Speaks Glenn Pendlay, a renowned weightlifting coach:

“I got the idea for timed sets from Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell, who uses sets of one or two reps with a brief rest between sets for the powerlifters he coaches. As a former powerlifter, I used to talk to Louie often, and this was one of the ideas he suggested. I used it in the 1990s with the back squat and had success improving my strength. Later, when I converted to weightlifting, I tried it on the snatch and found the idea actually worked better for the Olympic lifts than it did for the power lifts…”