Are you actually training to failure or are you stopping too many reps short and leaving gains on the table? Here is a video demonstration of what it looks like to train to failure. You may have even been told that it isn’t necessary to take your sets to failure and that leaving two to three reps in the tank is just as effective for building muscle as going to failure is.
I disagree.
Way too often lifters underestimate their true effort and capacity to work. When this happens the entire premise of RIR or reps in reserve is distorted. If you feel that you have worked to your highest level of effort but in reality, you are already 1-2 reps short of your max effort, then you are going to wind up closer to 4-5 reps shy of the type of stimulus that allows you to grow.
By training to failure, you are ensuring that you’ve met the threshold for adequate growth stimulus at best and at worst capped yourself at no more than 1-2 reps short of true maximum effort. Either way, you are more likely to get gains with this approach.
That said, the level of intensity can be tough to maintain week in and week out. If this is happening to you then you may want to make sure that you are downshifting your volume a bit to account for the higher effort. Shaving off 1-2 sets per exercise in a given workout is an easy way to do this.
You can also take an extra off day per week if you find that you are systemically fatigued or not recovering from your training.
Now, if you are more of an advanced lifter then you likely have good intuition with what your body needs as well as plenty of experience with what true effort looks and feels like. You will find it much easier to rely on a method like RIR or RPE since your estimates of effort are likely to be much more closely matched to reality.
Beginners however will struggle to get this right, and following this advice is likely to leave them far too short in intensity and frustrated with their lack of gains by not being able to cross the stimulus threshold. Now, the ironic part about this entire “train to failure” debate is that many of those who claim it is better to not do so are the same people who regularly train to failure in their actual workouts and posted videos. This is a case of do as I say and not as I do.
They also are commonly flip flopping back and forth between recommendations, not based on new science but rather because of discomfort on being called out for their inconsistencies. My stance on the subject has been the same since day one. If you want a muscle to grow you need to stimulate it in a manner that is progressively more challenging than what it is currently equipped to handle. This stimulus can come in many different forms (weight, reps, rep tempo, etc) but they all have one thing in common – higher level of effort or work performed than the last time.
Enjoy your gains and let me know how this training advice works for you.
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Jeff Cavaliere MSPT, CSCS served as both the head physical therapist and assistant strength coach for the New York Mets. Jeff earned his Masters of Physical Therapy and Bachelor’s of Physioneurobiology from the College of Health Sciences University of Connecticut Storrs. He is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).
In this short video Jeff is demonstrating just one aspect of training to failure. Depending on what you are trying to achieve (such as emphasizing specific muscle fiber types), your point of failure can differ, for example, the late Charles Poliquin would demonstrate that when you are training with a specific tempo, your point of failure will be when you can't maintain the same tempo. Some training methods will involve training to failure more than others; strength and power training differ to hypertrophy (more for hypertrophy). You should never train to failure every set because it's too much for your CNS (central nervous system).
This guy talks to much, ur to small to be a fitness influencer
I love going to failure and then even through failure. Thank you so much for your effort and constantly providing new information!
Noobs dont go to failure
Training is killing your gains
Train your calves like that??? Guys still neglect legs!
Calves and arms should be same size!
Sorry, can’t resist.
Training till failure is easy when you’ve been one your whole life..
You had least 3 negatives left in you there mr jeff
Keep going with half reps, especially exercises that stretch the muscles at the beginning. Failure is when you cannot move the bar
Flexing as you work out is the key try it
I Love failure system workouts ! they will burn the hell out of muscle and build the muscle the best way possible !
Epic Fail mate 🙂
Weight training does not involve going to “True failure“. it involves going to the point where form breaks down, because it is at that point your training becomes ineffective and can lead to injury.
The real failure is in the eccentric that last rep was great but lowering that down as slow as you can or statically holding it to failure is true failure as we are up to 30%stronger in the eccentric!
so its just a point where your muscles can't anymore for that set. I figured that already
Jeff is not only one of the strongest trainer pound for pound out there but his discipline and dedication is unmatched. Keep up those motivating videos coming in,
Jeff.
Whenever safe, going beyond failure is GREAT imo. That's when you can create the most microtears, since the muscle is exhausted. This means trying another rep right after failure, even if its not a full rep, doing as many as you can afterwards as well. Not myo-reps with extra breathing, mind you. No breaks until set is DONE.
Don't tell me I don't know what failure is. My whole life is a failure. You are the person who doesn't know what failure is Jeff. …Oh you meant reps to failure…err…bye.
So in order to fail successfully, you need to successfully fail
Dude! You are THE MAN!! Thank you for the consistent inspiration and so many good tips over this past year. Im in the best shape of my life now at 59!!!!
Training to failure once every few weeks or one set of a few is a good idea, even if just to have thar gauge of what failure is. But taking every set to failure always is just kinda dumb, since it brings so much more physical and mental fatigue compared to say a RIR 2 set. You would just burn yourself out quickly
Most people are not willing to work that hard. Got to get back to that 3 minutes rest and their phone
I ordered some of your creatine 2 weeks ago,still waiting for it to arrive. Is this typical?
I’m counting 11, 12-not knowing the video started over 😂
"Doing reps to failure is killing your gains."