ReviewSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2014
The effect of inter-set rest intervals on resistance exercise-induced muscle hypertrophy.
Review in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effects of Resistance Training in Hypobaric vs. Normobaric Hypoxia on Circulating Ions and Hormones.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Prescribed Rest Intervals in Home-Based Exercise Therapy and Rehabilitation: A Narrative Review and Conceptual Framework for Temporal Fidelity.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand. Resistance Training Prescription for Muscle Function, Hypertrophy, and Physical Performance in Healthy Adults: An Overview of Reviews.Medicine and science in sports and exercise · 2026 · on this mapReview
- Effects of Advanced Resistance Training Systems on Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength in Recreationally Trained Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2026Review
- The Influence of Step Load Periodisation Based on Time Under Tension in Hypoxic Conditions on Hormone Concentrations and Postoperative ACL Rehabilitation of a Judo Athlete: A Case Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Relationship between maximal oxygen uptake, within-set fatigue and between-set recovery during resistance exercise in resistance-trained men and women.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2024Article
- 4-week stretching program after submaximal strength exercise affects performance but not heart rate variability and lactate clearance. An exploratory study.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2024Article
- Myofiber hypertrophy adaptations following 6 weeks of low-load resistance training with blood flow restriction in untrained males and females.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2023Article
- Higher Muscle Damage Triggered by Shorter Inter-Set Rest Periods in Volume-Equated Resistance Exercise.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Autoregulation in Resistance Training for Lower Limb Tendinopathy: A Potential Method for Addressing Individual Factors, Intervention Issues, and Inadequate Outcomes.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Review
- Efficacy of a new strength training design: the 3/7 method.European journal of applied physiology · 2019Article
- Comparison of changes in lean body mass with a strength- versus muscle endurance-based resistance training program.European journal of applied physiology · 2019Article
- Role of metabolic stress for enhancing muscle adaptations: Practical applications.World journal of methodology · 2017Review
- Comparison of muscle activity and tissue oxygenation during strength training protocols that differ by their organisation, rest interval between sets, and volume.European journal of applied physiology · 2016Article
- Application of the Repetitions in Reserve-Based Rating of Perceived Exertion Scale for Resistance Training.Strength and conditioning journal · 2016Article
- Training Monitoring for Resistance Exercise: Theory and Applications.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2016Review
- Resistance Exercise to Prevent and Manage Sarcopenia and Dynapenia.Annual review of gerontology & geriatricsArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Due to a scarcity of longitudinal trials directly measuring changes in muscle girth, previous recommendations for inter-set rest intervals in resistance training programs designed to stimulate muscular hypertrophy were primarily based on the post-exercise endocrinological response and other mechanisms theoretically related to muscle growth. New research regarding the effects of inter-set rest interval manipulation on resistance training-induced muscular hypertrophy is reviewed here to evaluate current practices and provide directions for future research. Of the studies measuring long-term muscle hypertrophy in groups employing different rest intervals, none have found superior muscle growth in the shorter compared with the longer rest interval group and one study has found the opposite. Rest intervals less than 1 minute can result in acute increases in serum growth hormone levels and these rest intervals also decrease the serum testosterone to cortisol ratio. Long-term adaptations may abate the post-exercise endocrinological response and the relationship between the transient change in hormonal production and chronic muscular hypertrophy is highly contentious and appears to be weak. The relationship between the rest interval-mediated effect on immune system response, muscle damage, metabolic stress, or energy production capacity and muscle hypertrophy is still ambiguous and largely theoretical. In conclusion, the literature does not support the hypothesis that training for muscle hypertrophy requires shorter rest intervals than training for strength development or that predetermined rest intervals are preferable to auto-regulated rest periods in this regard.
Indexed as
Identifiers
25047853What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.