Benefits of strength training to failure

Under the premise of movement standards, the core benefit of achieving technical failure for target muscle groups is that it can maximize the efficiency of muscle fiber recruitment, quickly break through the training plateau, and can also help you accurately establish muscle force perception. It is a very cost-effective training method for ordinary trainers in the advanced stage, but it is not a must-have option for training, nor is it suitable for everyone and all training scenarios.

When I first practiced shoulder training, the front and middle delts were always "dead muscles without feeling". After every shoulder press and lateral raise, my trapezius muscles were so weak that it was difficult to even turn my head, but my shoulders didn't feel at all. I tried changing the movements and lowering the weight to no avail. Later, my coach directly changed my plan for me: the last set of dumbbell lateral raises, using 5kg dumbbells, until I could no longer maintain the standard of movement. I remember that when I reached the 11th exercise, my arms were shaking like small wind chimes hanging during the New Year. I gritted my teeth and lifted the 12th exercise to shoulder level. I just put down the dumbbells and my whole body was exhausted. As a result, when I woke up the next day, the front and middle sides of my shoulders were so sore that it was difficult to lift my arms and put on clothes. That was the first time I really felt what it felt like to "fully exert the target muscle group".

This is not a metaphysics. Exercise physiology has long made it very clear: our muscle fiber recruitment is in a fixed order. Type I muscle fibers with strong endurance and low dimensional growth potential are mobilized first. Only when these small fibers are tired to the point that they cannot bear it, the type II muscle fibers with high growth potential and responsible for explosive power will be activated to participate in force production. You usually stop training at seven or eight points, and these "big guys" that can help you grow muscles and increase strength are not moved at all, which is equivalent to half a set of training in vain.

But oh, if you go to the gym and ask the guys who practice powerlifting, nine times out of ten they will pour cold water on you: "What is exhaustion? Squat to exhaustion and your waist collapses and you won't be able to recover even after half a year." This is not to argue, the goals of different training systems are inherently different. Bodybuilding-style training pursues muscle dimension and shape. Isolated movements to failure are a common method, but powerlifting pursues the output ability of extreme weight. The neurological fatigue caused by failure will seriously affect the performance of subsequent heavy weight groups, and compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, and bench presses must be performed to absolute failure. When doing so, the movements are easily deformed, and the risk of injuring key parts such as the waist and shoulders will increase exponentially. This is the core reason why many people are opposed to exhaustion - they are talking about "blindly rushing to absolute exhaustion with compound movements", which is not the same thing as the isolation movements we talk about hitting technical exhaustion.

In addition to effectively stimulating muscle growth, failure is also the ultimate way to break the plateau. I used to bench press at 80kg for almost three months. I did 3 sets of 8 each time, and I didn’t feel any soreness after training. Later, I changed my plan with my friend and had a bench press day every week. In the last two sets, I reduced it to 70kg. I reached technical failure in each set. When I couldn’t push anymore, I asked my partner to help me a little. After practicing like this for less than three weeks, the next time I pushed the weight, I steadily pushed up to 85kg. Even I didn’t expect it. To put it bluntly, if you train with a fixed weight and a fixed number of times for a long time, your body will have already adapted to the stimulation intensity. If you don’t give it an “excessive” stimulation, it won’t bother to expend energy to grow muscles and gain strength.

Of course, I have also encountered the pit of exhaustion. When I first tasted the benefits, I wanted to do every set until I couldn't move. When doing leg training, I failed every set of squats. As a result, I had to hold on to the wall even when going down the stairs the next day. When I did back training the next week, I couldn't hold the pull-up bar. I went to check and found out that it was due to excessive nerve fatigue. Really, more is not better. Generally, the last 1-2 sets of 1-2 isolated movements in a training session are enough. Unless you have a reliable partner to protect you throughout the whole process, it is not recommended to push to failure with compound movements. Beginners should practice the movement pattern thoroughly before touching it. Otherwise, it will be a trivial matter if the movement is crooked and the wrong muscles are trained, and the joints will be injured.

To be honest, exhaustion is just a training tool, just like a kitchen knife you use for cooking. It is useful for chopping vegetables. If you insist on using it to chop bones, it will definitely break. There is no need to boast about it, and you don’t have to think it is a blind exercise as soon as you hear it. It is suitable for your current training goals. If you can control the movements without getting injured, then it is a good thing to help you improve quickly. If it does not meet your training needs, then practicing regular sets can still be effective. After all, fitness is for your own comfort in the end, not to compete with others to train harder, right?