It was concluded that shorter rest intervals led to greater increase in Growth Hormone (GH) concentrations. These studies measure growth hormone levels in exercise routines with varying rest intervals. explores four different studies attempting to uncover the ideal rest interval for increases in hypertrophy. Hypertrophy is defined as the increase in skeletal muscle size through the enlargement of muscle cells.

It is important to note that the weight load when training muscular endurance should be reduced to a weight that can be maintained throughout the repetitions and sets with this limited recovery time. A typical “very short rest” refers to less than 1 min between sets. These two adaptations allow for greater efficiency of oxidative metabolism in the muscle and thus increases your muscles’ endurance. This structure of exercise increases muscle endurance by supporting an increase in capillary and mitochondrial density in the muscle. revealed that with the coupling of low intensity loads with very short rest is best for increasing muscle endurance. Muscular endurance is the ability of your muscle to do a constant amount of work over an extended period of time.

In addition to the already well researched and stressed details of repetition in numbers and weight load, rest intervals can help you reach your specific strength training goals. The specifics of a strength program are extremely important to monitor. Strength training is shown to provide many benefits for elite athletes including, but not limited to: increased muscle endurance, hypertrophy and increased muscular strength.

Hypertrophy training rest time