3292: How Much Rest Do You Need Between Exercise Sets and Days and How to Design the Best Workout Routine

Optimal Health Daily - Fitness and Nutrition

Optimal Living Daily LLC

Nutrition, Fitness, Health & Fitness

4.5 • 677 Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2026

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3292: Dr. Neal Malik answers a listener’s question about rest intervals during workouts, explaining how adjusting rest periods can impact strength gains, workout intensity, and recovery. Drawing from both science and personal insight, he emphasizes the balance between stress and rest as the key to progress, injury prevention, and long-term growth. Quotes to ponder: "Stress plus rest equals growth." "By limiting your rest time, you're gonna keep your heart rate up so your resistance training actually becomes kind of a cardio workout too." "Maintaining proper form is so important for injury prevention." Episode references: Peak Performance: https://www.amazon.com/Peak-Performance-Elevate-Achieve-Greater/dp/162336793X Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's another Q&A edition of Optimal Health Daily, and I'm Dr. Neil Malick.
0:05.4	Hey there, happy Friday, Friday the 13th, and welcome to another Q&A edition of Optimal Health
0:10.8	Daily, where I answer your health questions related to fitness, diet and nutrition, and more.
0:16.4	You send in the questions, and I answer them for you.
0:19.3	So let's hear today's question as we optimize your life.
0:26.4	Good afternoon, Dr. Neal. This is Wes from Tallahassee. And my question regards rest during a workout.
0:34.2	I like to work out at a very fast pace. I don't like to sit and rest in between sets and
0:40.4	prefer to move from exercise to exercise. I do rest in between workouts and allow recovery time there,
0:48.5	but I'm wondering how much I'm hurting or short-changing my gains by not taking the recommended
0:54.0	30-second rest in- between sets, for example.
0:57.4	Thanks, and I hope to hear an answer.
1:00.1	Hi, Wes from Tallahassee. Thank you for your question and for listening to the show.
1:04.5	You mentioned something super important. Rest between workouts. Now, I know your question was about
1:10.7	rest periods during a workout,
1:12.5	and I promise I will get to that, but I wanted to be sure to mention that recovery time
1:17.0	between workouts is vital to experiencing gains, if any kind. One of the biggest reasons for
1:23.1	this is because this time between workouts allows your muscles to repair themselves.
1:28.2	And this is important for not only injury prevention, but for optimal muscle growth too.
1:33.9	And in fact, I happen to be reading a book called Peak Performance,
1:37.4	Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success
1:41.3	by Bradley Stoolberg and Steve Magnus.
1:43.8	And they mention a formula in
	...

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