Should you train to failure?
A few weeks back i had the experience of training in a commercial gym, i was waiting for the bench to become available watching a couple guys benching until they couldn’t press anymore,half reps,drop sets,one is pulling the weight off, while the other shouts & lifts his ass off the bench trying to eek out 1 more rep.
Within the training community there are some people who believe you must always go to failure to build muscle or you’re not working hard, while others never go to failure, bodybuilders in particular have popularised this theory of training to failure.
So is training like this necessary for building muscle?
First let’s define what training to failure means
Fisher et al. (2011) came up with this definition for muscular failure as “the inability to perform any more concentric contractions, without significant change to posture or repetition duration, against a given resistance.”
Using the above example of the guys benching, it’s safe to say they went to failure and beyond, resulting in them losing their technique, which isn’t necessary and potentially could increase the risk of injury. Had they been performing good quality reps and reached the point where they could no longer move the weight on the concentric (UP) portion of the lift and his buddy just assisted the bar up and re racked it, this would be a safe version of muscular failure.
Training to failure has been proven to be effective when it comes to building muscle & strength (http://
There are also many other variables that have a role in whether you should be training to failure such as sets,reps, volume,intensity,tension,f
I do like to see people who push themselves to failure as they do tend to be individuals who are prepared ‘put the work in’ compared to some who don’t push themselves enough to ever find a point of muscular failure, but be smart about it.
Going to failure on every set of every exercise in your session isn’t the best idea as you will see a rapid decrease in performance during the workout,sure you leave the gym with sweat dripping and feeling like you worked your ass off, but think of things in a more objective measure, Did you increase total volume from the previous session? Did you hit your target weights?
Another point to consider is going to failure on a heavy set of squats/deadlifts is very different to performing a set of bicep curls to failure due to the amount of muscles involved and the affect on the nervous system. it’s also easy to drop a pair of dumbbells on curls and not have to worry about getting hurt, where as on multi joint movements like squats & deadlifts it’s a lot higher risk.
From a mental perspective i enjoy the positive feeling you get from completing quality reps especially in regards to the main movements which i use to gauge progression, when i feel have reached technical failure i stop.
Overall taking your sets to failure can be used as tool for building muscle & strength but it’s not necessary. Following a well designed training program specific to your goals, that may or may not involve training to failure, putting in a lot of quality effort and being committed is where your focus would be better spent than worrying about going to failure on every exercise.
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