What you do between your sets may have an impact on your overall progress
What you do between your sets may have an impact on your overall progress. More on this below:
In this study presented in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 19 untrained subjects were split into two groups. Both groups performed leg press and bench press three times a week for 4 weeks. The difference between groups was that one was told to imagine performing the next set during their rest break while other did nothing. Basically, one group was told to close their eyes and imagine performing the exercise from start to finish and how the muscles in your body would contribute to the lift. Sounds easy enough, right?
What the researchers found was that this didn’t make a huge difference on bench press strength as both groups made relatively the same gains during the 4 weeks. However, it made a difference during for leg presses. The group who imagined performing the exercise during their rest periods made slightly, yet significant, greater increases in maximal strength.
Therefore, while this is a small study and it’s not known if this would have the same effect on an experienced lifter, it’s probably worth trying. Especially, when you think about how easy it is to do!
And now you know. 
:-)
-Coach Nate
For more information:
Lebon, F et al. Benefits of Motor Imagery Training on Muscle Strength. J Strength Cond Res. (2010) 24(6): 1680-1687.