There is so much controversy when it comes to weight training, theories, beliefs, etc. Nearly every aspect of weight training is controversial which can lead to misapplication, misunderstanding and improper techniques. How useful is it to perform reps until failure?
When it comes to weight training, failure refers to performing a set until the point of being unable to complete one more rep with perfect form. Many use it to feel that they have used all the energy and gave their muscles everything they had. It goes back to that “feeling” that you worked as hard as you could adn that makes you feel like that will relate to better results! Did you know, surprising as it may sound, exercising to muscular failure is not, and never has been, a requirement of stimulating muscle growth. Think about this…In reality, there is no human activity that involves going to failure. For example, a person who makes his living by digging trenches with a shovel, would you ever see him dig to the point where he could not lift one more shovel of dirt? Never! And yet, these “diggers” can develop tremendous muscularity and strength. Think about sprinters and bikers with their dense hamstring and quadriceps muscles. Do they sprint to failure? It is rare, unless they are prone to over training and injury, to see a sprinter not be able to take another step, after crossing the finish line. Yes, they may be stumbling, but are they to the point of absolute failure… usually not.
Even though it may be thought that you must train until failure— “no pain no gain”, the two theories are not related. It is not necessary to force a muscle to its absolute limit of failure in order to stimulate new muscle growth. The key to growth is slow steady progressive increase in intensity along with constant change, in order to seed the steady muscle growth you are looking for. This way you will be able to train regularly, recuperate your muscles in shorter periods of time and will not experience the terrible symptoms of over training which are likely to occur with training to ‘failure’ decreasing your fitness gains.
If you are prone to weight training until failure with each set and workout, you may be overtraining unless they get proper rest and fuel.
First of all, you know that you break down your muscle tissue in the gym while growing it during rest. Every time your increase the intensity or work load, or even change exercises, you give your muscles new stimulus. Lifting beyond simple comfortable weight causes breakdown of your muscles cells through tissue rupture. This, in turn, gives a spark for your muscles to grow as they sense that the future load is coming soon.
In order to adapt and to prepare for the next loading session, muscles need time for relaxing and fuel for growth. It is actually during the time when you don’t exercise when your muscles and all body tissues grow. You eat, sleep, and the lean mass becomes denser, stronger, larger. So, next time you head to they gym for a weight training or even cardiovascular session, make sure your body is well prepared for a great workout. Giving your body what it needs in the right amounts is the only way to produce better results. Proper training and recuperation are the keys to achieving your ultimate fitness goals.
Now I understand that with the demands of life, it is not uncommon to not be able to get in a good eight hours of deep sleep every night but we need to shoot for as many hours as we can. What about naps? The overall key to achieving your fitness goals is living a stress-free life (or as much as possible), stretching every day, eating regularly with nutritious/balanced meals, propler supplements and REST! If you are over trained, you will notice you reach failure quicker and you may need to decrease your weight or reps to stimulate new muscle growth.
Now, your muscles will still grow with the training to failure technique but it is not necessary and does more harm than good. If you can allow your body to rest and recover and seek the results you want, why would you train to failure and achieve the goals at a slower rate while not allowing for proper growth and causing possible over training? If you train too heavy, you break down the muscles too much during the workout. And even though you give yourself the rest and food you think you need for recovery, your muscles can not cope with all that added stress. It takes too long to recover and by that time you are already headed back to the gym for your next session! Stress hormones are the killer when it comes to your overall progress and your metabolism. They can cause an increase in fat tissue or on the opposite spectrum, losing lean toned muscles because of poor rest and recovery!
Adjusting your training routine properly with the gradual slow progressive increase in intensity will trigger muscle growth without ever going to complete failure.
You do not need to train to failure to feel the burn or pump! Try not to set your mind to complete a certain number of repetitions or a certain number of weights if you don’t feel that you have the power or energy within in yourself, despite that your program tells you to do. Listen to your body and give it what it asks for. As a result, you may find that maybe taking it easy today will double your energy levels tomorrow. And remember to manage the rest of your daily life when you leave the gym.
