Beaten to death: Rest beweem sets!

[aspengc8]

Morning all. I know this topic has been beaten to death, but I wanted to throw a scenario out there and get some responses from guys that have been in this field alot longer than I have.
For the past 3 months, I have been training the following:
Mon: chest
Tues: off
Wed: Back
Thurs: shoulders
Fri: arms
Sat: off
Sun: Legs

I took good rest inbetween sets, so I can go max poundage to get 4-8 reps in. I did about 20 sets for large muscles, about 8-12 sets for smaller muscles. I ate like a horse, put on some good size. I'm 6'1, and went from around 200 to 220, but bf% went up a bit, which is fine for bulking.

Now to my question. Recently my hours at work changed, and I work-out at in the AM. I don't have the time to take the 2-3 min rest between sets, to go heavy. If I cut the weight down a bit, and also cut the rest down, can I still put on muscle size + thickness, or will I just be cutting up?
Im looking to do 20 sets total still, per large body part. 5 sets of 6-8 reps, but with a weight that will allow me to do that in about 60secs of rest per set. Can I still grow from this?

[Tnoel]

I'd reduce the number of sets you are doing. I'm sorry, there is no way in hell I could put 100% into every set and still do 20 sets for a large bodypart. My advice, jack up the intensity and reduce the number of sets you are doing -- that alone will take care of the timing issue.

[aspengc8]

So, bump down the # of sets, but keep the rest still around 60sec per set?

[Tnoel]

I would play around with your rest times. To give you an example, I can train my upper body efficiently (aside from deads) using 60 second rest periods between sets. On the other hand, I can barely catch my breath in that time period when doing quads. I usually take about 3 minutes between quad exercises. Play around with it and see what works best for you.

[Ntpadude]

I would play around with your rest times. To give you an example, I can train my upper body efficiently (aside from deads) using 60 second rest periods between sets. On the other hand, I can barely catch my breath in that time period when doing quads. I usually take about 3 minutes between quad exercises. Play around with it and see what works best for you.

I notice on each set, the muscle worked out tends to swell a little afterwards. I tend to try to give the muscle a chance to get plenty of blood flow, new fresh oxygen to cells and to achieve most of the swelling/pump before doing the next set. I like to give my muscle a chance to get the maximum pump when doing each set, also get less sore after the workout.