No Pain No Gain! That was a common theme that I heard during school when it came to training, and it applied to my strength training as well! The question is, did I achieve anything by pushing the strength training to failure? The answer, as with most strength training theories, is not straight forward!

Training to failure is basically a term referring to the number of reps you complete. Instead of having a certain weight that you use for a certain number of reps and sets, you would select a weight that you keep training with until you can’t train anymore. At this point the neuromuscular system is so fatigued that the neural impulse required to generate a forceful muscle contraction fails.

Disadvantages of Training to Failure

Different training goals as well as different phases of training all require different training methodologies. We use these different methodologies by changing training load, frequency, rest periods and tempo of exercise to achieve the goal. To increase maximal strength, we don't train to failure. Training to failure creates excessive fatigue that requires more recovery time as well as negatively impacting the neuromuscular system, resulting in less powerful muscle contractions. So, if training to failure has a poor cross over to maximal strength, what good does training to failure have?

Failing for Hypertrophy

By training to failure, we create large amounts of mechanical stress on the muscle fibres. According to recent studies (Owino et al 2001), this mechanical stress is a powerful stimulus to our hormonal system which results in the laying down of more protein for muscle fibres.  And thicker muscle fibres lead to increased muscle mass or hypertrophy. I can hear you saying that greater muscle size results in greater strength. During the initial period of training that is true but for longer term max strength training the focus needs to be on the neuromuscular system to teach it to contract more forcibly rather than creating more muscle fibres to contract.

How to Train for Hypertrophy

Before starting on a hypertrophy program, it is important to have a solid strength training base to allow the connective tissues such as tendons and ligaments to get strong enough to handle the increased force pulling on them. Once you have a solid strength foundation then you can focus on hypertrophy training. To achieve the best results for hypertrophy you will need to reach the highest number of reps possible for each set. Basically, you should be getting to a point that another rep is impossible. In addition to the high number of reps there is a term called Time Under Tension. The more time a muscle spends under tension the greater the mechanical stress. You can increase this Time Under Tension by doing slow reps. With all this in mind, use the following as a guideline to train to failure -

Popular Training Methods

Rest-Pause

A popular method of training to failure is the Res-Pause method. For this you will select a weight that will allow you to reach approximately 12 reps. The goal is to have a weight that you reach failure at this point. Then stop the exercise and have a 10 second rest before starting the exercise again. Train until failure which should be achieved within 3 reps. That is considered one set.

Drop Set

A similar concept to the Rest-Pause method is the drop set method. For the Drop Set method you train until failure and then quickly decrease the load of the weight by no more than 10% and then start training again until you reach failure.

Both these methods are effective for building muscle by increasing the time under tension during a set.

If your goal is to increase muscle mass, then training to failure is the best method to achieve this. To achieve the required mechanical stress, you should be using sets with higher number of reps and an increase in the time under tension. Drop Sets are an excellent method to achieve this training methodology.

Just remember that with the increased mechanical stress there will be an increase in the muscular pain that you experience which might limit the number of sessions you are able to complete per week. Start with three sessions per week and increase to four as you adapt to the training.

Are you ready to start getting those gains? Learn more about how to train for mass

Written by guest author Brendan McBirnie.

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Tags: Exercise Type > Strength