Strength training plateaus are frustrating, and if you train long enough, you’ll eventually experience one. A strength plateau is where you reach a level at which you can’t advance the weight, you’re lifting any further. For example, you may have worked your way up to doing 8 biceps curls with a 25-pound dumbbell in each hand, but despite your best efforts, you can’t get past that point.
You know that challenging yourself with heavier weight will help you become stronger, but you can’t seem to increase the resistance. Don’t be discouraged! There’s an approach that will help you break out of a plateau and start making new strength gains. Some people refer to this approach as the “rest and pause” approach to strength training.
How to Do the Rest and Pause Technique
What usually happens when you get to the end of a strength training set? After you’ve done an exercise to fatigue, you put the weight down and stop. That’s not what you’ll do in this case. For the rest and pause technique, you’ll give yourself a short rest, without putting the weight down, and then do a few more repetitions.
Let’s assume you want to get past a plateau with biceps curls. Choose a weight that will allow you to do around 3-5 repetitions with good form. Once you have your weights in hand, do curls until you can’t do another one with the correct form, but don’t put the weights down. Instead, hold the dumbbells in each hand at arm’s length and wait 10 seconds.
After 10 seconds, do as many repetitions as possible again. After a 10 second rest, you should be able to do 2 or 3 repetitions. But don’t stop there. Take another 10-second rest and repeat. Again, you should be able to do 2 or 3 more repetitions. You can repeat this sequence a few more times once you’re more advanced.
Why is the rest and pause approach effective? The short rest period gives your muscles time to replenish their stores of phosphocreatine, an energy source muscles use during brief periods of exercise. Once your muscles have more phosphocreatine available, they can power through and do a few more reps. The extra stimulation your muscles get with the rest and pause technique encourages your muscles to push past their limits, and that’s a stimulus for muscle growth and strength gains.
The Rest and Pause Technique Can Improve Your Strength Training Form Too
With the rest and pause approach, you do smaller sets with pauses in between. Doing fewer repetitions gives you more opportunity to focus on your form and maximize the muscle tension you generate with each repetition. Don’t rush through each repetition. Make that mind-body connection and focus on the muscles you’re working with laser-like precision. Get the most out of each repetition.
Also, know that the rest and pause technique is fatiguing to your muscles. But as your muscles fatigue with these shorter sets, more muscle fibers have to jump in to help you do another short set. The more muscle fibers you recruit, the more strength you’ll gain, and the quicker you’ll break through that plateau.
To keep making those coveted strength gains and gains in muscle size, don’t let your strength-training routine become too routine. It’s easy to get complacent and keep doing the same movements using the same resistance, but that will only help you maintain your current strength level. It won’t help you make new gains.
Rest and pause helps you challenge your muscles in a way they are unaccustomed to, and that can lead to new strength gains and muscle growth. Plus, traditional strength training gets a bit boring if you never vary how you do it. Rest and pause will stimulate your muscles differently and reduce boredom too. Who doesn’t like new challenges and approaches to strength training?
Many strength coaches use the rest and pause method to help their clients develop strength. If it can work for them, it can work for you too. Use it judiciously though as it’s more fatiguing.
Use This Approach for a Variety of Strength-Training Exercises
You can use the rest and pause approach for most strength training exercises, especially those where you’re stuck at a certain weight and want to break through to new gains. It’s an effective approach for muscle hypertrophy too. If hypertrophy is your goal, lighten up a little on the weight on the first set, so you can complete your repetitions before your muscles fatigue. For hypertrophy, choose a weight you can do 6 to 8 repetitions on the first set. You can change the stimulus on your muscles by altering the resistance you use or the rest period between sets. When you first start, you might use a longer rest period than 10 seconds.
The Bottom Line
The rest and pause approach is one way to challenge your muscles in a way that helps you build more strength. It’s also a way to diversify your training to relieve boredom and get new results from your hard work. Give it a try when you’re stuck in a strength plateau.
References:
- Prestes J, A Tibana R, de Araujo Sousa E, da Cunha Nascimento D, de Oliveira Rocha P, F Camarço N, Frade de Sousa NM, Willardson JM. Strength and Muscular Adaptations After 6 Weeks of Rest-Pause vs. Traditional Multiple-Sets Resistance Training in Trained Subjects. J Strength Cond Res. 2019 Jul;33 Suppl 1:S113-S121. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001923. PMID: 28617715.
- “The Ten Rules of Progressive Overload – Bret Contreras.” bretcontreras.com/progressive-overload/.
- “Strength training: Get stronger, leaner, healthier – Mayo ….” 15 May. 2021, mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/strength-training/art-20046670.
- Rooney KJ, Herbert RD, Balnave RJ. Fatigue contributes to the strength training stimulus. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1994 Sep;26(9):1160-4. PMID: 7808251.
- Prestes J, A Tibana R, de Araujo Sousa E, da Cunha Nascimento D, de Oliveira Rocha P, F Camarço N, Frade de Sousa NM, Willardson JM. Strength and Muscular Adaptations After 6 Weeks of Rest-Pause vs. Traditional Multiple-Sets Resistance Training in Trained Subjects. J Strength Cond Res. 2019 Jul;33 Suppl 1:S113-S121. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001923. PMID: 28617715.
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