• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

  • Fitness
  • Workouts
    • Best Shoulder Workouts
    • Best Chest Workouts
    • Best Leg Workouts
    • Best Leg Exercises
    • Best Biceps Exercises
    • Best Kettlebell Exercises
    • Best Back Workouts
    • Best HIIT Workouts
    • Best Triceps Exercises
    • Best Arm Workouts
  • Reviews
    • Supplements
      • Best Pre-Workouts
      • Best Protein Powder
      • Best Whey Protein
      • Best Creatine
      • AG1 Review
    • Equipment
      • Best Adjustable Dumbbells
      • Best Home Gym Machines
    • Certifications
      • ISSA Review
  • News
  • Exercise Guides
    • Legs
      • Back Squat
      • Bulgarian Split Squat
      • Goblet Squat
      • Zercher Squat
      • Standing Calf Raise
      • Hack Squat
    • Chest
      • Bench Press
      • Dumbbell Bench Press
      • Close-Grip Bench Press
      • Incline Bench Press
    • Shoulders
      • Overhead Dumbbell Press
      • Lateral Raise
    • Arms
      • Chin-Up
      • Weighted Pull-Up
      • Triceps Pushdown
    • Back
      • Deadlift
      • Trap Bar Deadlift
      • Lat Pulldown
      • Inverted Row
      • Bent-Over Barbell Row
      • Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
      • Pendlay Row
Learn

Bench Press, Sex, and Rest Intervals: What’s the Best Combo?

What length of rest interval gives the best performance in the bench press? Does this change between men and women? Does it change between very strong men and weaker men?

Written by Jeff Barnett Last updated on September 18, 2012

A recent study investigated some intriguing questions: “What length of rest interval gives the best performance in the bench press? Does this change between men and women? Does it change between very strong men and weaker men?”

Rest intervals of 1, 2, and 3 minutes were tested. The study prescribed 75% of a particpant’s one rep max done in 3 sets of 10 reps. And while I have no evidence, I’m sure the study was conducted on Mondays, because bench press is always done on Mondays. Okay, I kid, back to real science now.

The results showed that with the given weight and rep scheme, women outperformed men at all rest intervals. This supports the anecdotal evidence from strength coach Mark Rippetoe and others that women can generally perform more reps than men at any given percentage of one rep max. Is something really fundamentally different about the female body that confers this advantage? We’re left to speculate.

Increasing the rest interval from 1 minute to 2 minutes gave much more marginal benefit than the increase from 2 minutes to 3 minutes. As you might expect, the 3 minute rest interval still yielded the best overall performance. But the increase was so small compared to the 2 minute rest interval that we’re left to question whether 3 minute rest intervals are an efficient use of training time. Particularly, women showed only a tiny benefit by waiting that extra minute before getting back under the bar.

The study also found that stronger men could perform fewer reps than weaker men at 75% one rep max. This isn’t surprising given the neuromuscular component of strength training. This disparity is probably caused by the fact that weaker trainees, all other things being equal, have less developed nervous systems than stronger trainees. Nervous system development is as much a part of strength training as muscular development. In short, the weaker trainees probably weren’t really doing more reps at 75% one rep max – they actually hadn’t developed their nervous systems enough to know their true one rep maxes.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

About Jeff Barnett

Jeff Barnett is a CrossFit affiliate owner, mechanical engineer, and former Marine. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. He holds specialty certifications as a CrossFit Mobility Trainer, CrossFit Olympic Lifting Trainer, CrossFit Gymnastics Trainer and is a USA Weightlifting Sports and Performance Coach. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA.

Jeff served as a Marine officer from 2003-2007 and deployed to Fallujah in 2006. After leaving the Marine Corps he co-founded CrossFit Impulse in 2009. His writing focuses on fitness, nutrition, and leadership. Jeff’s writing has appeared in publications as diverse as The New York Times and CrossFit Journal.

Jeff competed in the CrossFit Games Southeast Regionals in 2010 as an individual competitor and 2012 as a team competitor. If you don’t find him training hard or coaching athletes to PRs at CrossFit Impulse, then he’s probably wakeboarding, snowboarding, or eating meat off the bone.

View All Articles

Recommended Articles

Samantha Eugenie 270-pound bench press PR June 2023
Samantha Eugenie Crushes 122.5-Kilogram (270-Pound) Bench Press PR
Long-haired person in gym doing barbell bench press
The Importance of a Bench Press Arch
Shelly Stettner 2023 Masters Raw Nationals
72-Year-OId Shelly Stettner Scores 2 Competition PRs at 2023 Masters Nationals
person in gym locking out dumbbell press
How to Do the Hex Press for Chest Size without Shoulder Pain

Primary Sidebar

Latest Articles

Low-Bar vs. High-Bar Squats: What’s the Best Lower-Body Builder for You?

Chris Bumstead is Building His Own Private Gym

Samantha Eugenie Crushes 122.5-Kilogram (270-Pound) Bench Press PR

Ronnie Coleman Says Derek Lunsford is His Favorite Modern Bodybuilder

Latest Reviews

Athletic Greens AG1

Athletic Greens AG1 Review: Is This Greens Powder Worth It?

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

Best Whey Proteins for Packing on Muscle, Shredding Down, Meal Replacement, and More

Best Pre-Workouts for Building Muscle, Running, Taste, and More

woman lifting barbell

Be the smartest person in your gym

The Breaking Muscle newsletter is everything you need to know about strength in a 3 minute read.

I WANT IN!

Breaking Muscle is the fitness world’s preeminent destination for timely, high-quality information on exercise, fitness, health, and nutrition. Our audience encompasses the entire spectrum of the fitness community: consumers, aficionados, fitness professionals, and business owners. We seek to inform, educate and advocate for this community.

  • Reviews
  • Healthy Eating
  • Workouts
  • Fitness
  • News

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed

© 2023 · Breaking Muscle · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Affiliate Disclaimer · Accessibility · About