On squats, bench, deadlifts and other compound lifts, resting a full 3 minutes between sets beats the popular "keep it under a minute" approach, for both strength and muscle growth, not just strength.
In an 8-week controlled trial, resistance-trained men who rested 3 minutes between sets gained significantly more 1RM strength on squat and bench press, and packed on more quad muscle thickness, than a matched group doing identical sets and reps with only 1-minute rest. Longer rest lets you keep working near your true top weight set after set instead of grinding through fatigue.
Sources and references
- Schoenfeld et al. (2016), Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: 21 trained men, 8-week RCT comparing 1-min vs. 3-min inter-set rest. DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001272
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