[ad_1]
The answer is: Sometimes
Let me give some evidence on both sides of the fence.
First, evidence that you don’t need to train to failure.
The research shows that you don’t have to go all the way to failure to maximise the muscle-building stimulus from a set.
A couple of reps shy is adequate.
1. Carroll et al. 2019 PMID: 31373325
One group went to failure on at least one set of every exercise, and another used relative intensity to ensure they stayed well away from failure.
The study went on for 10 weeks and the results were similar between groups.
2. Santanielo et al. 2020 PMID: 33343066
It was a within-subject design, meaning the subjects trained one leg to failure and stopped short of failure on the other leg. They used leg presses and leg extensions.
Quad growth and leg press 1RM increased more in the non-failure leg over 10 weeks.
3. Andersen et. al. 2021 PMID: 34100789
This study was similar to the above — subjects trained each leg using unilateral leg press and leg extensions over nine weeks. This time the researchers used velocity loss to determine how close to failure to go.
On one leg, they ended the sets after only a 15% velocity loss (probably >5 reps in reserve). The other leg’s sets were stopped at 30% velocity loss (probably <5 reps RIR).
There were no significant differences in muscle growth between groups.
Based on this emerging research, training should feel hard, but you don’t need to go to failure.
But sometimes, hitting failure is useful.
1. Hitting failure guarantees an effective set.
More muscle fibres are recruited as you get closer to failure on a set. This means that to make a set maximally effective for muscle growth, you need to get close to failure.
2. It helps you learn your limits on an exercise.
A 2017 study found that most people completely underestimate how many reps they can do.
160 men were asked what weight they usually use for 10 reps on the bench press. They then did as many reps as possible with this weight, all the way to failure.
Every single person got 10 reps or more. This isn’t surprising — it would be weird if they used their 10 rep max for a normal working set.
But the data showed that most people got over 15 reps with a weight they normally use for 10…and 26% of the subjects got over 19 reps, which means they were using <50% of their max for a typical work set.
This tells us that it takes practice to figure out how far away from failure you are. You have to do it occasionally so you can learn what it feels like, and how much weight you can use.
3. Training to fail gives an easy way to see progress.
Taking a set to failure will reveal if your rep performance has improved from the last time. This means you can track progressive overload without ambiguity. For example, if you do 100kg for 10 reps in week one, and then manage 11 reps in week 4, you know your program is working.
4. It improves your RPE / RIR ratings.
Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) or Reps in reserve (RIR) are methods of assessing how close to failure to go on each set. Often a program asks you to take a set within 2–3 reps of failure to make sure it’s stimulating without being too fatiguing.
The problem is that it’s a bit hard to assess how far from failure you are without a lot of experience. But if you know what going all the way to failure feels like (an RPE 10/ RIR 0 set), it gives a reference point for your RPE 7, 8, and 9 sets.
Training should feel hard and challenging, but most of the time, you don’t need to go to failure.
On average, I still recommend training with 2–3 reps in reserve, taking the odd set to failure (eg the last set of each exercise). Taking every set to failure creates a disproportionate amount of fatigue that can hurt your gains over time if you use it too often.
In other words, there are benefits and drawbacks.
Here’s a quick summary of taking sets to failure:
– Guarantees an effective set.
– Helps you learn your limits.
– Gives a way to see progress.
– Improves your RPE / RIR ratings.
– Creates a lot of fatigue (mental and physical)
– Not necessary
– Some studies show slightly worse results
[ad_2]
Source link
