesian meta-analysis of 9 studies found a small benefit from rests over 60 seconds and no appreciable difference beyond 90, whether or not the sets went to failure.
  • The big picture. The American College of Sports Medicine’s 2026 position stand, an overview of 137 reviews, found that rests under or over a minute made no difference to strength across the reviews, and too little data to decide for growth. Its 2009 predecessor advised 3 to 5 minutes for heavy loads and 1 to 2 minutes for muscle-building sets.

So the effect of rest is real but modest, and it runs through the reps you get. Do not expect a longer rest to rescue a program; expect it to protect the sets you planned.

What it means for your week

Across the 397 exercise rows of our 25 programs, the rest follows the exercise:

Exercise Examples Rest in our programs
Heavy lifts in sets of 3 to 5 Deadlift; squat and bench press in the strength programs 3:00
Main lift of the day, 6 to 10 reps Barbell Back Squat, Barbell Bench Press, Bent-Over Barbell Row 2:30
Second compound lift, 8 to 15 reps Romanian Deadlift, Leg Press, Lat Pulldown 1:30
Isolation and core Leg Extension, Dumbbell Lateral Raise, Plank 1:00
Circuit stations Home HIIT, conditioning circuits 0:15, then 1:30 after the round

Rest is also most of a session’s clock. By our count, on the push day of Intermediate Push Pull Legs, 3 days about 23 of the roughly 42 minutes are rest. On the first day of Intermediate Full-Body Barbell, 3 days, with its 3-minute rests after sets of five, it is about 50 of 69; How Long Should a Workout Be? counts whole sessions. If time is short, keep the long rests on the heavy lifts and pair the smaller exercises instead: supersets let one muscle rest while another works, and a review of time-efficient training concludes that they roughly halve training time for the same work.

How to apply it

  1. Start with the program’s rest. It is written for the exercise and its rep range.
  2. Watch the second set. If the reps on the same weight fall by three or more from the first set to the second, the rest was too short; add 30 to 60 seconds next time.
  3. Keep the long rests where they count. The heavy lift at the start of the session gets the full rest; isolation work can run shorter or in pairs.
  4. Time it. A rest judged by feel drifts, usually toward the phone.

In Trenno the rest timer starts when you tick a set. Each exercise can keep a rest of its own, and a program’s exercises arrive with the program’s rests: the Barbell Bench Press counts down 2:30, the curls 1:00. The bar at the bottom shows the countdown and the next exercise, with +1 min when you need it. With notifications allowed, Rest is over arrives even when the phone is locked; on iOS 18 and later the countdown also sits on the Lock Screen, and on Apple Watch it runs on the wrist, with 15 seconds less or more and Skip.

Mistakes and myths

  • “Short rests build more muscle.” Short rests feel productive because of the burn, but in trials longer rests built as much muscle or more.
  • “Long rests are lazy.” Two to three minutes before a heavy set is where its reps come from.
  • One rest for everything. A bench press needs longer than a chest fly to recover its reps; the same rest for both is either too long for one or too short for the other.
  • Rests that turn into five minutes of scrolling. Past about 3 minutes, the reps in the study barely moved, while the session kept getting longer.

FAQ

Should beginners rest less?

They can. The strength review found 60 to 120 seconds enough for people new to training. Take longer on the first heavy lift if the reps fall off.

Do I rest between exercises too?

Yes. The rest after the last set of one exercise is the time to set up the next. Trenno’s timer runs after every ticked set, the last one included.

How long should I rest in a superset?

Only the time it takes to move between the two exercises, about 20 to 30 seconds, then 90 to 120 seconds after the pair. The supersets guide explains which pairs work.

Does it matter for strength and muscle in the same way?

Roughly. Both benefit when the next set keeps its reps. Strength seems to gain more from the longer end, especially on heavy multi-joint lifts.

Sources