@genetic freak You might appreciate my motto. I don't go to the gym to rest, I'll rest the other 23 hours.
I'll watch my HR when heavier lifts take my HR up into the upper 130's lower 140's and pace until I am in the teens, otherwise I do not rest.
What is your method of knowing when to rest between sets and when to resume?
For me, I guess it just comes down to years and years of trial and error. I do not really track my HR or BP during or after sets, except on stuff like widowmaker sets, because I want to see if the watch maxes out. Haha.
For all warm up and feeder sets, it is 45 seconds between sets. I will take 90 seconds between my last warm up or feeder set and my first working set.
If my working sets are top/back off sets then I take 2 minutes between sets. How I came up with this number, was my back off set is 75% of the weight of my working set and I want to fail at the same number of reps as my top set +/- 2 reps, i.e. if my top set was 400 lbs x 12, I want my back off set to be 300 lbs x 12. I found on compound movements 2 minutes is perfect.
Myo Matching Sets are pretty much the same idea. The first set I stop 2-3 reps short of failure, the second set at the same number of reps should be 1 rep short of failure and the last set should be failure right on the number. I found 2 minutes for compounds to be perfect for me on most movements, 90 seconds for delts and 45 seconds for arms.
Rest pause sets and muscle rounds, I just follow what Dante and Scott Stevenson came up with.
My rest between sets are active rest. I do not stand around waiting for the next set. I do a lap or laps around the gym. I have a perfectly timed route around the gym that takes 45 seconds to walk at a 3.2 mph pace. Really cuts down on how much cardio I need to do in contest prep. This adds about 5000 extra steps on the day.
The only exercise where I throw all the above out the window is John Meadows Bulgarian Split Squad Drop Set of Death. I wait for my breathing to return to normal before I start my other side, so I don't die.
