It’s a frightening thought: A Pac Man piranha gobbling your hard-earned muscle growth—or at least stopping it in its tracks…
That muscle-building roadblock? Fatigue—from either HIGH REPS and/or SHORT RESTS between sets. BUT…
If fatigue is such a hypertrophic wet blanket, why does study after study show that high reps produce the SAME hypertrophy as heavy low reps sets?
Shouldn’t fatigued higher-rep groups show much less muscle growth? They don’t; it’s equal. That’s because, as researcher Chris Beardsley said…
“Fatigue contributes to hypertrophy by increasing the number of high-threshold motor units that can be recruited in any given muscular contraction with sub-maximal load.”
The same is true of short rests between sets. In fact, very short, as in 20 seconds, “extends” the first set to stimulate MORE growth due to the scary piranha fatigue.
With short-rest “extension sets”, you get more EFFECTIVE hypertrophy stimulation on EVERY REP. You don’t have to waste most of your workout time with 3-minute rests. See the 2021 study #7 that appears in Old Man Young Muscle 2 (Enes, et al. PMID: 34260860.). Here’s another…
This 2023 study looked at REST-PAUSE, 10 to 20 seconds between sets, VS. TRADITIONAL training, 2 to 3 minutes of rest between sets: “Twelve Weeks Rest-Pause and Traditional Resistance Training…Among Recreationally Trained Men” (Karimifard, M., et al. MDPI, Feb. 2023.)
Researchers concluded that “the RP training technique has a GREATER effect on strength and muscle hypertrophy than traditional training with longer rests between sets. It seems that [the rest-pause] system can be employed to create more effective training than traditional for individuals.”
According to the researchers, rest-pause produced more than a 10 PERCENT difference in hypertrophy in both upper- and lower-body muscle groups as compared to traditional training. Strength increase was the same.
Shorter workouts, more muscle. No wonder elite trainer Christian Thibaudeau says it’s his FAVORITE HYPERTROPHY METHOD.
NOTE: For more on STX rest-pause training, along with complete workouts, see Old Man Young Muscle 2.