Training to fail: when, how, and why (not to fail?)
Last updated: October 27, 2024
The discussion about training to fail to build muscle and strength is basically a Looney Toons skit at this point — Wabbit season, duck season. But new research and new perspectives could ultimately tip the scale.
- bar bend We sat down with one of the industry’s most influential thought leaders, bodybuilder and PhD, Dr. Eric Helms, to discuss cutting-edge research on whether you should train for failure.
More importantly, we We looked into what happens if you do please don’t. Good news: you It may not be necessary, at least for certain exercises. Let Dr. Helms explain.
Training to failure: Latest
My conversation with Dr. Helms began after I heard him discuss a variety of compelling newly published (or forthcoming) research on training for failure. iron culture podcast.
It started with a simple email exchange. It evolved as a crash course in how to interpret scientific research and glean real, actionable information from it. Dr. Helms was kind enough to take a closer look at some of the latest data.
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The data itself comes from the study “Exploring the Dose-Response Relationship between Estimated Resistance Training Proximity to Failure, Strength Gain, and Muscle Hypertrophy: A Series of Meta-Regressions” by Dr. Zac Robinson and Joshua C. Pelland. (1)
the current October 2024Mr. Pelland is in the final stages of publishing his doctoral thesis, which covers a number of interesting adjacent topics. I’ll come back to that later.
Conventional weight room common sense It shows (along with a ton of scientific research) that training to resist failure isn’t strictly necessary, but building muscle to get closer to failure is. Of course, there are many nuances in determining how often you should train to optimize hypertrophy.
To break the silence, we asked Dr. Helms a unique question. Would you recommend that most bodybuilders not train to failure when training with weights greater than 90% of their max weight?
Below is what he said and the additional research he used to support his argument.
“Dr. Robinson’s research found that while sets become more exciting as training approaches failure, other mitigating factors are also present,” Dr. Helms said. “Specifically, they discovered that: The heavier the load, the less impact failure will have on hypertrophic stimulation.”
- caveat: This doesn’t mean you can jack up to, say, 5 reps by lifting one rep at a time. “You need a minimum number of repetitions to sustain a set long enough to provide stimulation,” Dr. Helms says. “It seems like it happened about four or five times.” (2)
So far, so good: The heavier you lift, the less important your training for failure will be (obviously). On the other hand, it’s much easier to “lift heavy” with free weight compound exercises like squats and deadlifts. Dr. Helms thinks things will change a bit when it comes to isolation training.
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“Practically speaking, exercise selection is an important consideration here,” Dr. Helms noted. “Failure after increasing the number of repetitions of multi-joint exercises can worsen the discomfort and make it difficult to maintain a high training quality for the remaining sessions.”
- In short: Sure, you can start your leg-strengthening days by training to failure on heavy squats. Doing so will not give you the benefit of building muscle and may affect the rest of your training.
Training to fail: how to do it right
Interpreting all this scientific information can be overwhelming, so here are Dr. Helms’ general prescriptions for when you need to train for failure.
“The intelligent combination of exercises, rep ranges, and RIRs (reserve reps) ensures that you are performing the intended volume and load, while accurately assessing your proximity to failure and maximizing the stimulation of your session. Masu.”
Here’s how leg day went:
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Training for failure: The big picture
For big meat-and-potatoes bodybuilding exercises, work with weights close to your max (Dr. Helms recommends loads around 5-8 rep max). But leave 3-5 reps in the tank. .
As you progress through your workouts, switching to stable single-joint exercises using machines or cables, your training will gradually approach failure.
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References
- Robinson ZP, Pelland JC, Lemmert JF, Refalo MC, Dzukic I, Steele J, Zuldos MC. Investigating the dose-response relationship between estimated resistance training proximity to failure, strength gains, and muscle hypertrophy: A series of meta-regressions. Sports medicine. 2024 Sep;54(9):2209-2231. doi: 10.1007/s40279-024-02069-2. Epub 2024 July 6th. PMID: 38970765.
- Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Van Every DW, Plotkin DL. Loading recommendations for strength, hypertrophy, and local endurance: Revisiting the repetition continuum. Sports (Basel). 2021 2 22;9(2):32. doi:10.3390/sports9020032. PMID: 33671664; PMCID: PMC7927075.
Featured image: Yuri A. / Shutterstock
