What should be done between sets?

Author: Timko Ilya - master of the whole project and fitness trainer.
2015-01-12

Have you ever thought about this question? On average, a person spends 60% - 70% of their entire workout time resting between sets. And only 40% - 30% on the actual sets. And what do most people do during this time? That's right. They just sit. Meanwhile, how you use the time between sets affects the results and effectiveness of the entire workout.

Personally, I believe that if you just sit, it is an extremely unproductive use of rest time. And even more so if you simply lie down. In my opinion, here are three things you should do between sets.

1. Walk

When you walk, your blood circulation throughout your body speeds up compared to if you were sitting. The faster blood moves, the quicker you recover and your muscles recover. The better you rest, the better you will perform in the next set.

2. Stretch the muscles being trained

This is again done to ensure better recovery. Stretched muscles receive more blood flow. Moreover, muscle strength is directly related to their elasticity. The more elastic the muscle, the stronger it is.

3. Shake and rotate your arms and legs

This is done for the same reasons as the previous two actions. Shaking and rotating joints further accelerate blood flow. At the same time, the muscles are not fatigued by such movements at all.

All three of these techniques will allow you to recover about twice as fast as if you were just sitting. In addition, all of this increases your average heart rate during the workout by about 20%. This allows you to burn more fat. After all, even if you are training for mass, extra fat is not needed.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the article – you spend most of your workout resting. Make this rest more active, and the effect of your workouts will increase by 15% - 20%, whether it's for gaining mass or fat loss. Good luck!