What's the best time interval for you between sets & excercises?

2-3 minutes sometimes more depending on what I'm doing and how I feel.  I usually take 3-3.5 on squats because they hurt so good.

What are you lifting for? If you are lifting for size I recommend a shorter time like 30-45 seconds, for power and strength it is okay to wait a few minutes.

Between excercises? Same muscle group or a different one? If the same muscle group keep the time down, if it is a different muscle group give it a bit more time.

Trying to add mass.  I currently do 30 seconds between sets, 1 minut between excercises regardless of whether it's the same muscle group or not.  Good call on longer between groups though, I'll have to give that a shot.
With the resting times I've got I get through a 6 excercise, 24 set workout in about 30 minutes.  Although right now I don't do warmup sets which I might start doing.

Time between sets?

It all depends what I'm working, and how close to my max the weight is. Bench and squats-usually 5 min. Man do I need that recovery time, too!

You guys make me feel like a (female sex organ) with your 30 sec between sets!

If I am circuit training, then I go from one to the other with the only rest being the time lag to get over to the next piece of equipment.

Hello!

The amount of rest largely depends on your goals.  Two to four minutes is the norm for a traditional strength routine while hypertrophy (mass-building) routines go from 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

Long-winded answer follows but the short answer is 2 to 4 minutes for strength routines and 120 to 30 seconds for bodybuilding routines.  For strength, you may want to start at 2 minutes and work towards 4 minutes as you go from high-reps (10 = high reps) to low reps (1-3 = low reps).  For bodybuilding, you may want to start at 120 seconds and work towards 30 seconds as you go from high-medium reps (8 reps) to low-medium reps (5 reps).


Studies have shown that it takes 2 minutes to regenerate about 80% of adrenaline tri-phosphate (ATP) or creatine phosphate. (I forget which...we're stretching my memory here.)

It take 4 minutes to regenerate 95%.  One-hundred percent takes hours to days.

Many, if not most, exercise experts have chosen energy regeneration as a guide to how much rest between sets and between exercises.  They are guessing here but it is a pretty reasonable guess.

So, an ideal strength routine would rest 95% (or 4 minutes) between sets.  However, then reality steps in and we realize that we will get only 10 to 11 sets in a 45 minute workout (beyond 45 minutes, testosterone and enegry levels drop rapidly).  So, we need to compromise.  Most people compromise at 2 minutes to get more work into the workout.

However, these energy molecules are in the muscle, blood, and (IIRC) liver.  Only the energy in the muscle is muscle-specifc (or exercise specific).  The rest are whole-body.  So, the notion that you can reduce the time by supersetting (i.e., alternating between opposing muscle groups...chest and lats) may not be quite sound.  Supersetting would be good to reduce from 4 minutes to 2 minutes but not below 2 minutes...for a strength routine.

For bodybuilding (hypertrophy), the goal is overload the muscles through a combination of fatigue and tension (some call this density...or work divided by time), rather than just the tension (weight) that was used in the strength routine.

Let say your running routine is to run three 300 meter intervals.  Running 300m and then walking 100m is *vastly* different than running 300m and then walking 500m.  The 300/100 (3:1 work/rest ratio) is overwhelmingly more intense than the 300/500 (3:5) ratio.  (The reason I am using a running example is to let everyone know that this work/rest stuff can be applied everywhere.)

So, you can increase the intesity/density of your workout by manipulating either the tension (weight lifted) or fatigue (time rested).  In fact, if you start at 2 minutes (120 seconds) and work your way to 30 seconds, you would be doing the routine that I suspect that Charles Staley (myodynamics.com's EDT or escalating density training) or Charles Poliquin ("Winning the Arms Race") are putting in their programs.

(I do not have their books so I am going solely off their summaries.)

Long-winded answer but the short answer is 2 to 4 minutes for strength routines and 120 to 30 seconds for bodybuilding routines.  For strength, you may want to start at 2 minutes and work towards 4 minutes as you go from high-reps (10 = high reps) to low reps (1-3 = low reps).  For bodybuilding, you may want to start at 120 seconds and work towards 30 seconds as you go from high-medium reps (8 reps) to low-medium reps (5 reps).

HTH and comments/criticisms welcome...
James

A nice benefit, no?  You're finishing up while the pair next to you are still trading sets with each other on their first exercise while chatting away.

I actually work out at home, so it's not an issue.  However, you brought up something good, how do you stick to your time intervals in a regular "public" gym where you might have to wait for equipment?

When you are lifting every 30 seconds there is no time for people to get on your equipment in a public gym. [:D] And time between muscle groups, IMHO, doesn't really matter. 5-6 minutes are no big deal.

What James4 said is right on. Again if you are lifting for mass or size how much weight does not matter very much, only how much effort you put into lifting it. [;)] I can't put up that much weight in the gym, like 200 on bench [:(], but I am relatively big at a pretty solid 200 pounds. I look big and can lift for a loong time but can't put up the big weight. It is always funny to be shown up on the bench by a 19yo kid that weighs 160# anyway. [:D]

Lifting for strenth and lifting for mass are two different things.