Name: Is it necessary to train to muscular failure? | Peter Attia and Layne Norton
Uploaded: 2024-10-18T07:52:06.000Z
Duration: 5 min 23 s
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So what we really want to do is maximize hypertrophy and stimulus while minimizing fatigue.

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Because if you're, yes, sure, you can get a similar stimulus by going to failure and maybe even just a little bit more, but if it then causes you to have performance decrements the following week or not be able to push as hard overall, we have to think about this as an overall training program and not just isolated workouts.

And that's, I'm very purposeful when I tell people, I go into train, I don't go into workout, right?

Like working out is just an isolated workout.

And I've had so many people with big egos who say, well, I couldn't possibly not train to failure.

They're not actually training to failure.

Like I know what actual muscular failure feels like on a squat.

So people, I've seen this on Dr. Mike Israel's Instagram too, because he talks about training shy of failure a lot as well.

And people will say something like, oh, you train like a wuss.

And what I want to say to them is I have done, so probably one of my most impressive squat sets is I did 480 pounds for 14 reps and I've done 405 pounds for 21 reps before.

It probably took me, first off, it probably took me five minutes just to get my breath back, just to breathe enough to like be a functional human after that.

Then as far as like going to do another set, first off, when I hit that 480 and I grinded out that last rep, that 14th rep, I was so fatigued.

I couldn't rack the right side of the barbell because for whatever reason, I'm a little bit lopsided and it sits just a hair lower there.

I could not fully lock out my glutes and lower back and I couldn't rack it and there was actually somebody had to run over from across the gym to help me rack it, even though normally it's no problem.

And then I laid down for five minutes just trying to get my breath back.

And then when I got up, if you told me I had to go squat 480 again, I'm telling you, I couldn't have gotten a single rep, even after resting 10, 15 minutes, there's not a chance in hell.

So this idea, so you're telling me if I stopped two reps shy of that, that that would have felt easy.

Or that it would have failed to produce benefit.

And actually with compound movements specifically, you don't have to get as close to failure to get the benefits with compound movements.

By the way, I feel so much better hearing this today.

Today was a deadlift day and this cycle I'm doing trap bar, which I actually don't like very much, but I did sort of my trap bars and then I was supposed to go to hip thrusters after and I was not feeling great on it in a really, it just didn't feel like it was going.

So I went and did sumo deadlifts and they felt great.

But on the very last set, I added a bunch more weight on and at the sixth rep or eighth rep, I was like, I feel really good, but something tells me if I try to get to 10 today, I'm going to push just a little too much.

So I sort of bagged it at eight and afterwards I was like, I'm really proud of myself.

Like I didn't do something stupid because today's one of those days, cause you know, to deadlift two different deadlifts on one day and it's at the end of the workout.

Like that's, those are the moments when you make mistakes.

Um, but, but I like knowing that, and that was probably truthfully, I think I probably had four reps in me left.

So that might've only been a six or a seven RPE.

And the research shows that, so what was popular a few years ago was kind of the effective reps hypothesis.

So basically the idea is that the majority of the stimulus that you get for muscle growth is in the last five reps before failure.

So whether you're doing 20 reps means you need to get to at least 15 reps to really get a similar stimulus.

Um, and in terms of volume and progressive overload, you really need to think about volume in terms of just number of hard sets within like a five RPE.

But the research shows that that's much more accurate for isolation stuff than it is for compound.

So compound lifts are kind of a, their own beast.

You can train at a sub five RPE and still get like maximal, um, EMG recruitment and quite a bit of hypertrophy.

Whereas with isolation, you pretty much have to take it close to failure.

And then the other thing I would say is that, you know, exercises are not equivalent.

You know, that's a big thing is like, all right, let's do a five RPE on a squat and then a nine RPE on a, on a leg extension.

I'll tell you the nine RPE on leg extension, I can do that all day.

I was just about to say that is infinitely less painful.

Versus a big compound movement that requires core and stabilization and breathing and creating intra-abdominal pressure.

 You know, all that kind of stuff, you know, factors into fatigue.

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Is it necessary to train to muscular failure? | Peter Attia and Layne Norton

stuff

sort

fatigue

absolutely