Rest Between Sets: Impact on Muscle Growth
You train and train, but your muscles seem to have hit a plateau where muscle building isn't really progressing? You go to the gym regularly, doing endurance and strength training, but your muscle growth results are disappointing? The more you train and the fewer breaks you take, the more your progress seems to stagnate?
Various fitness studies have now shown that it's not just about the type of training, but also the structure of the program and the rest periods during strength training.
Most people don't give much thought to how they spend the rest period between individual sets. Perhaps you sit there and wait until you feel your muscles have recovered enough. Or you take a short pseudo-break and continue as quickly as possible, hoping that great effort will lead to great success.
The following tips are designed to help you effectively achieve your training goals at our gym in Ebikon.
The Influence of Rest Between Exercises
Various fitness studies have shown that the way muscles are allowed to relax between sets has a significant impact on training results.
Definition of Set Rest
Most exercises are repeated in several so-called sets. Set rests refer to the breaks between the individual rounds of an exercise in your workout. However, the same time also applies to breaks caused by changing exercises. At our gym in Ebikon, we therefore offer many different exercise options so you can continue training at your ideal rhythm, even if the next machine on your training plan happens to be occupied.
Which Set Rest for Which Goal?
Beginner Trainers:
If you're just starting fitness training or rejoining after a long break, the set rests should initially be a bit longer. To give your body a chance to adapt to the new demands, you should take breaks of up to 150 seconds. At our gym in Ebikon, we are happy to support you with your (re)start.
Strength Increase
Your strength increase plan is structured so that you do fewer repetitions per set, but with higher weight. This high exertion can lead to muscle acidification, which can cause muscle pain or even a decrease in performance. To prevent this, the rest for strength building should be about 3-5 minutes long, allowing the muscle time to recover and be ready for the next set.
Muscle Building and Strength Endurance
If you are interested in muscle building and strength endurance, you will train with moderately high weights and more repetitions. With this approach, the muscle is well supplied with oxygen and does not acidify. Therefore, shorter set rests of 30-60 seconds are sufficient before the muscle should be trained again.
A Completely New Approach - Active Rests
A new study has shown that light cardio training during 30-60 second breaks provided benefits to the body in breaking down metabolic waste products and improved the activation of individual muscle fibers. This enhanced the effect of the exercises, because the more muscle fibers are engaged during exercises, the more muscle fibers are stimulated to grow, which in turn improved training results.
If you now want to know how best to integrate these tips into your fitness training plan, come to our gym in Ebikon. At our state-of-the-art fitness studio in Ebikon, you benefit from our personal support. We regularly offer you individual training plans to track your progress and support you in achieving your personal goals. Feel free to talk to us about it!
Let it burn – muscles vs. fat
Losing weight is an ultimate challenge for many people. Whether it's saying goodbye to a comfortable and familiar routine for a while or simply finding the necessary motivation to let the pounds drop. In many cases, it comes down to small but important details that need to be considered to get rid of those unwanted love handles in the long run. In addition to physical activity in the form of strength and endurance training, these details also include a little knowledge about the human energy balance. Our gym in Ebikon offers the perfect opportunities to reach your long-awaited goal.
The three different macronutrients in nutrition
At the beginning, you should clearly define which goal you want to achieve. Some want to build muscle, while others prefer to reduce their weight to fit back into their favorite pair of pants.
If you want to lose weight, you should know about the different macronutrients that make up our food. One of these macronutrients is carbohydrates. Among other things, these are essential for regulating our blood sugar levels.
When you eat carbohydrate-rich foods, your blood sugar level rises. In healthy people, this is regulated by the production of insulin, which transports the sugar from the blood into the cells. The cells can then produce energy from it.
A distinction must be made between good and bad carbohydrates. The "good" ones are long-chain and are found particularly in potatoes, rice, vegetables, and whole-grain products, while the "bad" ones are in processed foods, sweets, and sugary drinks. This is where the devil is in the details: while good carbohydrates keep blood sugar stable, their unhealthy counterparts cause a rapid rise and fall, which can result in food cravings. Generally, 1 gram of ingested carbohydrates provides 4.1 calories.
In addition to carbohydrates, proteins are another essential component of our food. Like carbohydrates, they have an energy density of 4.1 calories per gram. Proteins, also known as egg whites, contribute significantly to the maintenance, building, and regeneration of muscles by providing the body with valuable amino acids.
The third group of macronutrients is fats. At 9 calories per gram, they provide more than twice as much energy as carbohydrates and proteins, so high fat consumption should be avoided if your training goal is to reduce body fat. Of course, the human body needs fats, but as with everything, a distinction must be made between good and bad fats. Fish, olive oil, and nuts, for example, contain healthy, unsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. With their anti-inflammatory effects, they are an important part of maintaining health.
A balanced diet with the right distribution of these three macronutrients is the first step toward a healthy lifestyle. Nothing is forbidden, but as Paracelsus once said: "The dose makes the poison!" At our gym in Ebikon, you will receive the best advice on suitable nutrition plans.
Negative energy balance: The be-all and end-all of weight loss
In addition to a balanced diet, physical activity is the second important building block for losing weight. Physical activity burns additional calories on top of the resting metabolic rate that we take in with our daily diet.
An iron motto applies here: if you want to lose weight, you must have a negative energy balance. This term means that over a certain period of time, you burn more calories than you consume through your diet. This can be achieved through targeted muscle training and endurance training. Now, you have to keep in mind that you don't start burning fat from the very first second of exercise; no, first the carbohydrate stores must be emptied. If these stores are completely full due to a lack of exercise and an unbalanced diet, usually 300 to 400 grams of carbohydrates must be burned, which corresponds to about 1,200 to 1,600 calories. That's quite a lot!
Only when these stores are empty does our organism switch to fat burning and let the accumulated deposits shrink. This requires a good portion of self-confidence, motivation, and perseverance. A combination of endurance and strength training at the gym in Ebikon is ideal for setting new training stimuli, providing variety, and utilizing the so-called afterburn effect. During "afterburning," extra calories are burned to regenerate the muscles even hours after training while at rest. The better trained the body is and the more muscle is built, the more calories are burned.
With the innovative training equipment at the Ebikon gym, variety and the setting of training stimuli are guaranteed.
Give it a try!
If you need help taking a significant step closer to your goal, then you've come to the right place at our gym in Ebikon. In a pleasant atmosphere, innovative training equipment for endurance and muscle training is available to you, where you will receive professional instruction on how to train correctly.
The state-of-the-art studio offers further benefits with the development of tailor-made nutrition and training plans that you can practically apply and integrate into your new daily routine at any time. We are happy to sit down with you and provide professional advice.
We look forward to seeing you!
Dumbbell training: Why should you pick up weights?
Do you go to the gym regularly but don't feel confident enough to try free weights yet? You should definitely change that, because training with dumbbells is definitely preferable to training (exclusively) on machines. We see this time and again in our gym in Ebikon. Below, we'd like to give you an overview of the specific benefits.
What are the two types of free weight training?
Before we look at the individual benefits, it makes sense to look at the two different types of training. A distinction is made between dumbbell and barbell training.
Barbells are perfect for performing basic exercises such as bench presses, squats, and shoulder presses. These basic exercises form the foundation of successful fitness training. Furthermore, you can generally lift a little more weight with a barbell than with dumbbells. This boosts muscle activity and calorie consumption.
With dumbbells, you can reach all muscle groups in your body. This also applies to the deep muscles. There are numerous exercise variations you can try. Performing basic exercises is also possible, but requires a bit of skill. Compared to barbell training, training with dumbbells allows for more freedom of movement, which promotes your coordination skills.
Strength training with weights promotes intramuscular coordination
When you train on machines, a large part of the coordination work is taken care of for you. For inexperienced athletes, the latter can even be helpful, as the movement sequences first have to be learned. Training equipment reduces the risk of incorrect exercise execution, but only addresses individual muscle groups. After a while, you should dare to integrate free weights into your training plan.
With free weight training, both the main muscles (agonists) and the supporting muscles (synergists) must become active to perform the desired movement. Put simply: every muscle in your body works along with you. In the long run, this improves intramuscular coordination. The more smoothly the muscles interact with each other, the more power they can exert in a movement. This way, you achieve maximum training progress.
Training with weights makes you flexible
It is possible to mimic almost all machine exercises with free weights. This makes you more flexible if you can't visit our gym in Ebikon (e.g., while on vacation). Every athlete should have at least two pairs of dumbbells of different weight classes. You can get these at specialist sports stores.
But free weight training also has advantages in the gym itself: instead of wandering from machine to machine and potentially having to wait during peak times for the desired machine to become free, you only need your weights and can get started undisturbed. You don't need much space for free weight training.
Training with weights is suitable for any fitness goal
Training with weights is suitable for both muscle building and muscle definition. The latter can be controlled by appropriate set breaks. This refers to the rest periods between individual sets and exercises. Recommended set breaks differ depending on the training goal:
- Set break for maximum strength: 3–5 minutes
- Set break for muscle building: 1.5–2.5 minutes
- Set break for muscular endurance: 30–60 seconds
In addition, weight exercises promote coordination, functionality, and strength. Since a workout with free weights is significantly more strenuous than training with machines, you also burn significantly more calories. This is relevant for everyone who would like to lose weight. No matter what your goal is: weight training should definitely not be missing from a long-term training plan.
Training with weights ensures faster muscle progression
Training progress, i.e., muscle progression, is easy to control with free weight training. Your body automatically adapts to the load you regularly confront it with. Depending on the intervals at which you increase your training weight, you can optimally accelerate this process. The increase can be more tailored to your needs with weights than on a training machine, which can often only be adjusted in 5 kg increments.
Important to know: Without a regular increase in training weight, you will obviously stop making progress. Therefore, adjust your weight at least every 6 weeks. We are happy to advise you on this at Gym Ebikon.
Conclusion: Find support in our gym in Ebikon
Do you need help achieving your fitness goals? Would you like to train in a gym with a pleasant atmosphere? In our state-of-the-art gym in Ebikon, we offer you comprehensive support. Together with you, our professional trainers will create an individual training plan that is precisely tailored to your needs and training goals. Feel free to contact us; we look forward to seeing you.
30-Day Summer Body Challenge
Every year, summer arrives with sun, heat, and often, unfortunately, not the desired bikini body. At least not on its own, because unfortunately, almost all of us have to work for it repeatedly. The inner couch potato is once again in the way and needs to be conquered. If you're also struggling with it and want to work on your summer body, our article will certainly help you get rid of your inner slacker. We'll show you how to get fit in just four weeks with our 30-Day Summer Body Challenge. We'll introduce you to varied exercises, give you valuable tips, and show you what you can do for motivation during your workout.
Valuable tips, motivation, and effective exercises
First and foremost, three crucial tips are important that you should always keep in mind during your training. Many people make the mistake of being over-motivated, especially at the beginning, and simply overdoing it. This leads to the exact opposite of what should be achieved.
For example, if you can't do an exercise, have too much trouble performing it, or even feel pain, stop immediately. In this case, you should either reduce the repetitions, take more breaks, or skip a specific training session entirely.
Overly ambitious behavior, overexertion, and pain quickly create a negative association with exercise and demotivate you from continuing. Our exercises are merely suggestions for you. You can follow them exactly or combine them according to your individual needs. If, over time, you find that some exercises are too easy for you, feel free to adjust or intensify them.
It's also very important that you don't always do everything alone at all costs. Therefore, you should seek help. Because especially if you perform certain exercises incorrectly, it can have fatal consequences for your health.
If you are unsure about performing an exercise, you should definitely consult a professional trainer, like those available at our fitness studio in Ebikon. They can explain and demonstrate the exercise to you on site.
For our 30-Day Summer Body Challenge, the four core disciplines of training are especially important: upper body training, lower body training, endurance training (cardio training), and of course, rest.
Proper nutrition is also crucial
For the perfect summer body, not only fitness plays a decisive role, but of course, nutrition as well. Here, it is very important what you consume both before and after exercise so that you see results in the end.
Especially if you want to lose weight, you should consciously create a calorie deficit to reduce body fat. To do this, you should avoid high-fat and high-carbohydrate foods and instead eat more protein-rich foods and vegetables. These include, for example, fish, skinless chicken, salad, or cream cheese.
Furthermore, you should, of course, drink plenty of water, but completely avoid sugary drinks and alcohol.
An overview of some exercises and their intervals
Upper body training consists of push-ups and planks. Due to the full-body tension, almost the entire body is engaged and trained here. We will show you exactly what to consider at our fitness studio in Ebikon.
Squats and the so-called wall sit come into play during lower body training. These primarily train the leg muscles – especially the thighs. With these exercises, correct posture during execution is extremely important. The back, in particular, plays a crucial role here. If you are unsure about this, you should consult a trained coach who can show and explain the exercises in detail. We are happy to help you with this at our fitness studio in Ebikon.
Finally, running for endurance training is indispensable. To avoid injuries, you should always include some stretching exercises. You can also run on a treadmill in our fitness studio in Ebikon, for example.
You should complete these three basic pillars alternately on different days for four weeks. It is important that you focus on one body part per day. Every third to fourth day, you should definitely take a break so that your body can regenerate.
If you need help on your way to your bikini body and want to train in a gym in Ebikon with a pleasant atmosphere and professional, motivated trainers, then come to us. In our state-of-the-art studio, we will gladly sit down with you and create your individually tailored fitness plan. Contact us!
