Recently I've been trying some rest pause. Usually I'll hit an all out set to failure for 12-16 reps. Take ten deep breaths and canusually only get 2-3 more reps then can't even do a third round.
I am in the same boat. If I TRULY hit failure the first set. That short break might only get me a few more and by the 3rd attempt I am lucky to hit a single.
Reading the thread title I thought about this exact thing. If I go to failure say 8-10 or 10-12 reps, then rest for 15 breaths, I often get ZERO additional reps.
There is a lot of confusion that lies in the semantics. A DC rest-pause set is "one" set with three failure points. Realistically though, if the weight has been racked, the set is over. Truly it is three sets with the same weight and short rest periods between them. However, the argument has been made that by keeping the rest periods between each of them brief, you trick the body into thinking it performed more reps continually as if it were one set. So that bears the questions: how long is too long? and at what point does it become ineffective and is now classified as straight sets with the same weight? 15 deep breaths is the guideline, but you can make that last seconds or minutes depending on how you breathe.
I always sought out for time. In Dante's interviews back in the 2000's, older threads at IM, and David Henry articles 20 seconds was the number that was mentioned. I always went by that with a stopwatch. In doing so, all my rest-pause sets had to be at least 8 reps on the first loop and most of mine looked like 8+2+2=12. Generally, I'd get 2-3 on the second loop and 1-2 on the last. It would depend on the exercise and how high the reps were. The higher the reps, the more I'd get on each subsequent loop. Reading some training journals, people talk about getting 6+4+3=13. Not a chance in hell I could get that. Anything less than 8 reps and I'd get zero on the next loop.
Now, watching Dusty's videos on YouTube; he does commentary on a few workouts and he states two things: that the rest periods are about 40 seconds (double what I'd read) and that you should be getting half the reps each time. So for example: 12+6+3=21.
Here he gets 13+7+6=26
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmbgXMYB9QA/?hl=en&taken-by=dustyhanshaw08
Wojo and Franco rest about 40 seconds on smith inclines in the DC DVD, shorter on incline dumbbell curls.
So do any DC experts have their input on this? The inevitable "you're overthinking, just lift" comments will roll in, but I think they're good questions. I'd like to be getting more reps on the second and third loops without resting too long and losing the effects of the rest-pause parameters. There is obviously a cutoff point where the rest period is too long to no longer be a rest-pause set.