Rest in between exercises varies depending on nature of the exercise, objective and fitness levels. 

When you are performing an exercise, take a brief rest period (1 to 3 minutes) after each set. Generally, you should restart the exercise and do your next set when your breathing slows to normal from the panting caused by the effort, or when you feel localized muscle congestion go down. However, these variables are not constant and depend on individual and muscle involvement in workout; therefore, best advice is to wait until you can complete another series like the preceding one (same weight and number of repeats), but without lingering until “cold.”

 Muscles that are larger and require more rest to recover from an exercise session will feel more burning in the muscles. This feeling of muscle burn is not always a good predictor of how much damage has been done, as very heavy exercises do not produce a lot of lactic acid, but they do cause neuro-muscular fatigue and depletion of anaerobic energy reserves.

Even experienced weight trainers can make this common error, which is to hold on to the burning sensation as the only sign of an exercise being done correctly and decide how many repeats it should be.