Optimize Muscular Development
When we consider rest intervals, (time interval between exercises) at least on my interpretation of Mentzer’s Heavy Duty or Yates’ Blood and Guts, here are a couple things to consider; The rest between sets will definitely affect your performance on the subsequent set. Take as much time as you need to recover without letting your workout drag or begin to cool down. Think about optimizing your Blood and Guts/Heavy Duty training for the muscle breakdown and subsequent development. Hit that sweet spot of rest between ramping up the intensity and not running out of gas.
This Isn’t Your Cardio Session
Certainly, do not turn weight training into a cardio circuit type of workout. Do your cardio in your cardio training, not here. As an example, I might rest 3-5 minutes or more between heavy high-volume barbell squat sets sometimes. You should be doing about 5 working sets total for a large body part like chest, back, legs, shoulders. That could range from 1-6 working sets but most times landing in the 3-5 range.
You Don’t Grow in the Gym
Pay attention to your body, if you are feeling muscular or systemic fatigue where another set isn’t going to be beneficial, move on to the next body part or leave the gym. So hit it with extreme intensity, then get out of the gym, continue to feed your machine, and do your best to rest and (super) recover. More importantly, if you have achieved that level of intensity, leave the gym very satisfied.
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