Aim. The objective of this study was to analyze the effect of different rest periods on p53, caspase-9; markers of intrinsic apoptosis, and IGF-1 as anti apoptotic biomarker during resistance exercise (RE). Methods. ten resistance trained men (age 22.8±4.2 years, body mass 72.6±9.1kg, height 175.3±7.3 cm, BMI 23.7±3.3 kg.m-2) volunteered to participate in this study. subjects performed two RE protocols on two randomized separate sessions that include 4 sets of 6 exercises at 85% of 1 repetition maximum (1RM) until failure with 1 or 3 minutes rest between sets. Serum levels of p53, caspase-9 and IGF-1 were examined at pre-exercise (Pre), immediately post (Post), 3h post (3h Post) and 24h post (24h Post) both RE protocols. Results. There were no significant differences between both RE group (1 min or 3 min rest between sets) values for serum p53, caspase-9 and IGF-1 concentrations in pre, post, 3h post and 24h post RE. Also, there were no significant differences in the concentration of p53 during recovery time after both RE protocols in comparison to pre-exercise (p>0.05). However, there was a significant increase (p<0.05) in post RE caspase-9 concentration only in the 1 min rest condition. Serum IGF-1 concentration was significantly higher post RE for both conditions, compared with their baseline (p<0.05). Conclusion. Our findings indicate that short and long rest periods between RE sets don't affect biomarkers of apoptosis including p53 and caspase-9 as well as IGF-1 as anti apoptotic biomarker
