When is the rest period between sets too long?

[Greg Ruhl]

At what point is a rest period between sets too long? What would the warm up be to get back to a working weight?

I workout at home and sometimes get pulled away for 15-30 minutes. At this point is the full warm up progression recommended? My normal rest period between sets is 6 minutes.

[John Hanley]

At what point is a rest period between sets too long? What would the warm up be to get back to a working weight?

I workout at home and sometimes get pulled away for 15-30 minutes. At this point is the full warm up progression recommended? My normal rest period between sets is 6 minutes.

If you think it's been too long, it's been too long. You'll literally feel cool/clammy.

Yup, you need to re-warm up. Maybe not your full routine, but certainly some sort of scaled-back warmup.

You're guaranteed to injure yourself lifting cold/cool.

[idlehands]

You never see a lion warming up before a hunt...

For real though a few quick "plate math" sets would probably be fine?

Aint the Savannah hot as fuck? Course he don't need to warm up.

[lewabbit]

Aint the Savannah hot as fuck? Course he don't need to warm up.

And you see how much fur he done grown around his neck? Course he don't need to warm up.

[dhalli]

I was thinking of asking the same question as the OP.

My rest periods between sets are sometimes dictated by external events... usually kids. I train at home, so it's inevitable.

I've had the odd time where I had a ~30 minute interruption between sets, even a couple times where there was upwards of an hour.

For Bench, I'm cooled down by the 20 minute mark. I'll pull off plates and warm up again from 135lb... or from an empty bar if it's been much longer.

Squat? Who knows. If it's been ~30 minutes I grab a plate and do some goblet squats, then just resume from wherever I was. I don't know if that's right or wrong, hopefully it's still on the conservative side as I'm trying really hard to prevent injury.

edit: with Squat, the one or two times it's been much more than a half hour... I've gone back down to an empty bar and started the warmups all over again, then been worn the fuck out and barely able to complete my work set(s).

[John Hanley]

^ I think we've all had the "forced 30 minute rest periods".

I think going forward my policy will be to scrap the workout.

I recently tweaked my back deadlifting after a ~30 minute rest. Garage was 50ish degrees; I had neoprene shorts & knee sleeves; was wearing a hat & sweats, etc. Thought I'd be fine. A small voice told me doing the set was a stupid idea, but I went for it. Pointless & preventable tweak