I've been waiting until my muscles stop burning, when I feel fatigue has largely subsided, when I can feel the energy back in them before I do the next set of what ever I'm working on. This can be anywhere between 4-7 minutes (my gym workouts last about an hour and a half).

Anywho, is there a limit to how long one should rest? I'm curious.

how many reps do you do? If you use weight close to your one rep max then it is probably normal to rest that long. I dont know biologically if there is a maximum rest period.

Try going on to other exercises that work different muscles.

I wouldn't worry about it, as long as you aren't taking excessively long. The above seems alright but probably no more than that.

A lot of the rest depends on the reproduction of ATP for the whole muscle contraction, and most say 1 minute or so. This is the amount of time it takes to regenerate ATP and go through that whole cycle. This is why many people use creatine as well, to regenerate it quicker.

I'd say rest can be from 1-3 minutes. I dont think it is necessary IMO to rest any longer

Thanks all. I'll not worry about it.



Question omen:
I'm curious though.. Is there any connection to recovery from one set to the next with people who are on the anabolic or cyclical ketogenic diets?

I ask as I'm on the anabolic diet (for about a month now) and it feels like my recovery time inbetween sets needed to be increased after I went on this diet.

JohnnyIrish said:

Thanks all. I'll not worry about it.



Question omen:
I'm curious though.. Is there any connection to recovery from one set to the next with people who are on the anabolic or cyclical ketogenic diets?

I ask as I'm on the anabolic diet (for about a month now) and it feels like my recovery time inbetween sets needed to be increased after I went on this diet.

Click to expand...

I don't know too much about those two diets and haven't really looked at them, so I dont know.

My guess is, you are probably doing lower carbs correct? And if so, you probably want to know the effect of carbs and energy, and all that stuff.

Read some of this below and see if it makes any sense........

During muscle contraction – forward direction is favored (regenerate ATP)
During recovery – backward direction is favored (regenerate CrP)

During the first few seconds of intense muscular activity, such as sprinting, ATP is
-- maintained at a relatively constant level, but the PCr level declines steadily as
the compound is used to replenish the depleted ATP
-- at exhaustion, however, both ATP and PCr levels are quite low and are unable to
provide the energy for further contractions and relaxations

The capacity to maintain ATP levels with the energy from PCr is limited
ATP and PCr stores can sustain the muscles’ energy needs for only 3 to 15 s during
an all-out sprint. Beyond that point the muscles must rely on other processes
for ATP formation: the glycolytic and oxidative combustion of fuels

A limiting factor during intense exercise is PCr stores.
PCr cannot be regenerated during intense exercise because ATP-derive energy
is being used for muscular contraction.
Intramuscular PCr stores can only supply the energy requirements during
maximal exercise for about 10 seconds

ATP can also produced through the breakdown (lysis) of glucose --> glycolysis.

So the bottom line is, if you are fresh out of glucose, you wont be producing any more ATP, as per glucose, you net 2 ATP

Omen:

Ok honestly most of that was greek to me. I get the general idea however. The body can only maintain strenuous activity through ATP as an energy source for a period of time before it needs other sources. Right?

Anywho those diets I mentioned, specifically the anabolic diet is one where during the week one eats low carbs (less then 30g/day) and roughly 50-60% fat and the rest protein. On the weekends the percentages change so you take in 60% carbs (carb up time to replenish glycogen stores).

Speaking of glycogen stores.. I understand that during the week my glycogen stores lessen and lessen and I fill them back up with the carb up weekends. However what I'm curious about is if I'm out of glycogen.. I'd then have no energy to do any more reps period, right? If thats so then what I'm seeing is not that I'm out of glycogen (as i can do more reps, I just need to rest longer inbetween sets).. but somethign else that keeps me from recovering as fast when I ate more carbs in during the week.

I'm curious, with the diet I described above.. do you see any obvious effects this could have on atp or pcr that could be the explaining factor for why I seem to need to rest longer in between sets now?

with exercise glycogen used depends on intensity & duration
1.) with higher intensity - muscle glycogen mostly
2.) with lower intensity - blood glucose mostly

Now the major factor determining whether or not Fat is used as substrate is its availability to the muscle cell

1.) higher intensity - use both blood FFA & muscle triglycerides
2.) low intensity - mostly use blood FFA

Now here is the problem with Fat as fuel. Fatty acid breakdown depends on continual background level of Carbohydrate metabolism

Low CHO levels ---> low oxaloacetate levels ---> Fat metabolism limited

Also remember protein and lactate can be used as fuel.

Now you can determine what is being USED as the fuel source by an equation.
respiratory exchange ratio (RER)

= VCO2 produced "divided by" VO2 consumed

You have to test a subject at steady state, do some math and all of that, and then you know exactly what the fuel source is. There is an RER for Fat and Carbs, but we exclude protein since its fuel is only about 2% or less in exercise.

Now i'm not saying go and do it, but my point is....it can be done.

The bottom line is, is that I am sure it might take a little longer to recover, but you will always have SOMETHING for the body to use. Even people in the hospital and dying (most) can make a muscle contraction, and possibly lift something. And maybe they eat like a gerbil.

My guess is, you are using more fat for fuel. I have no idea the time frame in all of these cycles, and we dont need to get nitty gritty, but that's my guess.

The only way to REALLY tell, would be go to your local college and in their Human Performance Lab if they have one, and tell them you are on X diet, here is what you eat gram wise, and you'd like to know WHAT you are using for fuel.

Most exercise Physiology professors can do this and will know what you are talking about or will help you.

Some people will do this if they cycle, or certain sports where time varies. They try to know exactly what their fuel source is and tweak it accordingly.

If you need to rest another minute, do so. But I dont think 5-7 is necessary, and I dont think the whole muscle contraction process will be much different from the 2-3min range to the 5-7min range. It's not like something more is going to happen in that time frame.

The above may be more than you need, but at least you learned some new stuff