The purpose of this blog will be to inform you of the potential negative effects a “training to failure” style work out can have for your overall strength and hypertrophy goals within the gym. I think you would have heard it said before, that you need to train to failure in order to get the most out of your muscle. For it to grow the biggest, it needs to be challenged with all of your might; however I aim to show you that that is not the case, in fact that you will end up far worse off if you do so. I’ll present evidence on how hypertrophy, strength and injury factors are affected and how to best structure a program in order to get the most out of it, without hurting yourself unnecessarily. Sure, there is a time and place for testing your limits, but I will inform you of when to best do that as well.
What does the evidence say?
For quite some time, multiple authors have put forth training models which have assessed what implications training to failure have on our ability to grow, improve performance and recover. Izquierdo-Gabarren et al. (2010) specifically looked at muscular strength over an 8 week intervention, and found a 2.5% greater improvement in strength and 7.6% greater improvement in power when comparing 4 reps not to failure, to 4 reps to failure. Lasevicius et al. (2018) compared hypertrophy differences in the leg and arm of subjects who either trained at a low load to failure, or a high load not to failure. At the end of the 12 week intervention, the percentage gain for the leg from baseline was 8.9% in the failure group compared to 19.5% when not training to failure. These results were even greater in the arm, seeing an 11.4% increase when hitting failure compared to a huge 25% when not failing. Through systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature, Davies, Orr & Hacket (2015) were able to compare 8 different studies looking at training to failure or not, and concluded that strength was up to 1.6% higher in those who did not train to failure when compared to those who did, over prolonged training interventions. Lastly, Moran-Navarro et al. (2017) stated “RT leading to failure considerably increases the time needed for the recovery of neuromuscular function and metabolic and hormonal homeostasis. Avoiding failure would allow athletes to be in a better neuromuscular condition to undertake a new training session or competition in a shorter period of time.”
If the evidence says not to do it, why do people insist on doing it?
I think to answer this question we need to address who the likely culprits for training to failure are. In my experience, I read a lot of things said through social media, through body building forums and from supplement companies who all insist that training needs to be hard, heavy and extremely taxing on the body. I can’t stress it enough, that you should realistically only be seeking advice from a qualified professional when it comes to optimising your work out effectiveness. Throughout my entire Masters degree, I have had it drilled into me that “failure is not an option”. As I have presented some evidence above, you have to remember that there is probably another 100 studies out there regarding this topic, and the results are not going to change. Long term athletic development revolves around your ability to continue to train and make improvements, not go backwards. The idea that a workout needs to be hardcore, doesn’t take into consideration the damage that that style of training might be doing to the body. It doesn’t equate for the things which matter, such as progressive overload and recoverability; and it puts pressure on somebody to give everything they have to each session. In my opinion, that is a recipe for disaster.
How to avoid failure, and chase success instead:
To truly capitalise on your ability to make progress towards your chosen goal, it is suggested that you break your training into specific periods with varying levels of intensity. Hartmann et al. (2015) did a review of the literature relating to various periodisation models and training phases, and ultimately suggest that all training should be goal and time frame specific. They suggest that performance will be optimised to a greater level if the risk of over fatigue is mitigated. This is done through undulations in session intensity across the week and across the training block. The authors state that it can take up to 72 hours to recover from a hypertrophy style training session and that the training week should be split according to the recover-ability of the person; so to avoid over training and injury risk (Hartmann et al, 2015). A quote from the conclusion of this study is as follows: “this method has been shown to provide statistically superior gains in maximal strength, peak power, impulse size, and explosive strength during tapering in track-and-field throwers” (Hartmann et al, 2015). Your goal needs to be at the forefront of your training regime, whether it is weight loss, strength and hypertrophy gain or sports specific. Failing to plan is planning to fail.
What does a well structured training program look like?
As subjective as this question is, it is important to again remember what the literature has told us in regards to recover-ability and planning of resistance training sessions. All training blocks need to be goal specific and take external life style factors into consideration, as external stress will play a huge part in the recover-ability of anybody. The questions I like to ask people of course revolve around their work life, their sport or hobbies, their sleep, what their weekends look like, how well they eat and how long they have trained for. From there, it is much easier to devise a plan that will do more good than harm both short and long term.
Training sessions need to flow logically, from dynamic mobility all the way through to the cool down. Each session must have a few target exercises, some auxiliary work and the session must address the needs of the individual, rather than something that is made up on the spot. Daily intensity should be undulated to factor in fatigue from the previous session and week to week progressive overload should apply. Depending on the person, intensity should be picked according to experience. For example, if I know somebody has an 8 repetition maximum of 100kg on their back squat and they are an experienced lifter, I might go as high as 95% of that value one week. This would mean the person is squatting sets of 8 at 95kg. This avoids repetition failure as suggested by the literature. Compare this person to somebody who is new to the gym, and I may only go to 85%. This is because the new gym goer does not have the ability to recover as well as the experienced lifter. Note that at no time would I go to a true 8RM of 100kg unless testing the athlete for their progress on the lift. Your training style is yours, but I am just making suggestions on how not to destroy somebody during a session and continue to progress them week to week.
References:
Davies, T., Orr, R., Halaki, M., & Hackett, D. (2015). Effect of training leading to repetition failure on muscular strength: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 46(4), 487-502.
Hartmann, H., Wirth, K., Keiner, M., Mickel, C., Sander, A., & Szilvas, E. (2015). Short-term periodization models: Effects on strength and speed-strength performance. Sports Medicine, 45(10), 1373-1386.
Izquierdo-Gabarren, M., Gonzalez De Txabarri Exposito, R., Garcia-Pallares, J., Sanchez-Medina, L., De Villarreal, E.S.S., & Izquierdo, M. (2010). Concurrent endurance and strength training not to failure optimises performance gains. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 42(6), 1191-1199.
Lasevicius, T., Ugrinowitsch, C., Schoenfeld, B.J., Roschel, H., Tavares, L.D., De Souza, E.O., Laurentino, G., & Tricoli, V. (2018). Effects of different intensities of resistance training with equated volume load on muscle strength and hypertrophy. European Journal of Sports Science, 18(6), 772-780.
Moran-Navarro, R., Perez, C.E., Mora-Rodriguez, R., de la Cruz-Sanchez, E., Gonzalez-Badillo, J.J., Sanchez-Medina, L., & Pallares J.G. (2017). Time course of recovery following resistance training leading or not to failure. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 117(12), 2387-2399.