Is Training to Failure Worse for Gains? | Educational Video | Biolayne 

How many sets per muscle group were you doing towards second half of your lifting years?

I've been lifting for 40 years and made some of the best progress of my life after a long layoff by doing one set per muscle group every day, to or beyond failure (full body every day, no rest days).

You said you werw able to recover better... well then what that really means is that you did not rest long enough between workouts period!

@@JerryCorreia76 Same amount. One thing I changed was how many rest days I have, when I was a newbie making beginner gains I was lifting 7 days a week for 2 hours a day. I definitley didn't allow myself suffecient recovery aka overtraining.

@@jmodified Interesting, I changed how many rest days I have which may have contributed to better recovery. I do 3 days on 4 days off, I found that it doesn't matter how long I hit that muscle group as along as it's not too intense, but I can do a 2-3 hour lifting session and the next time I ready to train again granted I take at least 3 days in between each muscle group.

Exactly. Literally time & time again it just comes down to progressive overload. Increase in reps, or load progressively so that fatigue accumulation is managed, the body has time to adapt in order to perform better by next session.

But if you go all out on every set, do you need progressive overload?

@@grog3514 you absolutely need to progressively overload over time to continue growing. I'd argue going all out in every set, on every exercise, all the time will actually hinder your progress since it'll practically fry out your CNS from excessive & chronic fatigue accumulation. Progressive overload is just that, "progressive", meaning it's small increments over time which helps manage CNS fatigue far more efficiently

@@SamC_182 does that mean increasing weight every set or each workout? When you deload, does that mean you don't go to failure and just do an easy workout?

@@grog3514 small, weekly progressions. Week 1 do 2x15 reps at 100 lbs. Next week do 105 for a 2x15 as an example. You can also progressive overload with reps and sets. Week 1 do 2x10-15 @100 lbs. Once you hit the top rep range, then go up in weight a little. A deload is usually done every 4-9ish weeks to allow your body to recover from the prior training block. There are many ways to deload from not going to the gym at all, to cutting volume or lowering weight. It’s basically an active recovery week which will allow you to come back stronger and push harder next block.

Yes, the study design was well thought out. How many other studies expose that training to failure on every set can actually REDUCE your overall volume because the early sets fatigue the later sets?

Maybe in compounds but stuff like leg extensions , curls, triceps etc is easy to train to failure.

I’ve found that statement to be accurate. I thought I was pushing hard then some dick lifted next to me and I had to put out. I was surprised how much I left behind. I also found adding 1 set and bringing it to failure was good for me as far as gains.

yeah learning this when I first started doing sets to actual, honest to god failure was humbling but very illuminating

This.

@@jammRJ you’d be surprised how many people still don’t go to failure even on those lifts. Workout out with different people and when they “think” they are done, go ahead and motivate them to do more….youll be very surprised how many more reps you can get someone to push out!

I might have skipped this one - if not for your comment.

Totally agree I'm 59 and we can adapt any exercise to suit great comment

Only a noob would believe this study has significance. It literally breaks laws of physiology.

Which law?​@@user-em2nz8bp9g

Yes. People rule! The sick, beginning lifters and esp these damn elderly, not even people

Has it already turned you into a hardcore black ops CIA opperative?

the guy is almost in his 50s, right now has done a nice recomp and is strong and knowleadgeable about lifting. I guess he said weird stuff in the past, but I guess you are not better than that by trolling ten years after.

That dude crawled into his cubby hole and hasn't made much noise. Why the need to keep bringing him up? Does online bullying of a mentally ill guy who is already defeated and humbled, minding his own business, make you feel good about yourself? You're even lower than him at this point.

​@@williamblake5289 what are you yapping about bloho is a terrible person with a terrible physique terrible strength all while using gear btw, there is no defending the dude it's like jumping in front of a warzone as a human shield

@@DolphR wait, does he really use gear???

that would be sick

Great idea

Second that , do it Layne

even 2 or 3 forced reps might not be that much in real life since most likely you could have completed them if a bear would be threatening to maim you or a fire would burn you if you fail the rep 😂

For someone who does not understand research design.

I think after this study, as well as testimonials that fit the study's findings, it is safe to instruct new people to learn what failure is, then aim for 1-2 RIR. Training to failure is only foolproof for those ignorant of a better way, or too lazy to learn to identify RIR. And the trade off is that over the long run, the fatigue takes it's toll and who is the fool then?

I take the last set to technical failure and use that to gauge the effort of the first sets.

Actually you get a tiny bit more gains by going to failure, but we probably can all agree that the prolongued exhaustion and frying of the CNS isnt worth the gains that are literally almost equal to 1-2 RIR.

Great point! Training to failure on barbell squats is very different from tricep pushdown.

I do the same.Compound not failure,isolation closer/ failure.Works for me 55 years old👍

Exactly what I was thinking. Most HIT advocates don't hit a muscle more than 10 sets a week. Most rir guys train up to 20 sets per muscle/week. I'd like to see a study with that real world comparison and see if there is a difference in muscle gains. Even more interesting would be for the test subjects to have only ever trained in one of those ways and to switch for the study to the other style. If they lose, gain, or maintain muscle after a few months, it would really help give us more insight.

Finally, someone with sense!

Btw 1-2 sets per failure, not ten; that would by physiological suicide.

Full body? Push pull leg or upper low? How many sets and excercises per body part a week

@@freestyleliving4145 im kinda doing a test i only do 1 day every 7 days and its an entire upper body i traind 2 to 3 sets to failure all depending on how good my 1st and 2nd set is and if its worth a 3rd set i smash one out i dont train legs yet as i was in an accident and broke them so they are kinda messed up i just do 1 day on some basic moves on my legs basically squats and carv raises but mainly body weight with a little extra my legs really are not any good btw im currently sore for 5-6 days after my session and i do go as hard as physically possible on my curls i set the bar so i can rack it and once i fail i rack it small squat to lift the bar unrack and do another extended eccentric i used to train full body 3 times per week 3 years ago and i never got far but in the 2 months i have doing this new test ive had my partner saying how my boobs have grown etc and now my large shirts are tight round the bicep rather than tight round the belly the way im looking at it is anything is better than nothing and this is proving to be better than what i have done in the passed btw if you love the gym and like going 5x per week this will probably be no good for you for me after the effort i put in a need a week off before i go back as i feel like i have abused myself so much i would not be able to get in the gym any sooner anyway

I do the same thing training to failure at least on all my work sets, often beyond failure actually. And in the past year and a half, I have increased in reps, weight, or both on almost every exercise of every workout training Heavy Duty style averaging 15-20 minutes per workout. As far as volume goes, I keep my work sets per workout very low. When I was working out once every 6-8 days, I averaged 5-6 total work sets per workout. Now that I have increased my training frequency to once every 4 days, I have cut the work set total to 3-4 total per workout. I have been alternating workouts between upper and lower body but starting next week, I will be doing a push/leg/pull/leg workout sequence for the foreseeable future. I am 51 years old.

Doing sets of 5 where 10 is failure, I'd still lose reps after a few sets - I'd probably fail to get 5 on the fourth set with two minute rests. I'd say for most exercises I'd need about twenty minutes for full recovery after a set of 10 to failure. With 2 RIR it might be ten minutes. With 5 of 10 it might be five minutes. I think people who can recover quickly after failure are slow-twitch dominant and/or don't have a nervous system that really lets them go to failure.

BullShiiat... you simply need to insert more rest days.

Yeah I'd say pull ups decline in reps the most, full stretch at the bottom though, not partials lol

No he hasn’t but it’s holistic garbage.. the only thing it’s beneficial for is mental health which is great because your out in nature other than that the health benefits the zealots on RU-vid tell you are garbage