Cutler: "In my 20 years of training, I've never trained to failure on any set. Ever."

[maldorf]

For chest, you will must take breaks longer than 10 seconds.

Yeah, when I did squats I probably ended up resting for about 30 seconds by the end of the set. Most of us on here are experienced enough lifters to have a good idea of how long we need to rest.

Doing this for pull ups is good too, when you first start out and cant do a good 10 of your own bodyweight. Works with any exercise. I only did it on bench and squat though. I think I did it maybe one time for pull ups, with a huge dumbell strapped to me.

 

[Beti ona]

Simply, the bench press involves less muscle than the squat or the deadlift, so I feel that the rest should be greater, at least for me.

 

[KillerStack]

There are a lot of extremely good bodybuilders who say you don't need to train to failure (which is technically true of course) to grow muscle or use progressive overload for that matter. And the evidence is their body - "look, I grow like a weed without all that and I won X amount of shows". Most of the time the truth is that they hit their biggest lbm a decade or two ago and all they have done is maintain. Regaining muscle is not what I would call "growth" - growth to me is when you gain something you never had before. And new growth rarely results from getting weaker or training less intensely.

 

[brutus69]

science.

https://www.strongerbyscience.com/training-to-failure-or-just-training-to-fail/

 

[maldorf]

I think that the main thing for muscle growth is progressing your load over an amount of time. You have to increase the resistance your muscles are working against in order to grow. So if one individual is not hitting even close to failure, as long as they continue to add weight to their exercises each month then they too will grow. I think growth will be slightly better in the group that goes closer to failure, but both should grow. Progressive overload is the key.

I have been able to put back on some muscle now myself and I don't go very close to failure on a lot of my movements, in particular squats. With squats I am only doing around 14 or 15 reps and could probably hit 25 or more. I cant do more because I risk going into V fib. I am still growing my legs some though. I can see the difference and my strength is going up.

 

[Beti ona]

I have been able to put back on some muscle now myself and I don't go very close to failure on a lot of my movements, in particular squats. With squats I am only doing around 14 or 15 reps and could probably hit 25 or more. I cant do more because I risk going into V fib. I am still growing my legs some though. I can see the difference and my strength is going up.

For some reason, I think the legs will respond well even if you don't take them to the faillure. Simply squatting is already a fairly extreme challenge if you compare it with a press, triceps extension or calf lift.

 

[nspaletta]

For some reason, I think the legs will respond well even if you don't take them to the faillure. Simply squatting is already a fairly extreme challenge if you compare it with a press, triceps extension or calf lift.

Training to failure still with legs I believe will produce greater growth, it becomes exercise selection that is key though. Squats are difficult to train to failure with definitely. but leg press, extensions, curls, or split squats are very doable to train to failure with and effective. eugene teo spoke about this on IG or his website if I recall and it makes a lot of sense in my opinion.