Not training to failure?

[Robert Jan]

WTF?
My bench is supposed to be sucking cuz I train to failure on all sets?
I mean I only do 4 sets for chest. not exactly overtraining is it?...

and not training to failure.... what bunk. Where does that leave intensity? where does that leave the whole train hard till you drop thing

what about everybody including huge folk talking about how ******* hard they have to push themselves in the gym.
How no pain = no gain.

not training to failure... i can just vision it:
*does 6 reps on bench*
thinks: "mmm i could probably do another 3 or so, but this should be enough for now"
*racks it*
how gay is that? wheres the sweat and the pain?

this is what Ive been told NOT to do from day 1.

 

[Honey Roasted]

For each exercise (and I usually only do about 2-3 of them for most workouts), I do several warm-up sets first. I gradually progress to the weights used for my final working set, so the final 2-3 sets aren't exactly "warming up". I don't go to failure on any but the last set, meaning my last rep for each set is never forced or partial (so if I do have a spotter, he does NOT touch the bar). Sometimes, I don't even go to failure on the last set of the given exercise if I feel on the border of overtraining.

I used to go to failure on almost every single set except for light warm-ups. Since I've changed my ways, I've been feeling better and recovering better. I save the intensity for the last few sets or for the final set.

Say I'm on the 2nd to final set and fairly close to the weight used for my final set. I might do a predetermined number of reps, and then on my last set I'll use the rest-pause technique. On top of this, I might add static holds, etc. This makes the last set extremely intense. I am only really pushing my CNS on this last set. The real workload is distributed over the mini-sets of the rest-pause set. This works well whenever rest-pausing is a good idea.

A second way is a kind of pyramiding. I'll be on my supposedly "last" and working set, but do a predetermined number of reps. I'll take a good rest, add a little weight, and pump out either the same number of reps or slightly lower. Repeat. The intensity is obviously there. Since on my supposedly "last set" I only did a predetermined number of reps (not going to failure), I didn't really tax my CNS that much on that set. The real workload is distributed over the few working sets I do, increasing greatly as I reach the actual final set. This is done whenever rest-pausing is not a good idea.

You might notice that these two ways are really the same except for the rest-pausing on the first one. It depends on what you want to call working sets or heavy warm-ups. You might say it's a matter of words, but one way of describing it seems to fit better sometimes than the other. Depends on how close in weight those final sets are and how hard they are for you.

I suppose there are other ways of training also where you aren't doing something like doing the bench press for 4 working sets and going to failure on all 4 of those sets.

 

[Robert Jan]

I was always told heaviest sets first is the shit

 

[gettinlarger]

going to failure on EVERY SINGLE SET YOU DO is, well, dumb ...

 

[Needhelp]

Reiner! This is all.

 

[b fold the truth]

what about everybody including huge folk talking about how ******* hard they have to push themselves in the gym.
How no pain = no gain.

not training to failure... i can just vision it:
*does 6 reps on bench*
thinks: "mmm i could probably do another 3 or so, but this should be enough for now"
*racks it*
how gay is that? wheres the sweat and the pain?

Be careful whose toes you step on here...and who you make fun of...and who you call gay...and whose training you call gay.

You are visioning something that is all or nothing. You hear..."don't train to failure" and think that you do only 6 reps of a possible 9 rep set. Not true. A 6 rep set for me is just that...6 reps where I could NOT get 7.

I don't have a spot or even a squat rack to train in...so I manipulate my squatting with other factors: time, rest, tension, accomodating resistance, etc... I do 2-4 sets every week of the log clean and press and never train to failure...yet I still grow in size and strength and have NOT had an injury to my shoulders.

I train with intelligence...

Before you knock how some of the big guys train...think about what you are saying.

B True

 

[JOKER47]

Re: Re: Not training to failure?

A 6 rep set for me is just that...6 reps where I could NOT get 7.
B True

To me, that IS training to failure. I don't have a spotter at home, so for me, that is as far as I CAN go.

If I have lifted to the point I can lift no more, I trained to failure.


Seems like a logical definition to me.

.02,
Joker

 

[ZZuluZ]

Funny how the greatest and most intelligent people on this forum do NOT train to failure.

You, sir, are an idiot. [It had to be said]

-Zulu

 

[JOKER47]

Funny how the greatest and most intelligent people on this forum do NOT train to failure.

You, sir, are an idiot. [It had to be said]

-Zulu

Dayam...Who was that directed to??

 

[needsize]

Some of my sets are to failure, but not all.

For example, is I'm doing my 5x5 routine, all 5 sets have to be on the same weight, so they couldn't all be to failure as I would then have to drop the weight on successive sets. Maybe the last set of 5 is to failure. But then I move on to higher rep exercises, say 8-10 reps, those I will take to failure. The last set of my routine will be to absolute failure, but then I drop some weight, and push way past failure, that way I know I've pushed my muscles as far as they can go.
I hope that made some sense

 

[b fold the truth]

I didn't mean for my post to be offensive...just that you don't have to go to failure to grow...manipulate with many variables.

B True

 

[ZZuluZ]

Addressed to the guy who started the thread.

-Zulu

 

[coolcolj]

I used to train to fialure on evrything. It works if you keep the volume low and workouts short.

But once I added in work, sports etc, I just burned out big time.

So now I'm doing it differently.

 

[benchmonster]

I do at most two exercises per week to failure. One max effort bench movement, and one max effort squat movement. You can get bigger and stronger without training to failure on every set.

In fact it is much easier to get bigger and stronger if you don't continually and completely torch your CNS by going to failure all the time. You could not train like I do and take every set to failure. Absolutely could not be done. After week you would be in the hospital.

Training to failure often will set you up for failure often.

B.

 

[Robert Jan]

so Needsize like the way you put it... the whole 5x5 block could be viewed as one big set to failure. only with rest periods.

that sounds like, much better and simpler now.

 

[coolcolj]

Put it this way -

muscles recover faster than the CNS, so do enough to stimulate the muscles to adapt, and nothing more

 

[barbell265]

I agree w/ need size

Need size has the key. Train hard but train smart. I personally do 2-warm ups, after a simple streching routine, and do 4 work sets or 3-5 reps when bulking. When I can get 4 sets of 5 I bump the weight up 5 lbs and start over. I do this for 12 weeks, then do a shredding set for 8 weeks. My shredding sets, which I just started 4 days ago, consist of streching, 2-warm ups and 6 sets of 10-15. I have been experiencing such huge pumps this week I can hardly believe it! My arms and chest have never been that big!! The pump was incredible!! After 4 days of this, BTW I am taking clomid 50/ed and 1mg L-dex post cycle, I am more vascular and feel larger than at the end of my last bulking cycle.

 

[BodybuildingUniverse]

if your bench is stuck then do a search for static reps on the forum here –_really works

 

[Japanese machine]

Put it this way -

muscles recover faster than the CNS, so do enough to stimulate the muscles to adapt, and nothing more

CNS adaptation is what allows muscles to grow.

 

[voodoo]

Going until you can't lift one more if postive failure. This is not the same failure as some people see it, but in most cases when people tell you to go until failure they mean positive failure. Not the kind you spotter has to save you from.

Every now and then its good to try to go past this point. If you can make the "extra" rep its time to add some ##.

Personally I agree with the idea that you only need to overload the muscle to stimulate growth.

 

[Lumbuss]

I have always trained to failure. But in theory not training to failure is better. This is something i am going to do some research on because as far as i know the best method is no-failure. It takes less of a toll on the CNS and PNS.

robert jan needs to stop calling stuff gay also, he is just mad his biceps haven't reached the 14" mark.

 

[Last_Exit]

there's a good article this month about that in MD...