Supertraining

As soon as I posted my previous message I received my newsletter from 
Rickey Dale Crain et voila some additional thoughts:

Rickey Dale Crain writes:

<<<<Let us discuss rest periods in our training regiment, as they are 
as important as the routine itself...... So how much should we rest 
between sets??????.....The amount of time between sets and reps will 
vary depending on your training program, your cardio and muscle 
endurance level, your workout program goals (i.e. training for a 
sport, training to get into shape, training for a bodybuilding or 
powerlifting meet, etc.) and your experience level as well as the 
time you allow for the workout. In powerlifting your rest periods 
will be longer in general than in any other type of training. At the 
beginning of a cycle my rest periods are less and sometimes I even do 
2-3 or more sets at a time, instead of 5 sets of 5 I might do 2 sets 
of 10 at the same weight and finish off the odd set of 5, just for a 
change, but only at the beginning of a cycle when the weight is much 
lighter. If you are having form problems you should not do this; as 
this is the time to work on that. As the weight gets heavier and the 
reps drop to 3's and 2's the rest period will become greater. If I am 
in the last 3-5 weeks of my cycle and I am doing heavy squats for 
3's, my rest period will be 10-15 minutes. Also if I am doing 3 sets, 
it would be obvious that the third set will take a longer period of 
rest than the first sets. 

I firmly believe one should rest till they are at least 95% recovered 
from the previous set. Remember we are not looking for a pump, just a 
little muscle endurance, and a lot of pure strength; so we need the 
rest to be able to handle that heavy max weight again for sets. In 
hot weather perhaps longer times and in cooler weather a shorter time 
will be needed. What supplements oyu take also will dictate teh 
amount of time of rest needed. Usage of Creatine will shorten the 
time between sets. The lighter class lifters usually get by with less 
rest time than a 350 lb super. You need to get the oxygen back in 
your system but remember do not cool down. It is an art to learn the 
right amount of time to rest and everybody is different. So pay 
attention to your body and your previous training sessions to keep 
learning. If you do not rest long enough, you defeat the purpose of 
handling the heavy weight for strength gains. Also your form will 
tend to get sloppy if the rest period is not long enough. So 
beginners, learning your body and its recovery time is very 
important.>>>>

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Jamie Carruthers
Wakefield, UK