Is training to failure the wisest move?

One of the most popular concepts that has been preached in the bodybuilding world in recent years is training to failure. What exactly is training to failure? Simply stated, training to failure means that you perform a strength training exercise until you physically cannot do anymore. You lift a weight that is heavy enough with enough repetitions until your muscles cannot perform another repetition – thus, you fail. Why is this a problem? Well, many bodybuilding experts will tell you that it is absolutely necessary to train to failure in order to achieve large muscle gains.

However, I’ve recently come across some articles written by a couple of accomplished bodybuilders who caution their colleagues, especially beginning bodybuilders, to consider training just shy of failure. Basically, the trainee would have to perform to failure in order to learn his limits, but after doing this for a while he would then try to consistently do one repetition short of training to failure. Trainers Kevin Dye and Jason Ferrugia tell us that consistently training to failure can exhaust the central nervous system and the immune system, both of which take longer to recover from a workout than your muscles do. During the next workout, you would then be less likely to have recovered completely, which means that your muscles fibers have not yet been rebuilt. To fully understand this, you must keep in mind the basic principles of muscle building. In order to grow muscle, a person has to challenge the muscle beyond its previous limits, and the muscle will grow stronger since the body does not want to be put under the same stress ever again. The actual growth of the muscle, however, does not occur in the gym but in the recovery phase. As long as a body receives enough nourishment in the form of calories and protein, the muscles will grow during sleep. According to Dye and Ferrugia, training to failure may impede recovery and eventually limit your progress.

While these recommendations may go against conventional wisdom, they are worth considering for anyone who is no longer progressing in his bodybuilding routine.