Rest Pause Training

Mike Mentzer.. Body By Rest-Pause

Yesterday, I was asked a question about rest pause training on Facebook. Well, a few sentences turned into the longest post I have ever made on Facebook.

After finishing writing the post, I decided that it was the type of thing that would work well as a blog post. So I have gone ahead and decided to post the Facebook post over here for all to see.



The Question: "I am considering a rest pause training routine. Any example routines for GPP strength improvement, and maybe add a little mass?"

The Response: "My personal experience with rest pause training is small. I ran with it for about 3 months a few years back when I knew a lot less and knew far less in how to listen to my body. I regretfully don't have my log book from that routine any more.

What I do know is though, that with the fundamental aspect of rest pause, training to failure, is going to be taxing on the body. Traditionally I don't recommend going to failure as to avoid too much accumulated fatigue, over training, injury, and a lack of energy/capabilities for other physical activities namely sport play. While I don't know your current sport demands, it is something to keep in mind.

However, if your goal is to gain mass rest/pause can be an effective tool in increasing the time under tension of the muscle. It can also be utilized in a way as to build strength and power endurance and work capacity.

One manipulation you could try would be to end each rest pause set when you have 1-2 reps in the tank and possibly perform 3-5 second eccentrics on the final set to extend the tension if you are feeling good that day and know you have the capabilities, lifestyle, and resources to recovery from it.

You could also if you are looking to work with heavy loads and build more strength, work with your 3RM for singles for a prescribed number of sets to fit within a modified Prilepins chart, basically cluster set training.

One way you could set up a weekly microcycle would be to perform the 3RM singles on day 1 with you main lifts (only 2, Bench and Dead for example) with some ab work etc., then Wednesday perform one moderate weight rest pause exercise for both your upper body and lower body (Chins and Lunges for example) followed by an extra supplemental lift or two that directly work to improve your main lift (Squat, Bench, Military Press, Deadlift). Finally, Friday perform a light workout with accessory work to improve weak points and to recover and prepare yourself for the Monday lift. All reps on all days would sub failure.

I have not personal done or written a program like that, but that is how I would set it up pending other demands and needs. One thing I might change would be switching the Wednesday and Friday workout as to allow more time for recovery between the "Strength" workout and the "Hypertrophy" workout, however, it might end up working against itself again with the Hypertrophy workout being too close to, and effecting, the Strength workout, depending on your recovery capabilities. One final way which would seemingly work to fix this problem would be to change it up to an 8 day training week.

Day 1: Strength, Day 2 GPP, Day 3 Light/Accessory, Day 4 GPP or rest, Day 5 Hypertrophy/Supplemental, Day 6 GPP, Day 7 Light/Accessory, Day 8 GPP or Rest, Day 9 Repeat.

As far as GPP, first it depends on what you consider GPP. Technically, one person's GPP is another persons SPP (Free Squatting is GPP for a football player, but SPP for a powerlifter). I am assuming you are talking about extra workouts on separate days from your normal training. What you ultimately decide to do is obviously going to depend on the loads/intensity/volume of your "heavy" training sessions and your needs. I typically will use a light load of upright sled drags and bodyweight exercises. The purpose of "Extra workout GPP" work is to build work capacity, promote active restoration, address weak points, drill technique/motion patterns etc. It's use to gain muscle would be in that the increase in work capacity will allow you to handle more volume, and the active restoration would serve to repair muscular tissue quicker leading to hyperthrophy.

So yeah, thats much more than I have ever written in a facebook message. Once I start writing I just can't stop. Perhaps I should make this post into an ebook and sell it, it's practically long enough lol.

Anyway, if you have any questions or ideas you might have about this, I'd be glad to hear them."

Final thoughts: Rest pause training can be an effective tool in inducing muscle hypertrophy (muscle gain). However, I would use it sparingly when training athletes due to it's inherent nature of working to fatigue. There are many different ways to set it up, and you are only limited in your creativity.

It can be used with moderate loads and heavy loads. Try training it with heavy singles. For some, the usual 10-15 second rest would not be enough to recover from and still perform another single with the same degree of power and execution. In this situation, increase the rest periods, 1 min max, and over time, decrease the rest by 15 seconds till you hit that 10-15 second goal.


Lastly, I would just like to say that I forgot to mention how to included power training into the microcycle listed in my response. I would make sure to include some form of jump training, med ball throws, and/or plyo push ups etc. before the main lifts on the strength day. I would keep the volume low as to not further impair recovery. 3-5 sets of 1-10 reps (Pending what is being trained, intensity, purpose, etc,), would be a good place to start. Also, as always, almost all lifts would be performed explosively during the concentric phase of the motion to further train the powerful fast-twitch fibers.

Remember, almost all routines work, so long as you believe in it, but no routine works forever. 


Any questions, suggestions, or thoughts please leave them in the comments below.

No Nonsense Swoleness,

Kyle Bohannon, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist

Owner/Head Training

Strive Training

kyle@trainstrive.com

www.trainstrive.com

513-571-2950