Training to failure kills your strength gains? 😱
A new study from @zac.datadrivenstrength (my powerlifting coach) examined proximity to failure in training, and it’s effect on strength. This is the same lab that did a recent meta-analysis demonstrating that training close to failure for building muscle was likely better than training further from failure
Surprisingly, in this study, the researchers found that training close to failure (RPE >8) actually inhibited strength, gains, compared to training slightly further away from failure (RPE 4-6 range). Does this mean you shouldn’t train heavy to get strong? No, it’s simply means that training too close to failure means you’ll be grinding too many reps, which may inhibit force production, and build up unnecessary fatigue
If we think about strength, and it’s pure form, it is the ability to produce force. Force is mass times acceleration. You can produce the same force, moving a lighter weight, it will simply move faster. But if you are taking set close to failure, it means that your final few reps will be very slow, compromising force production. It may be better to instead do less reps with the same weight and stay further from failure so the reps still move quickly and force stays high
For example, if you can squat, 400 pounds for 10 reps, and that is failure for you, you might be better off doing three sets of four, getting more volume, and each of those reps will be faster than the last four or five reps of that set to failure. Thus you’re getting the stimulus without compromising, force, production, or building up unnecessary fatigue
That said, if you don’t train heavy, you can’t express maximal force. So how should this look in practice? If you’re a power lifter or someone who wants to max out your strength, you should probably do a set or two at a heavy load and high RPE for a few reps, to build the specific skill of strength expression, and then follow that up with multiple sets at a lighter weight staying further away from failure for volume
This is how I currently program, and I have implemented this in our newest training protocol on the Biolayne workout builder in PHAT 2.0. Link in bio
A new study from @zac.datadrivenstrength (my powerlifting coach) examined proximity to failure in training, and it’s effect on strength. This is the same lab that did a recent meta-analysis demonstrating that training close to failure for building muscle was likely better than training further from failure
Surprisingly, in this study, the researchers found that training close to failure (RPE >8) actually inhibited strength, gains, compared to training slightly further away from failure (RPE 4-6 range). Does this mean you shouldn’t train heavy to get strong? No, it’s simply means that training too close to failure means you’ll be grinding too many reps, which may inhibit force production, and build up unnecessary fatigue
If we think about strength, and it’s pure form, it is the ability to produce force. Force is mass times acceleration. You can produce the same force, moving a lighter weight, it will simply move faster. But if you are taking set close to failure, it means that your final few reps will be very slow, compromising force production. It may be better to instead do less reps with the same weight and stay further from failure so the reps still move quickly and force stays high
For example, if you can squat, 400 pounds for 10 reps, and that is failure for you, you might be better off doing three sets of four, getting more volume, and each of those reps will be faster than the last four or five reps of that set to failure. Thus you’re getting the stimulus without compromising, force, production, or building up unnecessary fatigue
That said, if you don’t train heavy, you can’t express maximal force. So how should this look in practice? If you’re a power lifter or someone who wants to max out your strength, you should probably do a set or two at a heavy load and high RPE for a few reps, to build the specific skill of strength expression, and then follow that up with multiple sets at a lighter weight staying further away from failure for volume
This is how I currently program, and I have implemented this in our newest training protocol on the Biolayne workout builder in PHAT 2.0. Link in bio
biolayne
2024-04-29 08:30:27
out of florida atlantic university from my coach zach robinson they did a study actually looking at proximity to failure and gains in strength training close to failure inhibited strength gains compared to people who didn't train super close to failure what are you talking about this is b s you wanna grow muscle you gotta train close to failure yes that's true it's also true that you have to lift heavy
you're better off taking that given load doing a greater number of sets with less reps staying further away from failure and making that weight move quickly so i take home as if strength is the goal maximize force production don't do a lot of really grindy reps and focus on moving a given load as quickly as you can
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