How Long Should You Recover Between Sets?

In a past podcast life, I hosted a show called Ask the Coaches on the Endurance Planet podcast. Athletes would send in their questions and coaches Tawnee, Lucho, and I would answer them. After a few years, it became a running joke on the show to point out how often our answers were prefaced with the words “it depends.”

So much fitness advice depends on so many variables that you should be extremely leery of anyone who gives a blanket prescription of reps or sets.

And "it depends" is more than just an inside joke; it's the truth. So much fitness advice depends on so many variables that you should be extremely leery of anyone who gives a blanket prescription of reps or sets. The variables I consider (as a coach, writer, or podcaster) before I give any fitness advice include (but aren't limited to):

• Where the athlete is in their fitness journey
• How long they've been doing that particular activity
• Whether they've had injuries or illnesses
• What external factors their life contains
• Their sleep and stress levels
• Their overall fitness goals

And the list goes on. 

I say this to set the stage as I begin to answer the question of how long you should recover. It depends. 

Different recovery for different goals

Recently I posted a video showing how I like to use a stationary bike to aid in my recovery between higher intensity exercises (like burpees). The workout I demonstrate in the video goes like this:

After warming up with some easy cycling:

• 30 seconds of high intensity (running on the spot with high knees)
• Cycle easy again until your heart rate returns to your aerobic zone
• 30 seconds of high intensity (burpees)
• Cycle easy again until your heart rate recovers
• 30 seconds of high intensity (jumping jacks)
• Cool down with some easy cycling

In the video, I mention how I use a heart rate monitor to determine when I'm ready for the next bout of self-torture— I mean burpees. 

The formula I use to determine what heart rate signals I'm ready for is "180 - your age." So for me it's 180 - 49 = 131. (I round off to 130 for ease). This is called your MAF (maximum aerobic function) heart rate and it is correlated with being in a state of optimal aerobic effort. But as scientific as that sounds, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. 

As scientific as it sounds, the maximum aerobic function calculation is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

In this particular workout, I'm aiming to make my rest periods as short as possible to maximize my workout time...

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