Adequate rest during your workouts is incredibly important.

In this short video Coach James explains why you NEED to rest between your sets if you want to;

• Get stronger
• Lose body fat
• Get rid of pain
• Improve bone density
• Consistently make progress.

adequate rest means stronger lifts.

Getting stronger involves adding weight to the barbell over a period of weeks, month, and even years. The rest you take between your sets is incredibly important in allowing your body enough recovery that you can complete the next set that is in your program. When you first start out this may be as little as 2-3 minutes between your sets. But as the weights increase in intensity over the intervening weeks and months your rest times will have to extend along with them. This is because heavier weights are more taxing on your recovery resources than light weights.

So make sure you are taking the time in between sets of be AT LEAST 90% recovered. This will take AT LEAST 3 minutes! So start there.

If you start missing reps sooner than anticipated, you can read the article on the Starting Strength website called “The First Three Questions” which can be found HERE

Stay a novice for as long as you can

When you are a novice your training is simple, you will want to keep your training as simples as possible for as long as possible. This is one of the major benefits of the Starting Strength Novice Program, if you are wondering what this, you can find it HERE.

Executing the Novice Program correctly is a big part of staying a novice as long as your can be, which is a good thing. Your training will get complex eventually, but your program can relatively simple for a long time. With perhaps only a small increase in complexity for at least the first 12 to 18 months of your training career.

Especially if you have never trained before.

So make sure you are not artificially cutting this period of your training short. This is done by not taking enough rest between your working sets of the lifts in the program.

What other mistakes can you make as a beginner?

You can read my other article “Biggest mistakes by beginners in the gym” HERE