Are you one of the everyone that have heard of the training philosophy of “no pain,
no gain.?”
It’s supposedly the best way to get results and that means pushing yourself all the way
to the brink of failure.
Well, in this video, we’re going to once and for all clear the air and give you all
the information you need about training to failure, whether it’s worth doing, and if
so, when should we actually do it.
First, what the heck is training to failure?
Well, it’s exactly how it sounds and that’s pushing your exercises to the point that you
cannot physically perform another rep successfully.
Now there is a more scientific term known as concentric failure, where you fail to complete
the concentric, muscle shortening phase of a rep without significant compromises to your
form or technique.
Essentially, if you are trying to eek out that final rep of a bicep curl but can’t
do it without leaning all the way back like you’re in the world’s worst limbo competition,
then congrats, you have reached failure in more ways than one.
But let’s clear the air immediately.
Is training to failure actually worth your time and effort?
Based on the current data we have, the answer is… no, probably not.
The science is quite consistent in showing that training to failure provides little to
no additional gains in both muscle and strength.
In fact, some researchers have argued that training to failure is more likely to work
against you when considering its effect on recovery.
Training to failure is highly fatiguing, which demands more recovery both in the short-term,
like between sets, and even long-term, like between sessions.
Data has shown, as opposed to the usual 48 hours, it can take up to 72 hours for your
performance to fully recover from failure-heavy workout.
And ultimately, the reduction in performance, thus overall work, defeats the whole purpose
of training to failure, where instead of constantly pushing yourself to the max, you just end
up constantly pushing your next gym session to the next day.
So, overall, it seems like training to failure is, to put it lightly, stupid.
So how in the world will it ever be a good idea to do it?
The good thing is that people have been smartening up in recent years and gradually train less
and less to failure.
However, it can also be a problem if you go too far in the other direction and do far
less work than you would with failure.
The thing is, training to failure per se is unnecessary, but the science is very clear
that it is necessary to at least train CLOSE to failure, stopping about 1 to 3 reps shy
of it, if you want the best results.
But, the only way to know how to train close to failure is if we know what training TO
failure feels like in the first place, which I’d wager that a lot of people simply do
not.
Just go to your local commercial gym if you don’t believe me.
Also, if you think this problem is only due to a lack of experience, I wouldn’t be so
sure.
A 2016 study showed that subjects with multiple years of training experience who believed
they were pushing to their max, end up making less gains than subjects that were directly
instructed to push to concentric failure.
In other words, even experienced lifters can get it wrong sometimes.
This specific issue of identifying failure is, in my opinion, a good enough reason all
on its own for pretty much everyone to, at the very least, train to failure on occasion.
With that in mind, let’s talk about WHEN is a good time to train to failure.
Again, training CLOSE to failure is the goal, which means the sooner you can experience
training TO failure, the better.
That goes for everyone, even beginners, but not before developing good form and technique,
of course.
So if you currently haven’t trained much to failure, then now is probably a good time
to start.
And make sure you are indeed training to concentric failure.
Get a spotter if needed and even ask someone you find more knowledgeable to give you feedback.
It also might still be a good idea to continue training to failure even after becoming accustomed
to it, because again, sometimes we might not be training as close to failure as we think
we are.
So to cover any unexpected gaps, it makes sense to train to failure on occasion and
it might be the thing that finally pushes you out of a plateau.
A popular strategy is to train to failure only on the final sets of your exercises,
usually called an AMRAP, or performing “as many reps as possible” in your final set.
Now granted, recent data showed that training to failure exclusively in the final set also
seems unnecessary, but again, that’s in the context of reaching true failure.
Outside of this main reason, training to failure can also be useful during an overreaching
phase.
If you don’t know what that is, then you probably don’t have to worry about it, but
I do have a video covering it that you can check out in the description if you want to
learn more.
And of course, we cannot ignore safety.
From an injury perspective, even though it might seem obvious that it will be more dangerous,
the science is quite ambiguous about the injury risks posed with training to failure.
But, if you want to exercise that extra caution, it might be best to reduce or completely avoid
training to failure on multi-joint, compound movements, like the deadlift, where pretty
much everyone’s form gives out when things get tough, especially with heavy weights.
Probably best to not put yourself in such a precarious position if you can avoid it.
For single-joint isolation exercises, however, like bicep curls, training to failure can
be used quite often and more freely.
And finally, and again, let’s keep in mind recovery.
It is much more physically taxing to train to failure frequently, so if you find yourself
doing significantly less and less reps after each set, then just cut that failure out,
it’s not worth it.
Same thing for session to session.
If performance significantly goes down, then training to failure goes out.
Simply put, be smart about your training.
Training to failure can be a powerful tool, but as Uncle Ben said, with great power comes
great fatigue, so Peter Parker, make sure you subscribe to PictureFit.
If you enjoyed this video, please give it a smarty thumbs up and share it with your
failure-loving friends.
Subscribe for more, just like Spiderman would.
As always, thank you for watching and don’t forget to get your protein!