does getting older change...

[eppyg]

Rest times between sets, both warm up and work. I know that you're supposed to take the time it takes to be ready without going cold. My question is whether anyone has found that it takes longer than it did when they were younger or longer than for younger folks they coach or train with. I feel like mine are getting longer, and I'm not sure if that's reasonable or a product of some combination of recovery issues/lack of conditioning/mental wussiness.

My lifts

SQ 240
DL 250
Bench 185
Press 125
PC 100 (had to reboot these to get form down)

I'm not at big numbers, so I am skeptical that my five minutes between work sets is really warranted. My first thought is that I just need to focus more, in and out of the gym. On the other hand, all of these numbers are just shy of my PRs, so maybe it's not so bad. I can occasionally get away with 4 minutes on the pressing movements.

Anybody got ideas on this?

[Joe Murphy]

Yes. I try to wait 4 minutes between work sets which seems like a bunch on paper but in real life isn't always enough.

[Mark E. Hurling]

My own experience is that yes a little longer is better. I used to cut short the rest to 1-2 minutes between sets. Now I do 3-5 minutes.

[Bryan Dobson]

yes. as the weight get heavier the rest must get longer between sets. Once into work sets I aim for 5 minutes. If doing singles I can cut it to 3. don't feel guilty for taking as long as it takes to make the next set.

[Rherington]

I wait a minute and a half between work sets. My lifts are comparable to the OP's. Still doing LP though. Seems long enough for me right now.

[Karl Schudt]

Somewhere in PPST it mentions that the complete recovery of energy stores can take 3-7 minutes. I add on some time to rebuild my gumption, and generally take about 10 minutes before my top sets. Gumption is important!

[eppyg]

I wait a minute and a half between work sets. My lifts are comparable to the OP's. Still doing LP though. Seems long enough for me right now.

You're killing me, man. I'm envious. Out of curiosity, do you think you'd be able to take bigger jumps if your took longer rests?

Thanks everybody for the responses. At 40 y.o., I feel like I ought to be able to rest for shorter time, but as has been said in this particular forum before, better to take your time and keep progressing.

[eppyg]

Somewhere in PPST it mentions that the complete recovery of energy stores can take 3-7 minutes. I add on some time to rebuild my gumption, and generally take about 10 minutes before my top sets. Gumption is important!

Good point. I'll keep it in mind. Won't hurt me to spend some time getting psyched up.

[Oldster]

Gumption is important!

HA! Now that is funny Karl, just because it is so true!

But I'm going to be the odd one out on this, my rest times are substantially shorter than they were 20 years ago. I've found as I get into 'lifting shape' for a certain movement the shorter the rest time I need.

[JohnnytheGeek]

What I've been trying lately is using my heart rate monitor as a guide, although I'm not sure if there's a correlation between aerobic recovery and ability to do strength work. Currently, I've been using about 3-4 minutes between work sets, albeit I'm still quite the novice. For example my squat sets today, my max HR after the sets were about 175. I waited until HR got back to around 120 before hitting the next set.