ULTIMATE GUIDE: TRAINING TO FAILURE

Original question from Joe, on Quora:

If I do each set to failure does it matter how much weight or how many reps I perform?

Wassup, Joe, MY BRUDDAH!!!

Oh, this is a good discussion— Your stimulus to hypertrophy aka stimulus for muscle growth is determined by your lifting VOLUME— weight × reps × sets.

As long as your lifting volume is going up, it doesn't matter if you increased weight, reps, or sets— it's overall poundage that will determine if you're growing or not, AS LONG AS YOU'RE GOING NEAR FAILURE in these sets.

There are differences in which mechanism for hypertrophy you're tapping in the most based on if you're emphasizing weight over sets and reps— specifically, if you're emphasizing using heavier weights, you'll be introducing more MYOFIBRILLAR HYPERTROPHY, building upon the very structures of the muscle cell making it potentially able to generate more forceful contractions— if you're introducing more reps and sets, you're introducing more SARCOPLASMIC HYPERTROPHY, filling up the spaces between those structures that allow the muscle cell to contract of fuel and all sorts of gunk that counteract the increased acidity of contracting a muscle so very very hard, allowing for increased capacity of anaerobic endurance.

Both mechanisms usually progress concurrently if you're smart about your training, ramping up your volume whenever you can while going close to failure.

But the KEY concept I want to explore today is HOW CLOSE TO FAILURE SHOULD YOU GET?

Well, in the vacuum, anywhere from 6 to 0 RIR (reps in reserve) will get the job done, but of course, that's in the vacuum, because in reality, it depends on how much of your RECOVERY RESOURCES are you willing to spend.

The nutrients, calories & amino acids from your nutrition, the hormones & peptides that are regulated by the quality of your sleep cycle— or by chemical enhancement— and the H²O and electrolytes that hydrate you are your RECOVERY RESOURCES— will all play a role in a crazy biological dance that might result in hypertrophy if properly leveraged— remember, muscles grow when you rest, when you recover, not in the gym, in the gym you generate THE STIMULUS, the signal for the muscle to grow— but for the sake of this argument we'll dumb it all down and just attach a HARD number to them, in the form of a budget measured in $— that SWEET SWEET KEE$H, BABAY!

The greater your nutrition, sleep, and hydration— the bigger your budget for potential hypertrophy— the bigger your RECOVERY RESOURCES.

Every ounce of stimulus introduced also has a cost— imagine that every given set has a potential for X amount of stimulus to hypertrophy— X AMOUNT OF G-G-GAINZ that is accompanied by DAMAGE & FATIGUE— both the stimulus, the damage, and the fatigue will be a cost to your recovery resources— an expense.

The closer you go to failure, the bigger your stimulus will be, but the costs of the stimulus itself, and related to fatigue and damage will go up DISPROPORTIONALLY— dramatically affecting your recovery expenses— HOW DRAMATICALLY do you ask?

Well, for that I'll have to pull some numbers straight out of my a... HAT!— we'll embark on an adventurous journey through the realms of BRO-SCIENCE, but hopefully, it'll expand upon this analogy and make the relationship between recovery and training a bit clearer for you, helping you decide when to go to failure or not.

A TRUE SET TO FAILURE— 0 REPS IN RESERVE (0 RIR)— will yield 100 units of growth— it will cost $100 of STIMULUS, $100 of DAMAGE, and $100 of FATIGUE— costing a total of 300 bucks out of your recovery budget.

If you have enough recovery resources to spend on that, 100% of the stimulus will result in hypertrophy, of course, IF VOLUME is also progressively going up over time— PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD— the first phrase of this article always stands true.

But here is where things get interesting—remember, the costs go up DISPROPORTINALLY the closer you are to failure.

A set 1 REP SHY OF FAILURE— 1 REPS IN RESERVE (1 RIR)— will yield 90 units of growth— and cost $90 of STIMULUS, $80 of DAMAGE, and $80 of FATIGUE— costing a total of $250 out of your recovery budget.

That's 10% less stimulus for almost 18% less costs when compared to going to failure— hence, it's a tradeoff.

A set 2 REPS SHY OF FAILURE— 2 REPS IN RESERVE (2 RIR)— will yield quantifiably fewer results than their more expensive peers, BUT, it's still 75 units of growth, at a cost of $75 of STIMULUS, $60 of DAMAGE, and $60 of FATIGUE— costing a total of $195 out of your recovery budget.

Sheesh, now, we have 25% less stimulus, but also 35% less costs than going to failure.

3 RIR— gives 60 units of growth, and costs 140 bucks— $60 of STIMULUS— $40 of DAMAGE— $40 of FATIGUE.

Yo, 40% less stimulus, but 55% less costs.

4 RIR— gives 40 units of growth, and costs 80 bucks— $40 STIMULUS— $20 DAMAGE— $20 FATIGUE.

AYE, some might say, that this is THE SWEET SPOT, of sustainable long-term muscle growth, 'cause this would be the point where your stimulus is higher, or at least equal, to the damage and fatigue you're introducing.

5 RIR— 20 units of CHEAP growth at 40 total BUCKAROOS— not a lot of stimulus, but barely any fatigue or damage either.

Aye, you got the point by now, right?

6 RIR— barely imperceptible growth at 10 units, but DANG, bruh, this is DIRT CHEAP for just a dub.

Below that threshold, the only thing you're spending is YOUR TIME, 'cause if you're not going to at least 6 repetitions shy of failure, every bit of volume you've introduced is just JUNK VOLUME, that isn't going to result in any growth.

It's interesting to point out too, that although sets that are closer to failure are more expensive to your recovery resources, they'll also translate into a better correlation between muscle growth and lifting volume— so INDEED they're an important asset you should leverage, but having careful consideration of your recovery budget is what will determine how often you'll be able to go to failure.

If you don't have enough resources in your budget to pay that bill— you're either getting in debt, desensitizing your body for potential growth, or even REGRESSING— you'll be working to failure all the time, but your muscles will be operating at a fraction of its true capacity, leading to FUNCTIONAL OVERREACHING, that if chronically introduced, is the dreaded OVERTRAINING

If you don't take anything else out of this wonky article, take this, spending more than you can pay out of your recovery budget ONE TIME is FUNCTIONAL OVERREACHING, it'll take more time and more resources than it would otherwise to recover— like paying interests on a loan— if you do so over and over again, it's like maxing out your credit cards to pay your credit cards bills stacking the interests on top of each other generating a big disastrous financial mess, that's OVERTRAINING.

You're so in debt that you're regressing, getting injured, and screwing up your efforts in the gym, and potentially, your health overall.

That's it, bruh, my mind is all over the place today so I apologize if I failed to drive the point across, let me know what you think about this, and make sure you're BANGING THAT IRON, MY BOYEEEE!! HAHAHA

STAY ON THE IRON PATH!

Big KISS

THE POTATO MAN