On Tuesday's Curtis and I have been benching together. Due to my other training partners' schedules, we've had to break things up other than Sundays, for now.
So our session looked like this for the past three weeks:
Bench 315x5x5 (I'm weak anymore, and we're trying to get Curt's bench up, so this was a good number for both of us). Week one was full rest. Week two was 120 seconds. Week three (this past week) was 90 seconds.
So I would go 315x5, hit my timer for 90 seconds immediately after my set. Curt would waste no time and hop on the bench. He'd hit his 315x5. After spotting him, I'd check the time, and get on the bench with about 10 seconds of that original 90 seconds left. And we'd repeat this for five sets, ensuring that each of us got about 90 seconds rest.
Then we'd move on to our main assistance movement which was full rest. 3-4 sets of close grip Larsen presses, with a drop set or max back down set following that with little to no rest.
From there we hit incline db presses - three sets of 'RPE 9' or max reps with near full recovery.
And then we moved to Knee supported DB rows - we agreed on 90 pound fat bells with partner rest. So I hit a set of 12. Curt hits 12. I'm back up with no rest. And we ended up hitting four sets before our technique went to shit and we were feeling it everywhere except our backs.
Point being, I told one of my clients to try this because he messaged me and said "rest times are difficult to stick to with the new setup since my equipment is at my friends place and he works in but I'll try my best." I came back with "Partner rest. Problem solved!" and he said..."what?" Face palm. Teaching moment.
So there are multiple ways to do it - either use a timer and stick to your rest periods, or get after it and go partner rest where you follow each other with no rest periods. Your rest is as long as it takes them to complete their set and get the hell out of the way, like traditional speed work!
