Regular exercise, along with diet, is a critical part of any weight loss program and is often listed first when suggesting weight loss tips. To lose weight, your body has to be burning more calories than it's taking in – a difficult thing to do if you aren't actively working out. But it doesn't have to be a daunting exercise. Fun activities like gardening, dancing, walking, yoga and swimming can help you burn as many calories as an afternoon at the gym.

Depending upon your goal, you may want to forego the rest between sets as long as you feel you can continue on with the exercise. I usually recommend circuit training for those who are trying to lose weight. Its a great way to keep your heart rate up during your resistance training, and you burn more calories. The circuit would consist of performing an exercise for one muscle group, then moving onto the next muscle group, then the next based upon which muscle groups your are working on a given day. At the end of the circuit, you should take at least a 30 second break to rehydrate prior to repeating the circuit.

However, if your goal is to bulk up, you will need to take a break between sets in order to rebuild your energy stores prior to repeating the exercise for the muscle group you are working. The fancy term for the energy stores is Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). It takes 30 seconds for your body to restore 50% of your ATP and 3 minutes to restore 100% of ATP to your muscles. If you are performing heavy sets or power sets, you will want to give your muscles enough time to recover prior to starting your next set. I have seen some body builders allow up to as much as 5 minutes between sets, but that usually is not necessary.

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