Hey folks. While boring you with some pics from today's workout, let me share with you something I've learned from a couple of years of weight training. In a word:
Have rest periods.
When you lift weights, you don't want it to become cardio. Strength training is very specific. It's the rest periods that make weight training what it is.
The rest periods are what make strength training produce the results people want, which is strength, muscle, body sculpting, and then all the other side effects that come from that like a higher metabolism. If you don't rest between sets, it becomes cardio training.
So why the rest period? It's not because you need the rest. You can just keep the workout going. I know that. The reason for resting is so that you can focus on muscle and strength gains. When you go beyond that, you're working on something called endurance. Endurance training is fine if that's what you want.
If you're wanting to build strength, then don't rest. With strength training, the reason you take a rest is to replenish your muscle energy so as to train what's called the anaerobic energy pathways. When you do this, the result is muscle growth. That's why you need to take a break between sets.
It has nothing to do with whether or not you feel tired. In other words, a difficult workout is not necessarily a more effective workout. People often assume that if it's harder then its automatically better. That's not true at all. For me, 3 minutes of rest between sets produces the best results. Sometimes I have to take a 5-minute rest. You're actually better off doing fewer exercises and taking rest periods than pushing through and doing your sets back to back.
Anyway, just some thoughts. Hope this helps!