Rest-Pause training does not increase intracellular growth factors or metabolic responses compared to traditional resistance exercise.
REST PAUSE TRAINING MORE ANABOLIC THAN TRADITIONAL TRAINING?
DOES REST-PAUSE TRAINING RESULT IN GREATER ANABOLIC SIGNALING PATHWAYS IN MUSCLES SUMMARY
- Rest-Pause training does not increase intracellular growth factors or metabolic responses compared to traditional resistance exercise.
DO GREATER ANABOLIC HORMONES RESULT IN MORE MUSCLE GAINS?
For many years, it has been implied that short rest periods increase GH and testosterone, which can increase muscle growth. Short rest periods increase GH and testosterone more than longer rest periods, but does it lead to long-term muscle growth? A landmark study had subjects use the same total workout volume (reps x sets x weight lifted) but different rest periods between sets (2 min vs. 5 min).
The cool thing about this study was that it was a six-month crossover design in two 3-month block sessions. Half of the participants trained using 2-minute rest intervals between sets for the first block, and the other half trained using 5-minute rest intervals between sets. At the end of the six months, there was no significant difference between testosterone, free testosterone, or GH between the short and long-rest period groups. Also, both groups had similar gains in muscle mass and strength.(1) This suggests that you can rest anywhere between 2-5 minutes between sets and get similar results based on your preference.
SHOULD YOU WORRY ABOUT ACUTE HORMONES INCREASING MUSCLE GROWTH?
A vast majority of the studies suggest that acute increases in anabolic hormones have no impact on muscle growth. Professor Stuart Phillips has led the charge in debunking the role of acute anabolic hormones and muscle growth. In a 2016 study, subjects trained with either a heavy weight, low repetitions (~75%-90% of a 1RM), or high repetitions (~30–50% of a 1RM). Despite an acute increase in anabolic hormones, there was no correlation between acute anabolic hormones and muscle growth; both groups increased muscle mass similarly.(2)
One exciting finding from this study was that local androgen receptor concentration was correlated with increased muscle mass, suggesting that rather than systemic hormones (i.e., testosterone, GH), androgen receptor concentration is more important for muscle growth.
WHAT IS REST PAUSE TRAINING?
Rest-pause is similar to drop-sets, but you use the same weight throughout the entire sets instead of dropping the weight and taking brief rest periods between sets. The advantage of rest-pause is that many stimulating reps are being performed in a brief period.
Several studies have found that rest-pause training resulted in greater gains in lean muscle mass than traditional training.(3) Another advantage of rest-pause is that it requires less time to complete. For example, one study found that traditional exercise took 57 minutes to complete and 35 minutes for rest-pause training. After six weeks, strength gains were similar between groups, but the rest-pause group achieved greater muscle growth in the legs (11%) vs. traditional training (1%).(4)
DOES REST-PAUSE TRAINING INCREASE ANABOLIC SIGNALING PATHWAYS?
Rest-Pause training has been shown to elicit large increases in metabolic stress. Some suggest that increases in metabolic stress can increase muscle mass by increasing key anabolic signaling pathways that influence muscle growth. In the latest issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, researchers examined the effects of rest-pause training to traditional resistance exercise to see if it increased key anabolic signaling pathways. Nine young, healthy subjects performed rest-pause training and traditional resistance exercise on 2 different occasions and with different legs on leg extension.
Rest-Pause training consisted of 3 sets of 6 repetitions at a 6-repetition maximum and then 20 seconds of rest and 2 or 3 repetitions (until exhaustion) repeated for 3 times with 2′30″ rest between sets, whereas traditional resistance exercise protocol comprised 3 sets of 15 reps with 75 seconds of rest between sets. Muscle biopsies were taken pre, post, 6 hours post-exercise, and 24 hours after exercise.
At the end of the study, Rest-Pause training and traditional resistance exercise increased anabolic signaling pathways similarly.(5) The traditional resistance exercise group had greater increases in AMPK (i.e., a catabolic pathway). The author concluded that short rest periods do not increase anabolic or metabolic responses different from traditional resistance exercise.
The research suggests that the total workload or volume (i.e., sets x reps) determines muscle growth. Muscle growth is similar when the volume is similar between different training styles, such as rest-pause and traditional resistance exercise. (6)
KEY POINTS
- Rest-Pause training does not increase intracellular growth factors or metabolic responses compared to traditional resistance exercise.
REFERENCES
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