Lifting to failure?

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Replies

  • DeadliftAddict
    DeadliftAddict Posts: 746 Member
    I'm starting week 11 of my bulk tomorrow on a progressive workout plan and have a question on how important it is to go to failure on your last set versus just achieving the progression. My first 6 weeks I went to failure on each exercise during the last set but started feeling burned out and losing motivation to keep pushing, so I switched it up. Now as long as I hit my progression goal I consider it good. The advantage is I seem to recover faster and progressions and motivation have been steady. But am I sacrificing muscle growth if I'm not hitting those "money reps" each workout? Don't get me wrong I have to push hard to hit the progression and a lot of time I'm barely getting them, but I do have something left in the tank for a one or two more reps when I finish the last set a lot of times.

    Some of the answers depend on how you train. If you are doing heavy compound lifts the conventional wisdom is that training to failure is significantly more dangerous and taxing to the human body than going to failure on isolation lifts. If you are lifting at high rep weights the answer is going to be somewhat dependent on you and how frequently you are training the muscle groups. Going to failure on bicep curls once or twice a week probably won't impede your over all progress.

    But as a general rule, if you are able to progressively increase your max lift, volume and/or time under tension you are making injury free gains. So why would you go back to a lifting style that overall made you feel sluggish and negatively impacted your desire to train? Seems like you might be trying to fix something that is not broken. If you are ona good program and feeling good overall, trust the process and evaluate again if you truly begin to stall.

    ^This. Enough said.
  • trojan_bb
    trojan_bb Posts: 699 Member
    I train to failure the majority of my sets. And employ high volume. It just means I eventually end up working with lighter weights as my workout progresses since I'm beat up early on. Lots of sets go beyond failure too (rest paused).

    DC training is all about going well past failure every single set. But with low volume. Actually, most bodybuilding programs employ some sort of failure techniques. Mountain Dog, Dennis James style, etc etc.
  • SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish
    SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish Posts: 831 Member
    It depends on what you mean by lifting to failure. Many people mean lifting until you cant complete another rep in semi OK form. But others mean doing reps until you can barely do the last rep. Still others think this means lifting until you fail on one weight, then reducing the weight, and going again, until you can barely do your warmup weight. Which are you talking about?
  • Joehenny
    Joehenny Posts: 1,222 Member
    There are smarter ways to train.

    No thanks Jeff.
  • Jamal_Guildford
    Jamal_Guildford Posts: 214 Member
    thread summary

    You do not need to train to failure to make progress. Training to failure has benefits. If training to failure one should back off periodically to rest CNS. Do periods of both.

    So are you recommending to train to failure a few sets for each work out session? For people who want to bulk, gain muscle and strength. Is training to failure good?
  • Jamal_Guildford
    Jamal_Guildford Posts: 214 Member
    It depends on what you mean by lifting to failure. Many people mean lifting until you cant complete another rep in semi OK form. But others mean doing reps until you can barely do the last rep. Still others think this means lifting until you fail on one weight, then reducing the weight, and going again, until you can barely do your warmup weight. Which are you talking about?

    "Many people mean lifting until you cant complete another rep in semi OK for": In my view, this is the definition of training to failure.
  • raindawg
    raindawg Posts: 348 Member
    As the original poster on this thread my definition was on the last set go till I couldn't get a last rep up. Get it half way or three quarters still giving it my all. If I hit my progression rep I'd keep going till I failed. Then half the time I threw in a bonus set, dropping down a weight and taking that one till failure. As you can imagine I totally hit a wall at the end of week 6 doing that. Since then as long as I hit my progression for the workout I'm happy leaving something in the tank. It's been interesting to hear the different view points.
  • ChampCrucial
    ChampCrucial Posts: 120 Member
    No sir. You can take a muscle group to failure once to really kick it and tell it to grow but you don't have to. You already see the benefits. When you take out that last rep you go more towards strength. To continue to pack on muscle with high reps you have to keep getting stronger as well. Arnold and the majority of successful bodybuilders all can lift heavy as crap, so their is your proof outside of my word. Get strong, build more muscle, get strong, build more muscle, repeat. If your reps are between 10-20 per set then your cool and still gaining muscle more than strength. Lastly, your body is telling you it is not meant to go to failure. You may have found a near perfect periodization for your body.

    Happy gaining my friend

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