A moment's hesitation can be fatal, especially if your partner asks you, 'Does this skirt make me look fat?' But in the world of training, hesitation can push muscles into new growth.

Rest-pause, as it is known, is a crudely simple technique where you do your set of weights as normal until you can't do any more, and then, rather than ending the set, you hesitate in the 'down' position for a few seconds before pumping out a few more reps. This uses your muscles' ability to recover rapidly by generating a compound called phosocreatine, which provides an extra burst of energy.

Rest-pause can be used with almost any exercise, but don't be tempted to use it all the time as it puts a lot of extra strain on muscle fibres. You should only use rest-pause on the final set for any muscle you are targeting, and then only on occasional days when you feel your muscles would benefit from an extra push to get them past a growth plateau.