Rising to Failure Is Not Always the Best Option
Training plans often recommend lifting the weight so many times that you can barely complete the last rep. This is called a lift to failure, and it ensures that you are working all the fibers of the major muscle groups involved. But there are also disadvantages.
When you can train to failure
Research has shown that if you do strength training with a light weight until you can complete more reps, you will use as many muscle fibers as if you did fewer reps with a heavier weight. So if your goal is to increase muscle size and only light weights or bodyweight exercises are available to you, training to failure can make the most of what you have.
For single-joint exercises like biceps curls, training to failure is an easy way to know that you’ve worked a muscle enough to stimulate growth and adaptation. You don’t have to count reps or calculate percentages – once you start to feel burns, you know the set has hit its target. This can help keep things simpler when you’re doing simple exercises.
When training to failure is useless
All of this suggests that training to failure for many exercises just doesn’t make sense. If you are doing something that requires a lot of technique, training to failure means continuing that exercise, even if your form gets worse. And if you train in poor shape, depending on the exercise, you may be at risk of injury.
Strength trainer Adam Bornstein recommends asking yourself a few questions before you decide to climb to failure . One of the most important is the number of skills required to complete the exercise:
For example, snatching is perhaps the most difficult lift, and training it to failure is dangerous. Simpler multi-joint movements, such as pull-ups, bench presses, and lunges, are suitable for failure-based workouts, but should be performed with extreme caution. The same can be said for exercises such as squats.
Finally, single-joint exercises, including biceps curls, triceps extensions, and calf lifts, are the least difficult movements and are much more suitable for training to failure.
Second, training to failure can make it difficult to recover from a given workout . You can make the same progress without failing, so what’s the point in forcing yourself to grit your teeth and do the tenth rep when you could stop at eight?
This post was originally published in August 2015 and was updated on January 5, 2021 to update links, add new information, and align with Lifehacker’s style guidelines.