The concept of training to failure — pushing a muscle to its physical limit before form breaks down — always sparks debate among exercise enthusiasts. Some elite bodybuilders, like four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler, advocate for training to failure, but it might not always be the optimal approach if your goal is building strength rather than building muscle.
Sebastian Oreb, strength coach of all-time deadlift world record holder Hafthor Björnsson, offered a nuanced perspective from his extensive experience with elite athletes.
There is a distinction between failure sets for hypertrophy vs. strength training. Hypertrophy occurs from mechanical tension, muscle damage, and motor unit recruitment. (1)
“If training for strength, you might not go to failure as often because you’re prioritizing neural adaptations and technique,” Oreb said.
What to Know About Failure Training
- Minimize failure sets for strength
- Focus on technique and fatigue management.
- Hypertrophy benefits more from failure due to increased muscle fiber recruitment.
- Training to failure depends on goals, experience, and recovery.
- Use failure sparingly when training compound lifts.
- Too much failure training can hinder performance by reducing volume quality and increasing fatigue.
- Beginners should use minimal failure sets
- Advanced lifters can use failure sets to break plateaus.
- Test failure tolerance with reps in reserve (RIR), and rate of perceived exertion (RPE).
- Failure training builds mental toughness.
Failure training is not a one-size-fits-all strategy but rather a tool to be used selectively based on goals and experience. It requires a decent understanding of the trade-offs between intensity, recovery, and long-term progress. While failure training can be a powerful stimulus, it should be applied judiciously to avoid burnout or injury.
Strength vs. Hypertrophy Training
For strength athletes, such as powerlifters, Oreb suggested stopping sets one to two reps shy of failure, known as leaving “reps in reserve.” This preserves energy for subsequent sets and helps manage fatigue, for consistent technique and progressive overload.
Failure training for hypertrophy can be beneficial, as it maximizes muscle fiber recruitment and metabolic stress. However, attempting to push past initial failure could affect recovery and should be used sparingly. (2)(3)
Muscle growth scales with increasing volumes or overall workload. (4) Going hard too often can significantly reduce performance, leading to lower quality volume.
Intensity, Recovery & When to Train to Failure
Maxing every set can lead to excessive fatigue, stalled progress, and even overtraining. Hence, it should be strategically programmed for specific exercises or training phases. For example, failure training for isolation exercises like biceps curls or leg extensions, rather than on more demanding compound lifts like squats or deadlifts.
Training to failure every set, every session, is a recipe for disaster.
—Sebastian Oreb
You can vary proximity to failure to help gauge when failure reps are beneficial. Experimenting is important for progression, and perfection isn’t necessary. As knowledgeable as Oreb is, he admitted that he’s “always trying to figure out [his] limitations as well.”
“Not everyone responds to failure the same way,” Oreb explained. Training experience, recovery capacity, and even mental resilience influence how often an athlete should push to failure.
Oreb advised beginners to rarely train to failure. Instead, they should focus on technique and building a foundation of strength. Conversely, undertrained individuals may benefit from taking some sets to failure. Advanced lifters may benefit from occasional failure sets to break through plateaus, provided they monitor their recovery.
“Pushing to failure can teach you to grind through tough moments, but you don’t need to do it all the time to get that benefit,” Oreb concluded.
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References
- Krzysztofik M, Wilk M, Wojdała G, Gołaś A. Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review of Advanced Resistance Training Techniques and Methods. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Dec 4;16(24):4897. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16244897. PMID: 31817252; PMCID: PMC6950543.
- Refalo MC, Helms ER, Trexler ET, Hamilton DL, Fyfe JJ. Influence of Resistance Training Proximity-to-Failure on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis. Sports Med. 2023 Mar;53(3):649-665. doi: 10.1007/s40279-022-01784-y. Epub 2022 Nov 5. PMID: 36334240; PMCID: PMC9935748.
- Robinson ZP, Pelland JC, Remmert JF, Refalo MC, Jukic I, Steele J, Zourdos MC. Exploring the Dose-Response Relationship Between Estimated Resistance Training Proximity to Failure, Strength Gain, and Muscle Hypertrophy: A Series of Meta-Regressions. Sports Med. 2024 Sep;54(9):2209-2231. doi: 10.1007/s40279-024-02069-2. Epub 2024 Jul 6. PMID: 38970765.
- Wolf, D., Schoenfeld, B. J., Barakat, C., Riecke, B., Dankel, S. J., & Fisher, J. P. (2024). The resistance training dose-response: Meta-regressions exploring the effects of weekly volume and frequency on muscle hypertrophy and strength gain. SportRxiv. https://doi.org/10.51224/SRXIV.460
Featured image: @australianstrengthcoach on Instagram
