Jim Stoppani is the person you go to when you want a workout that is designed around science. That being said – Rest-Pause Training is rather a brutish way of training.
Has Jim found a way to combine brawn with the brain? I’m as interested as you to see…
About the Author – Jim Stoppani
If you do not know who Jim is, I would really advise you to dig into his background. I’m going to try and give you the hyper-pressed version, however, he has so much to his name, that we will be missing some.
Jim Stoppani is famous for his Ph.D. in exercise physiology with a minor in biochemistry – that and his glorious tattoos. Jim rose to fame rather quickly for the manner in which he communicated fitness and health to the general public.
Not only is Jim exceptional at bringing high-level fitness science down to us normal folk, but he is actually an incredibly successful entrepreneur and writer. He’s been around the block, and has the following success stories under his belt:
- Creator of JYM Supplement Science
- Author of Encyclopedia of Muscle & Strength,
- Co-author of LL Cool J’s Platinum 360 Diet and Lifestyle
- Co-author of Stronger Arms & Upper Body
- Has been in multiple other publications
Stoppani is on the same level as Layne Norton and is extremely driven on finding the best manner in which to train and eat for optimal results. This is reflected in his programs like Shortcut to Size and Shortcut to Strength, so you can expect a lot of fine details and highly detailed progressions. Let’s take a look at the Rest-Pause Training plan.
Alternating Rest-Pause Training Overview
Lots of us struggle with muscle imbalances, and some studies actually show that this could place you at a greater risk for injury. Couple that risk with the fact that progressive overload is needed for progression in the gym, and you have yourself in a bad situation.
Jim Stoppani’s Alternating Rest-Pause Training is not just your typical bro-like training program and is actually focused on unilateral movements to resolve any muscle imbalances you may have.
- Fitness level: Intermediate
- Duration: 4 Weeks
- Workouts per week: 4 Workouts per week
- Average workout duration: 45 minutes
- Equipment needed: Full gym
- Goal: Build muscle
Rest-Pause training is actually an old-school training method and was initially popularized by DogCrapp (DC) training, created by Dante Trudel. The idea is hard to understand initially, but it’s actually a lot easier than you might think. Conventional Rest-Pause would look like this:
- Set 1: Reach failure within 10 – 12 reps
- Rest 10 – 15 seconds
- Set 2: Reach failure again (as many as you can)
- Rest 10 – 15 seconds
- Set 3: Reach failure again (as many as you can)
This is a brutal training style and is actually only reserved for certain exercises. Trying to do Rest-Pause on something like deadlifts is not advised. And even when you do use Rest-Pause correctly, overusing this training technique can wreak havoc on your recovery system.
See, training to absolute failure is massively enjoyable, but also incredibly taxing. Taking all of your sets to failure is like pushing your car to run 8000 RPM for hours on end. Your pistons are going to learn to fly real soon… Best be kind to that four-banger and your own body.
The way Jim designed his Rest-Pause training is slightly different, however. Since the overarching goal of the program is to remedy muscle imbalances, your rest pause might look something like this:
- Set 1 [Left Side]: Reach failure within 10 – 12 reps
- Set 2 [Right Side]: Reach failure within 10 – 12 reps
- Set 1 [Left Side]: Reach failure again (as many as you can)
- Set 2 [Right Side]: Reach failure again (as many as you can)
- Set 1 [Left Side]: Reach failure again (as many as you can)
- Set 2 [Right Side]: Reach failure again (as many as you can)
So the time you spend exercising the left part will be the rest period for the right part. Simple really. People might think you’re extremely weird, but in the gym, no one actually cares what you do – it’s definitely a safe space.
Jim also gets around the recovery problem by making sure you only do one or two muscles per day, and you’re limited to only four days in the gym per week. This not only could aid recovery, but because you can recover, you’re more likely to stay on track with the whole plan.
Alternating Rest-Pause Training Details
As mentioned before, Jim has based this whole training plan around using the Rest-Pause mechanism in a different way. But how has he exactly changed it?
First off, does Rest-Pause actually work?
As you may or may not know, hypertrophy (the growth of muscle tissue) is dictated by mechanical tension and progressive overload. What this means is you have to place the muscle under stress for it to actually adapt.
Over the course of weeks or months, you need to provide a novel stimulus to the muscle to give it a reason to adapt. This can be in the form of more weight, more volume, or some other variations like taking less time.
Since the rest-pause method is very reliant on spending more time under tension at a certain weight, it has been questioned in regard to its effectiveness. Finding studies on such niche training methods is hard, but we can look at two:
- The study published in 2019 found that compared to conventional multiple set training, Rest-Pause did not achieve greater hypertrophy, only greater endurance
- A 2012 study found that Rest-Pause training could be beneficial to those who are already resistance-trained
The biggest issue with Rest-Pause training is that most people don’t know where true mechanical failure is, and effort is rarely matched in rest-pause compared to a traditional set sense.
Rest-Pause can work, but you have to be experienced, and you have to be able to work – hard.
One thing to mention is that the definition of Rest-Pause is pretty much the same for everyone, but because Jim has a Ph.D. in Exercise Science, he has the luxury to look at research and see how he can try to improve it.
How did Jim make his program different?
When you open the first workout schedule, you’re in for one hell of a surprise. Jim made his a lot more controlled and scientific compared to other methods you may have seen online.
Jim has removed failure training completely (almost) and has opted for a combination of Rest-Pause and Giant Set training. In a sense, you won’t be hitting failure, but you will be hitting a certain amount of volume per set and session.
This is a much more scientific method compared to the regular Rest-Pause training style – and I am not at all surprised that Jim designed his training in this manner.
Again, this is all going to be unilateral training, so while the brochure says you’ll be in and out within 45 minutes, if you are even remotely strong, you might need more time resting and that will definitely take more than 45 minutes.
That being said, Jim doesn’t want you to be doing cardio or anything unnecessary on your rest days. In fact, his advice is “do nothing”. This makes sense seeing as the goal of this plan is hypertrophy, and all energy should go towards recovery.
3 Alternating Rest-Pause Training Pros
- Rest-Pause is Fun: This may not seem like a pro – but trust me it is. You’re 10 times more likely to do something you find fun or entertaining, and Rest-Pause is different from conventional training, and most people find it quite fun
- Muscle imbalance corrections: The overarching goal of this plan is to fix those imbalances, and by spending so much time and volume per muscle group, you’re going to fix or at least identify those imbalances
- I think beginners could benefit: While the brochure says it is for intermediates, I believe that beginners could benefit from this short program as well
3 Alternating Rest-Pause Training Cons
- It’s not better than conventional lifting: After looking over the studies presented earlier and reading up on Rest-Pause training, there is very little evidence that it is better than conventional lifting
- Time-consuming: Could these workouts be done within the time given? Maybe? I sincerely doubt it, however
- No mention of Nutrition: We all know that Jim is incredibly smart and has the means to educate the people who choose to follow this plan on nutrition – yet he does not. Like his 6 Weeks to Sick Arms Program, the plan is literally just the training plan – and that’s it.
Jim Stoppani’s Alternating Rest-Pause Training – Final Thoughts
Rest-Pause training has been a part of bodybuilders’ training for years and can be incredibly effective in certain individuals. Some coaches have added their own swing to it, such as DC training which uses a DC stretch.
Has Jim really found a way to make it more effective than regular training? I’m not so sure. See, Jim only advises you to hit failure on the very last set on a particular exercise.
This makes me doubt the effectiveness of this training style. See, we know from the literature that if you are not within +- 5 reps of failure, you are not achieving the most amount of muscular adaptation.
Jim only has you go within that 5 reps once per exercise. Does that mean you have spent several sets doing sub-optimal reps when you could have perhaps preserved that energy and used it for more intense sets?
Can you build muscle with this plan? Absolutely, there is no doubt you can. But I simply do not believe it is the most optimal for muscle hypertrophy. There is very little if any mention of progressive overload, and for most, a conventional training method would be better.
That being said, as a muscle imbalance corrector, this is outstanding. If your overall goal is maximum hypertrophy, other programs (that include nutrition advice) would be a lot better.
Rating: 3.0 out of 5
