Proper inter-set rest; when to reduce weight, and when to wait?

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hey guys,

Having spent far too long squeezing every last gain of LP, I have gotten into a bad habit of taking far too long between sets on the big lifts. I’ve now moved on to The Bridge, and am wondering what the best approach to rest times is. I begin week 2 tomorrow, and I know that after the first of the 3 sets of 5 @8 on the squat, if I want to stay at that weight for 2 more sets, I’ll likely need 7-8 minutes rest - perhaps even more (I don’t think I’m overshooting the RPE, btw). I expect I will have similar problems with Wednesday’s 2ct squat, and Friday’s deadlift.

Where do you guys recommend to draw a line for rest periods in general? To state the very obvious; I’ll have to lower the weight on the bar if I want to only have, say, 5 minutes between sets. This in and of itself seems like a bad thing. Is this weight reduction really preferable to holding out for a few more minutes between sets?

Many thanks,

Jim

2

If you need 8+ minutes of rest after a set of 5@8, you either

  1. overshooting the RPE (yes, even though you think you aren’t)

  2. have poor conditioning / work capacity, which will improve with higher training volumes.

If you keep the same weight on the bar inappropriately and end up missing reps, you’ve screwed up. Getting the training volume in is the priority here.

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