How Long to Rest Between Sets
By the lift, not by the clock on the wall.
The short answer: 3 to 5 minutes on big compound lifts, 1 to 2 minutes on single-muscle lifts. That's the rule the Don't Panic rest timer runs on. Log a set of squats and it starts at 3:00. Log a set of curls and it starts at 1:30.
Why the lift decides
A squat, a deadlift, a bench press or a row moves a lot of weight through more than one joint, with a lot of muscle working at once. A curl, a lateral raise or a leg extension works one muscle around one joint. The big lifts take longer to come back from, so they get the longer rest.
Cut the rest short on a big lift and the next set comes up short: fewer reps at the same weight. When every lift climbs to one top set at RPE 7, the top set is the one that counts. It has to start fresh.
The two lists
3 to 5 minutes (the timer starts at 3:00): squats, deadlifts and the other hinges, presses, rows, pull-ups and pulldowns, dips, push-ups, lunges, hip thrusts.
1 to 2 minutes (the timer starts at 1:30): curls for the arms and the legs, raises, flys, pushdowns, extensions, pullovers, face pulls, rear delt work. Calves, core and band pull-aparts sit here too.
Rest follows the lift, not its place in the list
Rest by position, long for the first lift and short for everything after it, puts a Romanian deadlift in third place on a 90-second clock. The timer reads the lift, so a swap brings its own rest: swap a leg extension for a Bulgarian split squat and the rest goes from 1:30 to 3:00.
The range is the rule. 3:00 and 1:30 are where the timer starts. Not ready when it hits zero? Take the extra minute. That's what the range is for.
The exception: 60 seconds on the road
ROAD, the hotel-room program, rests 60 seconds between every set. That's what keeps it at 30 minutes. It runs on bodyweight and one band, and it moves up with harder versions, not heavier plates.
In the app
In The Shift the rest timer starts the moment you log a set, timed to the lift on that row, the swap included. Three of the four programs run on this rule: THE SPLIT, FOUNDATION and GARAGE. ROAD runs its 60 seconds.
Next: what RPE 7 means, and when to add weight.
Emil Pasini