Rest is the most abused training variable. Students don’t want to rest enough, and some coaches abuse it to build toughness (whatever that is). However, with a bit of understanding and classification, rest can be a powerful ally, like the force.

In The Quick and the Dead, Pavel references Prof. Matveev’s rest classifications as stress, stimulation, and ordinary.

Stress intervals are short and result in progressively accumulating fatigue. Modern day “interval training.”

Stimulation rest intervals are like those used in “greasing the groove.” Pavel’s new book will cover this.

Ordinary rest intervals allow for full recovery (more or less) but no more.

These ordinary rest intervals are utilized in the 10x10 protocol from The Quick and the Dead. Prof. Nikolay Volkov found that for circa 15-second sprints, two-and-a-half to three minutes of rest hit the mark for an ordinary rest interval. A set of 10 swings, for example, every three minutes for 10 sets. This is not only excellent anti-glycolytic training but can also provide some hypertrophy.

Simple, straightforward, and effective.

But can the rest be “played” in a different way?

Get The Quick and the Dead to see how Pavel improved upon the straightforward 10x10.