What are the symptoms of strength training failure?

The core manifestation of failure in strength training is that you can no longer complete a complete repetition of the action with standard movements. This is also the standard for judging "technical exhaustion" recognized by most training practitioners. However, there are also a small number of trainers who pursue extreme stimulation. They believe that true exhaustion must be reached when the muscles completely lose their ability to contract and cannot move the weight even with the help of compensation. The difference between the two parties is essentially a difference in training goals, and there is no absolute right or wrong.

Let me tell you a real story about my leg training last week. That day I arranged back squats, using a regular set weight of 75 kilograms. The first two sets were done 10 times each, and they went smoothly. When I did the 9th time in the third set, I just wanted to get up when I reached the bottom, and suddenly there was a drill in my quadriceps. My heart was burning, and my legs were half weak all of a sudden. I gritted my teeth and held it in until my temples jumped. I couldn't stand up, so I quickly threw the weight on the protective frame behind me. I held my knees and panted for a long time before I recovered. That was when I really reached the critical point of exhaustion.

Many people confuse muscle soreness with exhaustion. In fact, when you reach exhaustion, the signal is much more obvious. In addition to being unable to hold the movement, your muscle control will collapse first. For example, you can press at a steady speed when you bench press, but before exhaustion, Twice, the pole would shake uncontrollably when it reached mid-air, and the wrist holding the pole would also shake, and the breathing rhythm would have been chaotic. Originally, I was pushing up, exhaling, and falling to inhale, but in the end I was panting like a bellows, and I couldn't even count how many times I did it.

As for the absolute failure that everyone has been arguing about for a long time, I also tried it once. When I was practicing bicep curls, after reaching technical failure with a 15kg dumbbell, I threw my arms twice to compensate. In the end, even though my arms were almost to my shoulders, I still couldn’t lift the dumbbells to the highest point of the curl, and my forearms felt numb. After the electric shock, the hands holding the dumbbells were almost loose, which meant that they were in a state of absolute exhaustion. But to be honest, my biceps were sore for three whole days after that time, and it was difficult to even carry a water glass. If you are an ordinary fitness enthusiast, there is no need to do this at all. The risk of injury caused by deformed movements is much higher than the extra stimulation benefits.

It is actually difficult for novices to accurately perceive exhaustion. Many times you feel "I can't do it anymore." In fact, you can grit your teeth and do one or two more standard movements. If the movements start to shake uncontrollably and you have to twist your waist and swing your arms to use force, then don't hold on, because your body is telling you that you have reached exhaustion.