Rest Pause, Inter-repetition Rest Technique

The rest pause technique involves performing one or more reps of an exercise with a heavy weight/resistance. You then pause for a short period before continuing to perform one or more reps.

There are differing interpretations and many different ways to apply this training technique which makes analyzing and using the research difficult. There are also some confusing protocols in specific tests. It does, however, appear to be worth considering. This technique apparently allows you to maintain higher power through the course of the set and therefore may be useful for developing improvements in power.

You can perform the rest pause or inter-repetition technique in several ways:

• Spaced out reps e.g. 1 rep, pause, 1 rep, pause, 1 rep.
• Cluster reps e.g. 3 reps, longer pause, 3 reps.
• Perform a set of reps and then pause briefly to be able to get in 1 or more reps as a finisher.

References

1. Effect of interrepetition rest intervals on weight training repetition power output. Lawton TW, Cronin JB, Lindsell RP. J Strength Cond Res. 2006 Feb;20(1):172-6. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16503678

2. Acute neuromuscular and fatigue responses to the rest-pause method. Marshall PW, et al. J Sci Med Sport. 2012 Mar;15(2):153-8. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21940213