Don’t skip the intervals

by Jay Hiller, August 19, 2022

An interval is a brief break between sets of an exercise.
Photo by Lilian Velet on Unsplash

My friend thinks that a run of minor injuries she sustained while working out are because she was skipping the intervals. You probably already know that a workout can be organized into sets of exercises with breaks in between the sets, the intervals. An example would be 3 sets of 8 goblet squats with a 90 second rest or interval between each set. The rest gives your muscles a chance to recover a bit between sets. When I workout I usually take a 90 second interval. If I’m tired or feeling a little rundown I’ll take more.

Taking rest intervals is good for you and it’s tempting to skip them, especially if you’re in a hurry. I know when I’ve done workouts that were designed without interval breaks, I started losing good form, which meant that I was getting less out of my workout. That was the best case scenario. The worst case scenario was that I was placing myself at risk of injury.

Maybe it’s just me. I do like a good break and I’ll take one when it’s offered. Saving 90 seconds just doesn’t seem worth the risk and the benefits of performing the exercises correctly are worth the 90 second rest to me. Also did I mention that I like to rest?

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