TRADITIONAL AND PREFERRED REST INTERVALS RESULT IN OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE AT NINETY PERCENT ONE REPETITION MAXIMUM

Abstract

The traditional suggested rest period following high intensity exercise is 3 to 5 min to allow the ATP-PC system adequate recovery time (Hultman et al., 1976, Scand. J. Clin. Invest., 19:56–66). More recently the optimal rest interval following high intensity (85% one-repetition maximum [1-RM]) multiple set bench press performance has been reported to progress from 3 to 6 min (Todd et al., 2000, MSSE, S32:5) however, rest intervals of 3 and 4 min were not examined. Further, 85% 1-RM is considered to be on the low end of the strength-power continuum. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the effects of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and preferred (PR) min rest intervals on 3-set, 90% 1-RM bench press performance. Twenty healthy males (mean ± SD, age = 20.2 ± 3.2 yr, height = 179.1 ± 6.5 cm, mass = 88.14 ± 16.7 kg, body fat = 12.2 ± 4.6%) with recreational weight training experience (minimum 1 yr experience, 1-RM bench press = 110.57 ± 23.25 kg) completed 3 sets of repetitions (reps) to exhaustion. Subjects were randomly assigned to treatments and completed two 3-set bench press routines per wk with a minimum of 48 h between testing sessions. One-way ANOVA with repeated measures and Sheffe post-hoc tests indicated mean (± SD) bench press performance using 1 (2.2 ± 0.6 reps) min rest intervals was significantly less (p < .05) than 2 (3.1 ± 0.9 reps), 3 (3.4 ± 1.0 reps), 4 (4.1 ± 1.1 reps), 5 (4.0 ± 1.2 reps), and PR (3.4 ± 1.1 reps) min rest intervals. Bench press performance using 4 and 5 min rest intervals also produced significantly greater results (p < .05) than 2 min rest intervals, but was not different (p > .05) than 3, or PR min rest intervals. Average 3-set PR rest was 4.4 ± 1.6 min and average single set PR rest increased across all 3 rest intervals: warm-up to set 1 (3.6 ± 1.2 min), set 1 to 2 (4.3 ± 1.5 min), and set 2 to 3 (5.4 ± 2.1 min). We conclude traditional rest intervals ranging from 3 to 5 min and PR rest intervals progressing from 3 to 6 minutes result in optimal multiple set bench press performance at 90% 1-RM.