Train to Fail * possible dumb question.

Sorry...I just gotta ask this...

I usually don't train to failure....I sense that most of the big boys here do....

My reps are in the 8-12 range but I usually ALWAYS finish the set...

I think I keep fairly strict form and rarely (if ever) do assists, partials or negatives...

Have I turned out to be one of those 'wussy' health clubbers or is this normal...

Will I get bigger & stronger, quicker training to failure?

Am I wasting my time....

I'm a stocky 250lb with I'd guess 12-15% bf....very little (if any) fat on legs/arms but have pudgie abs...I guess I'm trying more to cut than too beef up but would like to keep my strength as well....

Advice?

i think going to failure is bad if your goal is strength

i dont know anything about bb though

As I have said before "I train for success, not failure!"

Here are some kick ass weight porgrams that will cut you up and bulid muscle:

http://www.t-mag.com/articles/173melt.html

http://www.t-mag.com/articles/205melt.html

http://www.t-mag.com/nation_articles/258melt2.html

S

I think i'm rare because I do train to failure. I rarely see people going to absolute failure now, for whatever reason. I don't buy into those who say it's dangerous, because I don't think it is dangerous. I wouldn't feel satisfied if I walked out and didn't put everything I had into my workout, and to do that, i have to fail. maybe it's my sports background, but I cannot have a workout and not lift heavy and to failure. would i be bigger if I didn't do this? perhaps, but I wouldn't feel as satisfied. i don't know about anyone else, but i feel like a pussy if i don't train balls out to failure.

Failure can be good as as long as that is the goal and it is used sparingly. It can lead to overtraining and increases the risk of injuries because the from gets sloppy and the muscles are extremely fatigued.

I just pick a loading scheme that foces me to work hard ex. 5 X5 , when I finnish I'm shot I put my all into those sets because the weight is heavy. Sometimes on the last set I will miss a rep.

Its just that I don't push to failure every set, every exercise. If' Im trying to increase hypertrophy of a lagging muscle then I will push to failure for several weeks on that part until I rotate the loading parameters.

For maximal strength I don't need to push to failure, I find its best for hypertrophy. Remember "success breads success" You can get great mental satisfaction & motivation by getting all your reps / sets with a given weight.

S

as long as you are progressing either in weights or size, thats all that matters

Not to split hairs or anything but there are two kinds of failure.
Positive failure and negative failure.

Positive failure is when you are trying to get ten reps and you do in fact make the tenth rep but the 11th rep would be impossible so you stop at ten.

If you attempted to make the 11th rep and lets say only make it half way up and cannot complete the rep no matter how hard you tried and fail this is negative failure or training to (absolute) failure.

Of course if we really want to split hairs there is form failure which is self explanatory.

Pump on .....

I take my final set to absolute failure. If I break a certain number of reps, I increase the weight. It's working well for me thus far.

Charles Poliquin " I like HIT for 3 weeks"

Just look for for the F.I.T. module. Freguency, Intensity and Time. Change one of those aspect and training is good. That keeps it simple for you. It depends on your goal.