Is going to failure a bad thing now??

S

sleemie

0
We've always been trained to go to failure when lifting, but someone on here posted this in response to another post of mine.

"I believe that failure damages neural connections in the CNS. It also damages the muscle more than is necessary. I could be wrong about that. Get some clarifcation."

Is there any truth to this? I plan on doing some lifting again like one day a week and the guidance I got from a book that was pretty well rated on Amazon was to do two different exercises for the same muscle group during a workout and to push to failure on the 2nd and 3rd sets of each exercise.
 
It does take a toll on your CNS if you keep training to failure all the time.

Thats why its best to do full body workouts a few times a week. Then you dont have to train to failure because you ar training each much more often.
 
Cynic said:
I don't think it causes permanent damage, but going to failure requires longer recover periods.
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Quite right - and this is why its good for sports men and women.
If you train to failure all the time, you'll always be in a state of recovery. This is not good if you train your legs monday and want to go for a run of weds - The chances are your legs are still going to hurt.

So doing full body and not working to failure, not only helps you build muscle but working more often, but stops you aching for days and days.
 
because you record everything you do in your training log.
Therefore you know exactly what wheights to use for the job.
 
Example: I do dumbbell curls with 25 pounds on each arm and 3 sets of 3 reps. Should I just add a rep for my next workout?
 
Yo ugoing for size or strength?

If your going for size that weight is far too heavy for you.

You want 3 diffrent weights.
1 for 5x5
1 for 4x10
and 1 for 3x15
 
I don't see any reason to do isolation exercises if you're aiming for strength.

Strength training is almost entirely neural and you want to train the muscles and CNS to function in a coordinated fashion across all the muscle, including the synergists and stabilizers.
 
No, I'm not going for size. I'm in a caloric deficit right now and only looking to get stronger and tone (essentially lose fat and gain a bit of muscle, not too much). I'd like to stay at my weight of 130. I was told to do high weight low reps fot that
 
a 5x5 program is good for str and size if you are intermid, if you are a beginner or advanced, its not the best option. I tried a 5x5 when i was only a beginner, i saw gains, but not as good as i would have if i did a beginner program.
 
SuperFob said:
If you aren't going for failure then when do you know to stop?
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experience. the more you train, the more you know your body, and you'll be able to tell "well I did 10 reps with 50lbs...I think I could maybe squeeze out 2 more before I need help"....so that'd be your signal you 'did enough'.

going to, or past failure (with a spotter) isn't terrible...but its just not something that needs to be done EVERY session...not even every week.

its helpful as long as its not over used/abused.
 
Ok, going to failure is not the devil.

I've heard references to planned failure, though I have yet to see a program do that.

I sometimes put too much weight on the bar and can't complete all set with all reps, but I try to minimize this as both A and B workouts have some overlap in muscles used. What happens is I use my best judgment to call it when the last rep was so exceedingly hard I barely got the move done.

So I rack it and mark it.

Sometimes I don't get the rep done with decent enough form, so I don't count it and end it there.

Continuously going to failure is bad, once in a while is not. It's an accumulative effect.

I don't recommend failure training because many people don't know how to do it right. Something that complex should be avoided unless you have a real, honest to goodness, intelligent and experienced trainer design something for it.
 
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I go to failure all the time. I will normally do 3 sets of 8 and if I get 13 or more reps on the last set I will go up 5 pounds. But I haven't gone up 5 pounds in a while.....
 
I agree with the majority, it is a concept that should be utilized in specific situations to help with a purpose. Not, 'lift as much weight 'til I can't do it anymore'. HIT every exercise is outdated, and like cynic said, it takes a toll on the CNS. There are programs out there that use this concept in every workout, but they're not for the noob at all. I generally recommend HIT to get through a wall; that or explosion reps (a topic for another day).
 
jmanjman47 said:
I go to failure all the time. I will normally do 3 sets of 8 and if I get 13 or more reps on the last set I will go up 5 pounds. But I haven't gone up 5 pounds in a while.....
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When is the last time you took a week or two off from lifting?
 
I've never heard of going Three Reps, I'm from the old school of lifting Mon. Wed. Fri. 3-5 sets of 10 on every exercise. Then Run Tues and Wednesday. Wekends rest. I know things have changed; I just won't change!! I forgot every other week rotate from heavy to light.

Got to go Charlies Angels just came on....
 
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