lifting to failure

[jonny100]

As mentioned in my last thread, I'm following Chad Waterbury's total-body workout from T-Nation. He advises that you only lift your last set of each exercise to failure. BUT.....

After doing this workout for the first time, I realised that even though the workout hands you your ass by the time you've finished due to all the compound lifts...I had all my strength back within a few hours. Whereas when I used to split my workouts into muscle groups and train every set to failure (with more sets per exercise), I didn't feel as exhausted by the end, but it broke down my muscles much more and my arms and legs were every for the rest of the day.

Is this the idea of total body workouts...that the training is more intense but you don't actually hit your muscles as hard?

Which is the best way to go about things for maximum hypertrophy?

 

[theleip]

It is not really so much a point of what is better as to what is needed for you.
How long you have been training, how long with the same routine, how good you are with your diet, etc.

My favorite training is full body training but I have to switch up sometimes and do splits as well to keep away adaptation.

As far as training every set to failure, just risky unless conditioned the right way and training in the right manner. Basically there is a difference between a good workout that you work and a bad workout that works you. No matter what training I am doing I feel awesome after my post workout intake. Till then though I look a little like a 10 year old that came off The pirate ship at a fair that just consumed 3 funnel cakes.