Bob Hoffman
Experiments With Rest-Pause Training
Background
For those unfamiliar with the term, rest-pause is a method of resistance training where a brief pause is taken between repetitions. Some variations involve a pause between every repetition of a set, some involve pausing between reps or groups of reps to enable the performance of additional repetitions after muscular failure has been reached. The rest-pause between reps is typically between 5 and 15 seconds, and some variations start lower and increase as the set becomes progressively harder.
Rest pause is not a new method of training, or even a relatively recent development. Peary Rader wrote about rest pause training in 1946 in one of his Iron Man training courses, The Rader Master Bodybuilding and Weight Gaining System, and Bob Hoffman wrote about a method of rest pause he called Muscle Contraction with Measured Movement in 1962 in his Functional Isometric Contraction - Advanced Course. There have been numerous variations since then, some of the most popular being the 20 rep breathing squats popularized by Randall Strossen in his book Super Squats, Mike Mentzer’s version from High Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way, and Dante Trudell’s “Dogg Crapp” training method. › Continue reading