Wow. Brad is such a legend. His book is one of the few that are ACTUALLY science-based while still being full of information you can actually utilize to optimize your training. He did it first. He did it best. What a guy. So cool you guys know each other.
Dr. Mike never fails to impress with his well thought out interview questions, witty self-deprecating humour, and incredibly bulbous and baldous dome thumbnails which sends me on an endless RP binge.
Brad Shoenfeld is incompetent and doesn't know what true failure is. Take his "research" with a grain of salt. Look up how he performs his reps. It's pathetic. Dr Mike has also lost credibility by giving this clown any.
Does that help more, I've started leaving maybe 1 in the tank, but my arms still ain't getting bigger, the last set I go to failure and I've noticed the my reps going up
Dipolodocolous for the win! This is exactly how I've adapted over the years and for myself have I found the best progress. I typically increase the load from set to set, so for instance Bench Press: warm up followed by first working set 185 lbs 12 reps, then second set 205lbs for 12 reps, then final set 225lbs around 9-10 reps with goal of getting to 12 reps. The first 2 sets are basically to get me ready to fail on the last set. Each session I'm usually gaining 1 rep on the last set. Once I get to 12 on that last set, then I add 5 lbs to each of the 3 sets. Rinse and repeat. I also modulate the rep ranges, so some days I'm benching in the 8 rep range with obvious heavier loads. I seldom do 5 reps or less anymore simply because I getting too old and my joints don't recover as quickly anymore.
I've always done this even when i had no idea what i was doing or for what muscles exactly. It just felt more natural, going to failure in the first two sets doesn't make sense, and it's more satisfying to go to failure (or very close). But i don't go to failure in every last set; compound exercises and generally heavy lifts end only with 2-3 RIR for me. In other exercises, like isolation, dumbbells, cables, machine flies, etc, then yes, i will try to go ham on those. Still, I prefer to not if I don't feel like it, and to avoid unnecessary fatigue, until i can gauge which exercise of that session and on that day it's the most important one
Here's an idea for a potential video. What happens to the nervous system of an individual that actually goes to failure over and over again for a longer period, while adjusting their volume to keep fatigue at bay. Think of Bugenhagen embodiment + periodization for progression. Let's call it a year of training. I'd expect some nervous system adaptation to occur in which the person might be able to grind out more and more as the mesocycles continue. How would this affect SFR of a set to failure after that adaptation period? Maybe im just high, but its cool to hypothesize.
I trained to failure once. 1.5hrs leg session, followed by ~10km walk in 35C temps. Made it within 100m of the car and everything below the waist started cramping hard and every step felt like pain. I think I sweated out 2% of my bodyweight. Took a week to recover. 10/10 can recommend infrequently
As a rule of thumb, *occasionally* going to failure on: the top set (heaviest weight) and the final set (the 'finish' set) seems like a good idea. You generally want to increase your PR so going all out on the top set now and then is good. And you want that final, great pump, too. 'Training not straining' is still true.
Tried it during 15 years of lifting. Low volume high intensity to failure works like charm for me 🙏 try for your body what's providing best results for you 💯
@@sagnorm1863 I think for 99% of the people out there, that's true. But I also think there's enough genetic outliers out there that some people may very well grow better with a Mentzer style, etc. I guess I'm in the "start with the statistically best option, then listen to your body and adjust" camp.
@@sagnorm1863 did you not understand the original comment? He's done the same thing for 15 years, therefore nothing else could possibly work for him (he knows this because it works!).
These 2 are legends! I had a long conversation with Brad last year when we had him for a conference. You can't get a straight answer but you always get an answer that makes sense. Thanks RP for posting this! 💪
This is such a good video because I actually have a problem going to failure every set to the point I only can make it to the gym like 3 days because I’m so beat from the workouts on top of work and less then ideal sleep. I also do it out of fear of not putting in max effort and not wanting to sell my self short of giving it my best effort and not half assing the workouts
RP uses a descending RIR training model. Mesos start at 2-3 RIR, and finish with a functional overreaching stage at 0 RIR. That's what you're seeing in those videos. The sound bites lose a lot of the nuance, but when the RP guys say you don't need to train to failure, it's really in response to the idea that EVERY set needs to be to failure. Some failure training IS beneficial. This is all straight out of the book Mike coauthored on hypertrophy training. Those videos are made like that just because it's more interesting to watch that phase of training...people like seeing the effort and pain.
@@SeuOu Exactly this! He already said that showing people traning 2-3 RIR is not that excited so they dont put those kind of videos outhere. The bulk of their training is not to failure.
@@SeuOu just train last 1-2 weeks close to failure or to failure and deload. But u will be very fatigued. Even the next days. Imo not worth it since I did this for 2 years and it just compromises the rest of your life
2M subs. Well done RP. What a great guest, topic and video to bring up the number. The word is getting out! Well done Dr Mike, Scott and Jared. Great work.
My question has always been, when determining how many reps/sets you should do for a given exercise, should you take into account the remaining exercises you have left? I usually start with my deadlifts and if I push to failure I see that my other exercises suffer. Hoping they answer this as the video continues! Love the research based content.
This is why it's recommended to regularly switch the exercises you start with first depending on which muscle groups you feel are lagging. Additionally deadlifts don't have to be in every pull day (or whichever day it falls into your program). Have a Pull day A with a number of pull exercises, and then a Pull day B with a different set of pull exercises to maximize your range, rotating the order regularly.
Don't start with the hardest exercise. A deadlift requires almost every muscle of your body. If you drain your body battery at the beginning, you won't have much energy left for easier exercises.
Brad is always so nice to listen about his expertise (although I bet he's a nice guy to have a random chat as well). He's so careful to note everything he can't say for sure or draw conclusions from. Yet he also knows so much about studying the topic and training in practical sense. He's like another Eric Helms, guy who says he never had that great of genes, but so jacked your jaw drops anyway. I believe the study in Jyväskylä Brad is talking about is one that my friend was doing his master's in! So cool. No surprise he's damn jacked as well.
I agree that going to muscular technical failure is great and won't blow out your cns. Going to failure with bad form and speeding up your lift to 'just get it done' can lead to injury, blow out your cns and will most likely not give you any more gains than going to muscular technical failure.
At 65 with over 50 years of consistent traing i can most definitely say less duration and intensity gets way better results for me..i over trained for decades.
There is a radical lack of definition when it comes to the therm "failure". We absolutely should always distinguish between technical and muscular failure.
In these studies, it is usually muscular failure -- the target muscle cannot go through a full range of motion, and they usually use isolation machines
@@j.e.t.v4016 full range of motion in your sentence means technical failure, muscular failure would be when you cant lift anymore even if you change your form to allow for non target muscles to help out, right?
Excellent point my dude. I train to technical failure on most of my compound lifts on the last set only. On the isolated exercise like biceps and triceps I often go to muscular failure and sometimes on multiple sets.
I saw another video from Wolf Coaching where he went over a more recent study contradicting this. I get the sense much of this is still very unresolved
@oulhadjouldsaadi9978 Yeah. I'm a beginner, so my body reacts to almost everything. So I am just trying to learn as much as possible, for when stuff starts to slow down.
This is why you also need experience by coaching plenty of athletes in this case , cant expect every information from science & get a exact pattern .Science based research just started & absence of evidence is more .MIKE use the research infos and combine it with experiences, That makes Dr. Mike's advices credible.
He will find anything to contradict to mike (if he could) just becayse mike refused to use the word “lengthened partials”, instead mike uses stretch and milo clearly didnt like that
If you workout for this feeling and arent fried the days after because of too much intensity, great. For optimal progress, its pretty much always better to do 2-3 RIR and train more often. You can just sustain it way better
I once tried to take every set to failure, but I ended up hurting myself. So instead, I stick to 2-3 rir. It can be difficult to judge RIR’s, but I’ve figured out how to do it. I lift at a very steady rhythm - 2 second concentric, 3 second eccentric. Once my arms start to slow down on the concentric, I know I have about 3 or 4 reps left before failure. So, when my arms slow down, I do one more rep, and then go down very slowly on the final eccentric. That’s 2-3 rir for me.
Too much info online these days. Don't consume it all or else you'll end up paralyzed and not knowing where to start or what to do. Just train hard and eat well and enjoy being able to do so. No need to complicate stuff.
If your goal is just to be healthy then I agree. However, if you want to get jacked/strong then it is a great way to end up spinning your wheels. Many people in the gym (including myself) have been stuck for years at novice strength levels because we didn't consume the correct knowledge about programming. Consuming the right information can save many years of frustration in the gym.
My entire routine is about squeezing out those last few reps.I go light and at 63?I keep the weight light.I must or I risk injury to my very arthritic joints.But,I only do 1 set and a minimum of 25 reps.I know.Not a popular way to train?But the only way that I can without risking injury,while still exhausting my muscles.I have seen growth and definitely gained a ton of strength.
At this age every training is good training and you're even seeing good results! Just keep on trucking. And not to sound patronizing, it is just meant sincere: You should be really proud of yourself!
If you’re trying to lose fat and stay lean while putting on/maintaining some muscle I think higher rep makes sense. And yeah as you age you can’t go crazy with the weight like while you’re young. But if you’re trying to put on more muscle, especially past the point of “nooby gains” where you can gain muscle doing basically anything, then you’ve gotta do fewer reps and higher weight than that. If you want something better though that’ll strain your joints less, I’d go quick on the concentric and very very slow on the eccentric. Even with higher weights it’s very hard to injure yourself doing that. And you can put on more muscle. If you don’t care about putting on more muscle though you can do whatever you want lol.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but none of these studies measure longterm adaptation to training to failure - such as building higher endurance and resistance to fatigue. From my own personal experience training to failure for years, my workouts used to be 1 hour before fatigue ending my session. Now I train for 2 hours per day to failure with almost no fatigue. Breaks between sets are only 1-2 minutes. And yes, I do go to actual failure, sometimes pausing 5-10 seconds and squeezing out a few more reps to failure again. I’m a lifelong natural lifter.
i haven’t been training as long, but i’ve also noticed that after a year training all sets to failure I’m able to fully recover between workouts. I used to do high volume previously training somewhere between 3-1 RIR 30 ish sets per muscle per week and made way less gains then training to failure 6-8 sets per week. I made more gains and faster going to failure then other training even with the other training being during my newbie gains. - I also haven’t needed to deload at all and have made consistent gains in strength/size
Exactly. If you regularly train close to failure your body will eventually adapt and it won’t be so stressful. Plus, if people are using mostly machines and whatnot like is typically recommended then there’s no reason not to take those exercises to failure, which makes their whole argument against it just silly. I take the vast majority of my sets within 0-1 rep of failure (which is mostly free weight exercises) and as long as you’re lifting under control it’s really not that much stressful. At most I could see leaving 2 reps.
Hard to take my guy seriously talking about fitness when he looks like Senator Kelly just before he turns to water and dies, from the first X=men movie when magneto makes him a mutant.
I went through a very difficult personal circumstance in February. I responded by being a meathead in the Gym. Trained every day for 2 hours, heavy as I could . After about 2 month i lost 20lbs, all my hair fell out and i couldnt get out of bed for a week. I didnt even realise how bad i felt until i hit the wall. Only really feeling healthy(ish) again now.
Theres a lot of variability in exercise science research, useful information - but theres aspects that much be taken with a grain of salt If you're pushing to failure you're driving metabolic stress stimulating additional sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, if you're truly trying to get ever drop out of exercise I don't think its a bad thing. However like they talked about stress tolerance becomes a limiting factor, as well as recovery capacity. If you enjoy going to failure, are doing it safely, and it keeps you coming back... whatever keeps you coming back is whats most important - if you tolerate keeping reps in the tank better and don't dread the gym, and you're working out more consistently - then thats the move
I’ve been a bit addicted to RP since I discovered it a few months ago, and while the science is nice, you’ve just got the move the fu*king weight until it won’t go again, it’s really that simple!
I think these specific videos are for people on a certain level - Advanced or close enough. While I don't really know anything about this stuff, i would assume it's not really necessary for beginners to be through and through with all this, but maybe they can also benefit from this, to some capacity
What I have concluded for me from this video is that if Im doing three sets of any muscle group and any exercise I should go to failure on the very first set and then try to go to 2 rir on the other two steps, by doing this I would still be able to track my growth, like how many reps can I do with x amount of weight and when is it time to inc/decrease weight, additionally by going to failure eon the first set I'll also train my intuition to be able to tell when I have reached 2 rir on the rest of sets!!!! Im open to recommendations, ps: I am a begginer
I can only speak for myself, (so N=1), with that in mind I saw my best gains going to failure on every set, including warm-up sets, and using a "bro split" but on a nine-day rotation as opposed to the traditional seven-day rotation, (legs, chest, rest, shoulders, back, arms, rest, rest....repeat) I did that split for about two and a half years, (I'd been training consistently for three years when I started this split), with pretty consistent gains, only stopping after I got married. That brings me to my second point, namely that the vast majority of people should be training in such a manner that they can be consistent over multiple YEARS, even when that means training suboptimally over shorter spans of time. The way I, and again I can ONLY speak for myself, view my training, is that I want it to be as "invisible" to those I care about as possible, if that necessitates extra deload weeks in order to facilitate family time, then so be it, ultimately, consistency is king. From a "failure" perspective, I have personally experienced two distinct "types" of failure when lifting, (muscular and neurological). When I experience muscular failure on a lift, it is usually preceded by a progressive slowing of rep cadence and often by the progressive breakdown of rep form. By reducing the weight and continuing, the set, I can grind out more reps past "the point of failure". When I experience neurological failure, the effect is sudden, even if the rep is otherwise going smoothly, but the dead giveaway is my ability to preform additional reps with reduced load... even if I drop half the weight, I still can't complete an additional rep without "resetting my brain". This kind of failure is exclusively reserved for compound movements, at least it is for me, and I can usually overcome it by dropping the weights and activating the same muscle group that I was training but in a way that is "out of the ordinary" or not the usual firing order for the muscles involved. And that brings me nicely to my last, and I feel most pertinent point, HOW IN THE NAME OF F*&k, do any of you form a coherent thought during a lift? Seriously, I have to use ALL of my faculties just to count the reps. If you asked me to estimate how many theoretical reps I have in the tank with a given load, You would be lucky for me to shout through clenched teeth...."QUIET!!!", but nine times out of ten, you would just hear the sound of bowel release!
1:50 personally I think, although a good proxy, a difficult one. It take time to know true failure. It requires that i train to failure several time in many exercises to relatively accurately, determine how many reps there are left in the tank. I have experienced that I would do an exercise and stop at what i believe to be 3 RIR but then when I go to actual failure on the same exercise, i've found that i can do more than what i thought
It all depends on what your definition of "training to failure" is. Listen. Failure doesn't necessarily mean you can't do another rep. It means you can't do another rep with proper technique. If I feel my arms, kick in and take over while I'm doing rows, then I fail. Sure, I can move the weight. But at that point, I've lost connection. The sets over... unless I'm just pissed off and/or using a fast and exhausting pace to burn calories. 45ish sec breaks between sets, and go till "failure." Pyramiding down in weight, which might actually help a little with the long-term strain on the body for someone who wants that type of training.
Can we have a video that is an in-depth look at what failure is, the different definitions, which definition Dr. Mike uses most often, and what failure literally looks like on video? Thanks!
I went to the gym for the first time in years after deciding that I'd like to get fit (just finished a very high deficit diet where I lost 30 lbs) and went to failure on each set of a full body weight training workout - I had heard that you should take it easy when starting out but I had also heard that newbies shouldn't be strong enough to actually hurt themselves so I wasn't super worried - I just figured that I would be super sore which I was fine with since I was only planning on working out once a week starting out. As expected, I had a pretty gnarly couple of days of soreness and I didn't think anything of it, that is, until I started peeing brown. Four days post exercise, I'm in the hospital with rhabdomyolysis (had never even heard of it before this) and CK levels over 100k. I can't find any content on your channel about rhabdo but I think it would be cool to go into detail about the physiological distinctions between DOMS and rhabdo and how to avoid rhabdo when exercising this intensely.
The more I see these optimal science-based lifting videos contradict one another, the more I realize the only thing that matters is doing what you enjoy as that’ll be the most optimal way.
His thinking is seeing what works best for him and doing that. What's the point of following the new best thing that you don't even enjoy, which will gest contradicted by yet another study a few months later anyway ?
@@teddy6732 It's pretty rare to see well designed studies flat out contradict each other. What's usually happening is that the easily digestible soundbites concocted by journalists and content creators contradict each other. How often do you see the interviewer say something like "So what you're saying is..." and the scientist is squirming because the journalist is wrong, but also clearly incapable of understanding the explanation of why they're wrong. Or you'll see an interview where the scientist answers every question with "Um, the evidence doesn't show that" and the journalist gets frustrated because they aren't getting their sexy soundbite. Understanding and applying what a study means is hard, the vast majority of studies don't produce applicable insights (rather they just add data points), and nobody wants to talk about that because a) it's boring and b) the scientists want to keep getting funded. Science changes our world, but it moves way, way slower than the news cycle.
"Failure" really is an ambiguous term. Sometimes it means "man this hurts so much I can't do another rep" and sometimes it means your muscles give out and you fall to the floor and the world goes black for a few seconds. It's a mental thing just as much as physical. That's why i think trying to take every set to failure is a decent general rule, because in reality it's 1-3 RIR, let's be honest, if you had Ronnie Coleman spotting you and screaming at you to do another rep, you'd do it even if you thought you're done.
@vvoof2601 I mean yeah, that's what I'm saying. When you're going alone and aren't in a state of mind to destroy everything you see, you're unlikely to reach said failure, so going to the point at which you perceive you can't do more (which could very well be 2 RIR if Ronnie suddenly appeared) is a decent enough metric. And if the research suggests you probably shouldn't go to that Ronnie level of failure, even better.
@@MRM.98 See, I don't know about that. I think it's very unlikely people have 1-2 reps left when they think they're actually going to failure. It's pretty hard to be wrong about not being able to move the weight, or only getting half your ROM and then your muscle gives out. It's just hard to get wrong, imo.
It isn't really ambiguous at all. If you stop being able to do another rep with similar technique, you've failed. If you could have done more with someone yelling at you, then you weren't close to failure, you were just pussying out. Your muscles don't actually fail, then gain some DBZ power up when Ronnie Coleman yells at you.
Hello Mike, I am 63 years old with back problems and will need back surgery soon, I would like to buy a piece of equipment for the house to start out light and work towards getting back into shape. What are your thoughts on either a Total Gym or a Bowflex to start out on my journey to rehab and trying to keep fit? thank you Michael.
I train to failure , but to be fair I compensate by doing only a few sets per excercise.. I'm not the dude that would spawn 4 sets on everything lmao. Most of the time I do only 2 - 3 sets max and 2 mins rest for isolation excercises and 3 mins for compounds ( except for compounds on machines in that case I would take 2 and a half mins ) For example : - 2 sets incline chest press - 3 sets Helms row Superset : - 2 sets chest flyes ( machine ) ( 1 min rest between excercise ) - 2 sets rear delt flyes ( same machine ) - 3 sets lateral raises - 2 sets incline bicep curls - 2 sets tricep extensions. Takes me just 1 hour and I'm gone lmao.
I tried some high volume training not to failure recently and didn't get any arm growth out of it. But I wanted to try Mike's full stretch and slow negatives and got 1/4" on my after one training session. I dip 6 reps of and chins but each rep was negative only and I faught all the way down. I'm beyond sore. So each rep went to negative failure. I think it shows how everyone is different. I've always responded to high intensity training and not high volume
It will be very interesting to have a research, if all sets were taken to failure what would be the most effective volume of training, frequency, etc. I believe this kind of research would conclude to a training program that would be ideal for many trainers that are not professionals and have no coaches to find out what is the RIR in every sets. Real programs can be followed by many CONSISTENTLY, which is the most important factor for achieving goals.
if im not mistaken Frank Zane was also a preacher of not training to failure or RIR kinda. he said something like you shouldn’t train to failure but shy of 1-2 reps before you hit failure because if you train to failure you’ll be too fatigue and you can’t put the same level of effort and focus on the next sets. kinda something like that… i read it somewhere years ago so i might be wrong.
Honestly, I and others I trained have seen so much more gains (strength and hypertrophy) with straight sets and RIR. The fatigue in doing drop sets or supersets makes it harder to get more benefits out of the subsequent movements. And, in some cases, you can end up working muscles to the point you need 3-4 days to recover. “I can’t sit on the toilet the next day” was a comment I used to hear after intense drop sets. With RIR, that isn’t a problem. And it is a problem when the person you are training wants to do cycling the next day because they enjoy it.
@@ZalvaTionZ Normal training always has a gradient towards intensity. It's like somehow in the internet generation everyone forgot how to train and needed videos to tell them what to do at every turn.
If anyone else is like me. You’re somewhat addicted to training and you need to do it daily for your mental health and overall well being. Your main concern isn’t “gains”. If you train to complete failure it’s harder to recover from and it can lead to overtraining which is counterproductive. If you want to work out daily you can’t go to failure.
@@wishpunk9188 you said it perfectly. I’d rather gradual, safer gains than big gains and periods of inactivity. The gains are almost just a symptom of consistency as opposed to the motivation. It all starts and ends with mental health!
Basically, go to failure here and there, not always not not never. It prob gives more benefit on big lifts than small muscle isolation moves. I think it helps to go there once every exercise, during the last or second last set.
The way I was taught many moons ago is that if you do multiple sets, the last one should be to failure. You typically aim for the same number of reps in all sets, but you fail on the last rep of the last set. When you can go beyond the number of reps you're aiming for in the last set you increase the weights. I don't know how much of that is "bro science" or perhaps dated info. I can see how going to failure in all sets all the time might be too much.
I’ve been training hard and training to failure consistently!! But yeah last week got a costochondrite and it’s not fun !! Training to failure, think it’s good but prone to injury!!
My experience and advice: warmup and mobilize-massage after each hard set. In my case it was from overcoming isometrics doing unilateral pushing (similar to cable chest but not moving and going all out). Intensity has to be taken seriously. It took months to recover but didn't have problems again after doing that (after each set doing "circles with my arm" and massing the chest area). Hope it helps and you get better soon.
Training more often but with RIR 2-3 made my life better honestly. Im not fried the day after, can go more often ( I love training ) and it has taught me restraint. It may feel good in the moment to give it all but it hinders/slows your progress down by a lot. Not to mention the next day fatigue/fried cns which makes you a walking npc.
Dr. Mike, is it possible in some of the videos where you mention certain studies that you give a link to those studies? I’d love to find these studies for lots of the things you talk about in your other videos!
I train too hard. Always have. How do I know? Because I'm way too sore for way too long. Not everyone's intensity is the same and training to failure means different things to different people.
Bro ive been so sore past 2 days from doing Mikes last 30 min HIT exercise, forgot i did it and was wondering why i couldnt move...was at work and back was hurting...luckily we got a gym at work so took 10-15 mins out to get a good pump and take away the pain...have a feeli g ill be paying for it tomorrow😂
Training multiple sets to failure with crazy volume or failure on anabolics may be a problem. I think taking some sets to failure utilizing progressive overload and with great technique has proven extremely valuable for ME. I recommend it to at least try.
Vid suggestions - effects of smoking on bodybuilding and the benefits and negatives of donating blood, the theory of getting rid of old blood cells for new ones (obviously not ideal for those on extra)
Red blood cells have a life of 120 days so i would think your body naturally turns over new cells? As for smoking, i think that's a pretty obvious detriment. besides inhaling carcinogens, ruining your lung capacity (which affects lifts), nicotine itself damages the endothelial cells
@@Dirk_van_Tonder yeah absolutely, I just thought it would be interesting to see how smoking effects people trying to build muscle specifically rather than just smoking bad. With the blood donating, I've heard it can be a good way of filtering out micro plastics, forever chemicals and "zombie cells" and was interested to see the effects of training with slightly less blood in the system
Really useful information. I will try not to absolutely obliterate every muscle I do. It's going to be difficult, because I feel that if I don't destroy the muscles, how will I know it's growing? But will try to do 1 rir to see if that's better
I was so surprised when you mentioned Jyväskylä, this is my university and I even went to a strength and conditioning conference here in 2012. I wonder if you were presenting then
Can you do a breakdown of Marinovich Training? Curious how you think it works for athletes, and what of it is good vs BS. Thanks Doctor Mike!! Love your content!!
One factor not mentioned was training frequency. So if you only hit a a muscle group once per week is going to failure still not a viable option. I can understand if you hit muscles 2 or more times a week not going to failure. But what about once a week training?
Man i tell you what, this video has really turned that light bulb on in my head. I was training my squats to failure almost every single set, by the time i finished the entire thing i would be just totally wiped out. I struggled for the rest of my workout, but i never questioned and just told myself not to be s little bitch but it makes so much sense now. That is a HUGE load on your body, and of course its going to just wind you. Great video, thanks doc!
I developed insomnia for 3 months in 2021 and insomnia plus severe anxiety in 2023 from going all out 0 RIR on every set. In both cases TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) was the therapy that made me heal, magnesium helps ease the symptoms for anyone currently dealing with it
I've failed everything I've done in life. School, relationships, business. I take everything to failure! And I mean EVERYTHING.
Have you done drop sets or forced reps on school, relationships and your business? You might be losing out on gains if not
@@ksalinas96 Yeah, drop sets on the wife really reduces systemic fatigue.
@@faust8218😂good one
Same
I even failed writing this comment first.
Mike's hair trains to failure, Brad's hair trains with a few hairs left in reserve.
😂😂😅
Mike is so lean even his head has vascularity.
Gold
💀
holy shit 💀
Mike: You don't need to train to failure
Every person Mike trains: Go cry on someone else's channel! You go until you die! 13 minute eccentrics!
Exactly, I came here to say this. He literally has everyone training to momentary failure.
You used the colon wrong
I guess is for video purpose but yes he is always training people on his videos to absolute failure 😂
@@baronmeduseNah. He does push them very very hard with the pauses and slow eccentrics but he almost never has them going to failure.
@@JTD472 How did he use it incorrectly?
Wow. Brad is such a legend. His book is one of the few that are ACTUALLY science-based while still being full of information you can actually utilize to optimize your training. He did it first. He did it best. What a guy. So cool you guys know each other.
9:46 the only time dr mike goes to failure on forearm exercises is when he’s looking at photos of Scott the video guy
Best part, he does it while Scott is present.
@@zackdurrant6030 69th like
@@Combba6 without breaking eye contact.
Mike's a cuck. He'd smile watching his asian wife take on 6 Melanated dudes, African or Indian. She like Mediterranean
WTF is wrong with you people , stop commenting like that , I cant like every comment.
Dr. Mike never fails to impress with his well thought out interview questions, witty self-deprecating humour, and incredibly bulbous and baldous dome thumbnails which sends me on an endless RP binge.
I thought relative effort was when you're tryna rizz up your cousins at the family reunion but what do I know I'm from Alabama.
Lmao
+2
Brad Shoenfeld is incompetent and doesn't know what true failure is. Take his "research" with a grain of salt. Look up how he performs his reps. It's pathetic.
Dr Mike has also lost credibility by giving this clown any.
That's relative rizz brother 🤣
Nah you wild 😂😭
Gives this man a glass of water.
Problem is I feel like a failure if I don’t go to failure
real
Same
Exactly! I will still go to failure no matter who tells me what because that is how i feel my muscles balloon.
Very true
It's also important to mention the significance of long term connective tissue/joint health as regards to training to failure.
6:36 I love how Mike went beyond failure with that joke. Didn’t even flinch at the lack of response 😂
I get the feeling Brad has known Mike for so long he's just numb to it 😂
Literally I noticed that😭😭
I always train to failure, its the only way I can track my progress
With the rp app i got to failure the first week to have a more precise rir info. Then i go as the app says
Your programming sucks then
Couldn't you just track with progressive overload?
Does that help more, I've started leaving maybe 1 in the tank, but my arms still ain't getting bigger, the last set I go to failure and I've noticed the my reps going up
2 sets 1-3 RIR, last set to failure (on exercise that allow for it) - guarantees you’re close to failure, without being massively taxing
Dipolodocolous for the win! This is exactly how I've adapted over the years and for myself have I found the best progress. I typically increase the load from set to set, so for instance Bench Press: warm up followed by first working set 185 lbs 12 reps, then second set 205lbs for 12 reps, then final set 225lbs around 9-10 reps with goal of getting to 12 reps. The first 2 sets are basically to get me ready to fail on the last set. Each session I'm usually gaining 1 rep on the last set. Once I get to 12 on that last set, then I add 5 lbs to each of the 3 sets. Rinse and repeat. I also modulate the rep ranges, so some days I'm benching in the 8 rep range with obvious heavier loads. I seldom do 5 reps or less anymore simply because I getting too old and my joints don't recover as quickly anymore.
I've always done this even when i had no idea what i was doing or for what muscles exactly. It just felt more natural, going to failure in the first two sets doesn't make sense, and it's more satisfying to go to failure (or very close). But i don't go to failure in every last set; compound exercises and generally heavy lifts end only with 2-3 RIR for me. In other exercises, like isolation, dumbbells, cables, machine flies, etc, then yes, i will try to go ham on those. Still, I prefer to not if I don't feel like it, and to avoid unnecessary fatigue, until i can gauge which exercise of that session and on that day it's the most important one
Here's an idea for a potential video. What happens to the nervous system of an individual that actually goes to failure over and over again for a longer period, while adjusting their volume to keep fatigue at bay. Think of Bugenhagen embodiment + periodization for progression. Let's call it a year of training. I'd expect some nervous system adaptation to occur in which the person might be able to grind out more and more as the mesocycles continue. How would this affect SFR of a set to failure after that adaptation period? Maybe im just high, but its cool to hypothesize.
Trust me, it barely adapts if you do that. Maybe you can increase CNS capacity slowly, but for me it didnt work. I went to failure quite often tho.
I trained to failure once. 1.5hrs leg session, followed by ~10km walk in 35C temps. Made it within 100m of the car and everything below the waist started cramping hard and every step felt like pain. I think I sweated out 2% of my bodyweight. Took a week to recover. 10/10 can recommend infrequently
That's not failure that's just lack of electrolytes
that doesnt sound like muscular failure tho
@@christophegroulx7816 yeah but I gained like 10kg on the squat so I'll take it
As a rule of thumb, *occasionally* going to failure on: the top set (heaviest weight) and the final set (the 'finish' set) seems like a good idea.
You generally want to increase your PR so going all out on the top set now and then is good. And you want that final, great pump, too.
'Training not straining' is still true.
I've nothing to add but opinion; but I agree.
I find the sweet spot of training to be truly failing near the end of the last set.
Tried it during 15 years of lifting. Low volume high intensity to failure works like charm for me 🙏 try for your body what's providing best results for you 💯
Same. I’m training more for overall function than pure hypertrophy, though.
How many sets per muscle group would you do for low sets and high intensity?
Your comment doesn't address the point in the video at all.
Having 1 or 2 reps in reserve would have given you better results.
@@sagnorm1863 I think for 99% of the people out there, that's true. But I also think there's enough genetic outliers out there that some people may very well grow better with a Mentzer style, etc. I guess I'm in the "start with the statistically best option, then listen to your body and adjust" camp.
@@sagnorm1863 did you not understand the original comment? He's done the same thing for 15 years, therefore nothing else could possibly work for him (he knows this because it works!).
These 2 are legends! I had a long conversation with Brad last year when we had him for a conference. You can't get a straight answer but you always get an answer that makes sense. Thanks RP for posting this! 💪
This is such a good video because I actually have a problem going to failure every set to the point I only can make it to the gym like 3 days because I’m so beat from the workouts on top of work and less then ideal sleep. I also do it out of fear of not putting in max effort and not wanting to sell my self short of giving it my best effort and not half assing the workouts
Mike pushes someone to failure on multiple sets and exercises, on practically every RP training video
RP uses a descending RIR training model. Mesos start at 2-3 RIR, and finish with a functional overreaching stage at 0 RIR. That's what you're seeing in those videos. The sound bites lose a lot of the nuance, but when the RP guys say you don't need to train to failure, it's really in response to the idea that EVERY set needs to be to failure. Some failure training IS beneficial. This is all straight out of the book Mike coauthored on hypertrophy training. Those videos are made like that just because it's more interesting to watch that phase of training...people like seeing the effort and pain.
Mike is basically full of shit most of the time..
dude, he does that just for a fun video
@@SeuOu Exactly this! He already said that showing people traning 2-3 RIR is not that excited so they dont put those kind of videos outhere. The bulk of their training is not to failure.
@@SeuOu just train last 1-2 weeks close to failure or to failure and deload. But u will be very fatigued. Even the next days. Imo not worth it since I did this for 2 years and it just compromises the rest of your life
2M subs. Well done RP. What a great guest, topic and video to bring up the number. The word is getting out! Well done Dr Mike, Scott and Jared. Great work.
4 months ago the subs were 2M? Nearly 3M now 😮
My question has always been, when determining how many reps/sets you should do for a given exercise, should you take into account the remaining exercises you have left? I usually start with my deadlifts and if I push to failure I see that my other exercises suffer. Hoping they answer this as the video continues! Love the research based content.
This is why it's recommended to regularly switch the exercises you start with first depending on which muscle groups you feel are lagging. Additionally deadlifts don't have to be in every pull day (or whichever day it falls into your program). Have a Pull day A with a number of pull exercises, and then a Pull day B with a different set of pull exercises to maximize your range, rotating the order regularly.
Yes
Whats ur workout on that day
so true. you’re absolutely right about not knowing whether or not you are taking into consideration the other exercises. I feel the same way
Don't start with the hardest exercise.
A deadlift requires almost every muscle of your body. If you drain your body battery at the beginning, you won't have much energy left for easier exercises.
9:47 no joke. Wrist curls to failure are excruciating.
"wrist curl" if you know what he means
@@SamuelJonsson-ou6ul two in the pink, one in the stink
@@ChriSX13lmao
@@ChriSX13 oh no.
Brad is always so nice to listen about his expertise (although I bet he's a nice guy to have a random chat as well). He's so careful to note everything he can't say for sure or draw conclusions from. Yet he also knows so much about studying the topic and training in practical sense. He's like another Eric Helms, guy who says he never had that great of genes, but so jacked your jaw drops anyway.
I believe the study in Jyväskylä Brad is talking about is one that my friend was doing his master's in! So cool. No surprise he's damn jacked as well.
Jyväskylä mentioned on a RP video. You got me smiling with that :)
I was about to say the same! Jyväskylä, Finland!
Wooopwoop❤
Jkl
Great interview. Shoenfeld and Dr. Mike are a great combination. Thank you. Training to failure is fun, but very tiring.
I agree that going to muscular technical failure is great and won't blow out your cns. Going to failure with bad form and speeding up your lift to 'just get it done' can lead to injury, blow out your cns and will most likely not give you any more gains than going to muscular technical failure.
At 65 with over 50 years of consistent traing i can most definitely say less duration and intensity gets way better results for me..i over trained for decades.
Less duration and less intensity?
There is a radical lack of definition when it comes to the therm "failure". We absolutely should always distinguish between technical and muscular failure.
In these studies, it is usually muscular failure -- the target muscle cannot go through a full range of motion, and they usually use isolation machines
Which type of failure is it when your arms give out during decline press and the 90lb dumbbells crash into your face or chest?
@@j.e.t.v4016 full range of motion in your sentence means technical failure, muscular failure would be when you cant lift anymore even if you change your form to allow for non target muscles to help out, right?
@@smudgeous4068it s called your whole life failure.
Excellent point my dude. I train to technical failure on most of my compound lifts on the last set only. On the isolated exercise like biceps and triceps I often go to muscular failure and sometimes on multiple sets.
Good info. I’m in my mid 40s and my doms sucks. Glad to know I don’t have to go to extremes to gain muscle.
I saw another video from Wolf Coaching where he went over a more recent study contradicting this. I get the sense much of this is still very unresolved
Yep. Science do be like that...
@@Heyght just experiment and do whatever works for you, not every one's body reacts the same way.
@oulhadjouldsaadi9978 Yeah. I'm a beginner, so my body reacts to almost everything. So I am just trying to learn as much as possible, for when stuff starts to slow down.
This is why you also need experience by coaching plenty of athletes in this case , cant expect every information from science & get a exact pattern .Science based research just started & absence of evidence is more .MIKE use the research infos and combine it with experiences, That makes Dr. Mike's advices credible.
He will find anything to contradict to mike (if he could) just becayse mike refused to use the word “lengthened partials”, instead mike uses stretch and milo clearly didnt like that
Did not expect to hear someone butcher the name "Jyväskylä" when I decided to open a video by Dr Mike today
What a name :D
suomi mainittu ainaki
Problem is stopping short of failure is boring. I want to push myself until I can't push no more.
If you workout for this feeling and arent fried the days after because of too much intensity, great. For optimal progress, its pretty much always better to do 2-3 RIR and train more often. You can just sustain it way better
Just do it on the last set of each exercise. It is what I do to get the best of both worlds.
Never before in the earths history has training/overtraining been so dissected by so many channels so many times.
I once tried to take every set to failure, but I ended up hurting myself. So instead, I stick to 2-3 rir. It can be difficult to judge RIR’s, but I’ve figured out how to do it. I lift at a very steady rhythm - 2 second concentric, 3 second eccentric. Once my arms start to slow down on the concentric, I know I have about 3 or 4 reps left before failure. So, when my arms slow down, I do one more rep, and then go down very slowly on the final eccentric. That’s 2-3 rir for me.
Ruffalo's study is actually pretty awesome....love the last part where he tells you how to turn into a huge big green moster
Too much info online these days. Don't consume it all or else you'll end up paralyzed and not knowing where to start or what to do. Just train hard and eat well and enjoy being able to do so. No need to complicate stuff.
I agree, it’s a privilege to be healthy. Maximise it!
If your goal is just to be healthy then I agree. However, if you want to get jacked/strong then it is a great way to end up spinning your wheels. Many people in the gym (including myself) have been stuck for years at novice strength levels because we didn't consume the correct knowledge about programming. Consuming the right information can save many years of frustration in the gym.
I tained to failure for a while to know what my 2 or 3 RIR were. Helped me personally.
Congrats on hitting 2 million subs! Thanks so much for taking the time to create this incredible resource!
My entire routine is about squeezing out those last few reps.I go light and at 63?I keep the weight light.I must or I risk injury to my very arthritic joints.But,I only do 1 set and a minimum of 25 reps.I know.Not a popular way to train?But the only way that I can without risking injury,while still exhausting my muscles.I have seen growth and definitely gained a ton of strength.
What about warmup sets?
@@JustChill-zd4ibif he's capable of doing 25 reps with it, I'd argue that's pretty close to a warmup set weight already
The first half of the set is the warmup with that rep range@@JustChill-zd4ib
At this age every training is good training and you're even seeing good results! Just keep on trucking. And not to sound patronizing, it is just meant sincere: You should be really proud of yourself!
If you’re trying to lose fat and stay lean while putting on/maintaining some muscle I think higher rep makes sense. And yeah as you age you can’t go crazy with the weight like while you’re young. But if you’re trying to put on more muscle, especially past the point of “nooby gains” where you can gain muscle doing basically anything, then you’ve gotta do fewer reps and higher weight than that. If you want something better though that’ll strain your joints less, I’d go quick on the concentric and very very slow on the eccentric. Even with higher weights it’s very hard to injure yourself doing that. And you can put on more muscle. If you don’t care about putting on more muscle though you can do whatever you want lol.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but none of these studies measure longterm adaptation to training to failure - such as building higher endurance and resistance to fatigue. From my own personal experience training to failure for years, my workouts used to be 1 hour before fatigue ending my session. Now I train for 2 hours per day to failure with almost no fatigue. Breaks between sets are only 1-2 minutes. And yes, I do go to actual failure, sometimes pausing 5-10 seconds and squeezing out a few more reps to failure again. I’m a lifelong natural lifter.
i haven’t been training as long, but i’ve also noticed that after a year training all sets to failure I’m able to fully recover between workouts. I used to do high volume previously training somewhere between 3-1 RIR 30 ish sets per muscle per week and made way less gains then training to failure 6-8 sets per week. I made more gains and faster going to failure then other training even with the other training being during my newbie gains. - I also haven’t needed to deload at all and have made consistent gains in strength/size
Exactly. If you regularly train close to failure your body will eventually adapt and it won’t be so stressful. Plus, if people are using mostly machines and whatnot like is typically recommended then there’s no reason not to take those exercises to failure, which makes their whole argument against it just silly.
I take the vast majority of my sets within 0-1 rep of failure (which is mostly free weight exercises) and as long as you’re lifting under control it’s really not that much stressful. At most I could see leaving 2 reps.
is it me or does he look like John Cramer from Saw?
It’s not you. 😂
A little bit, but he reminds me way more of the russian priest in "The Punisher" series
Omg that's it, I couldn't figure out who he reminded me of 😂
Hard to take my guy seriously talking about fitness when he looks like Senator Kelly just before he turns to water and dies, from the first X=men movie when magneto makes him a mutant.
nah, it's not you. it's him
I went through a very difficult personal circumstance in February. I responded by being a meathead in the Gym. Trained every day for 2 hours, heavy as I could .
After about 2 month i lost 20lbs, all my hair fell out and i couldnt get out of bed for a week. I didnt even realise how bad i felt until i hit the wall. Only really feeling healthy(ish) again now.
What a GREAT conversation!
Theres a lot of variability in exercise science research, useful information - but theres aspects that much be taken with a grain of salt
If you're pushing to failure you're driving metabolic stress stimulating additional sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, if you're truly trying to get ever drop out of exercise I don't think its a bad thing. However like they talked about stress tolerance becomes a limiting factor, as well as recovery capacity.
If you enjoy going to failure, are doing it safely, and it keeps you coming back... whatever keeps you coming back is whats most important - if you tolerate keeping reps in the tank better and don't dread the gym, and you're working out more consistently - then thats the move
I’ve been a bit addicted to RP since I discovered it a few months ago, and while the science is nice, you’ve just got the move the fu*king weight until it won’t go again, it’s really that simple!
I think these specific videos are for people on a certain level - Advanced or close enough. While I don't really know anything about this stuff, i would assume it's not really necessary for beginners to be through and through with all this, but maybe they can also benefit from this, to some capacity
What I have concluded for me from this video is that if Im doing three sets of any muscle group and any exercise I should go to failure on the very first set and then try to go to 2 rir on the other two steps, by doing this I would still be able to track my growth, like how many reps can I do with x amount of weight and when is it time to inc/decrease weight, additionally by going to failure eon the first set I'll also train my intuition to be able to tell when I have reached 2 rir on the rest of sets!!!! Im open to recommendations, ps: I am a begginer
Thanks a lot
I can only speak for myself, (so N=1), with that in mind I saw my best gains going to failure on every set, including warm-up sets, and using a "bro split" but on a nine-day rotation as opposed to the traditional seven-day rotation, (legs, chest, rest, shoulders, back, arms, rest, rest....repeat) I did that split for about two and a half years, (I'd been training consistently for three years when I started this split), with pretty consistent gains, only stopping after I got married. That brings me to my second point, namely that the vast majority of people should be training in such a manner that they can be consistent over multiple YEARS, even when that means training suboptimally over shorter spans of time. The way I, and again I can ONLY speak for myself, view my training, is that I want it to be as "invisible" to those I care about as possible, if that necessitates extra deload weeks in order to facilitate family time, then so be it, ultimately, consistency is king.
From a "failure" perspective, I have personally experienced two distinct "types" of failure when lifting, (muscular and neurological). When I experience muscular failure on a lift, it is usually preceded by a progressive slowing of rep cadence and often by the progressive breakdown of rep form. By reducing the weight and continuing, the set, I can grind out more reps past "the point of failure". When I experience neurological failure, the effect is sudden, even if the rep is otherwise going smoothly, but the dead giveaway is my ability to preform additional reps with reduced load... even if I drop half the weight, I still can't complete an additional rep without "resetting my brain". This kind of failure is exclusively reserved for compound movements, at least it is for me, and I can usually overcome it by dropping the weights and activating the same muscle group that I was training but in a way that is "out of the ordinary" or not the usual firing order for the muscles involved.
And that brings me nicely to my last, and I feel most pertinent point, HOW IN THE NAME OF F*&k, do any of you form a coherent thought during a lift? Seriously, I have to use ALL of my faculties just to count the reps. If you asked me to estimate how many theoretical reps I have in the tank with a given load, You would be lucky for me to shout through clenched teeth...."QUIET!!!", but nine times out of ten, you would just hear the sound of bowel release!
For fuck's sake dude, you're on a getting jacked channel, you can't expect people here to read all that. We're not reading to failure here you know.
@@YanDoroshenko ugg oh oh ugh ag
1:50 personally I think, although a good proxy, a difficult one. It take time to know true failure. It requires that i train to failure several time in many exercises to relatively accurately, determine how many reps there are left in the tank. I have experienced that I would do an exercise and stop at what i believe to be 3 RIR but then when I go to actual failure on the same exercise, i've found that i can do more than what i thought
Congrats on 2. million subs!
LMFAO
Congrats on 2 million subs 🙌🙌🙌
Nice! Back to coasting in the gym then
Dr Brad Schoenfeld AKA John Kramer: "I want to play a game!"
I love training to failure and its what gave me the best results so far
Lovely accurate description of this topic ❤😮😊
It all depends on what your definition of "training to failure" is. Listen. Failure doesn't necessarily mean you can't do another rep. It means you can't do another rep with proper technique. If I feel my arms, kick in and take over while I'm doing rows, then I fail. Sure, I can move the weight. But at that point, I've lost connection. The sets over... unless I'm just pissed off and/or using a fast and exhausting pace to burn calories. 45ish sec breaks between sets, and go till "failure." Pyramiding down in weight, which might actually help a little with the long-term strain on the body for someone who wants that type of training.
Thanks for the info dr Mike never disappoints
Can we have a video that is an in-depth look at what failure is, the different definitions, which definition Dr. Mike uses most often, and what failure literally looks like on video?
Thanks!
Every Excercise to Failure, i love it i need it.
I went to the gym for the first time in years after deciding that I'd like to get fit (just finished a very high deficit diet where I lost 30 lbs) and went to failure on each set of a full body weight training workout - I had heard that you should take it easy when starting out but I had also heard that newbies shouldn't be strong enough to actually hurt themselves so I wasn't super worried - I just figured that I would be super sore which I was fine with since I was only planning on working out once a week starting out. As expected, I had a pretty gnarly couple of days of soreness and I didn't think anything of it, that is, until I started peeing brown. Four days post exercise, I'm in the hospital with rhabdomyolysis (had never even heard of it before this) and CK levels over 100k.
I can't find any content on your channel about rhabdo but I think it would be cool to go into detail about the physiological distinctions between DOMS and rhabdo and how to avoid rhabdo when exercising this intensely.
The more I see these optimal science-based lifting videos contradict one another, the more I realize the only thing that matters is doing what you enjoy as that’ll be the most optimal way.
That just means the jury is out on what actually works.
So instead of thinking you just do whatever? I mean that is an option...
His thinking is seeing what works best for him and doing that. What's the point of following the new best thing that you don't even enjoy, which will gest contradicted by yet another study a few months later anyway ?
@@teddy6732 It's pretty rare to see well designed studies flat out contradict each other. What's usually happening is that the easily digestible soundbites concocted by journalists and content creators contradict each other. How often do you see the interviewer say something like "So what you're saying is..." and the scientist is squirming because the journalist is wrong, but also clearly incapable of understanding the explanation of why they're wrong. Or you'll see an interview where the scientist answers every question with "Um, the evidence doesn't show that" and the journalist gets frustrated because they aren't getting their sexy soundbite.
Understanding and applying what a study means is hard, the vast majority of studies don't produce applicable insights (rather they just add data points), and nobody wants to talk about that because a) it's boring and b) the scientists want to keep getting funded. Science changes our world, but it moves way, way slower than the news cycle.
"Failure" really is an ambiguous term. Sometimes it means "man this hurts so much I can't do another rep" and sometimes it means your muscles give out and you fall to the floor and the world goes black for a few seconds. It's a mental thing just as much as physical. That's why i think trying to take every set to failure is a decent general rule, because in reality it's 1-3 RIR, let's be honest, if you had Ronnie Coleman spotting you and screaming at you to do another rep, you'd do it even if you thought you're done.
But then you wouldn't be at failure but with ronnie's you would. Failure means you fail and cannot under any circumstances do another rep.
@vvoof2601 I mean yeah, that's what I'm saying. When you're going alone and aren't in a state of mind to destroy everything you see, you're unlikely to reach said failure, so going to the point at which you perceive you can't do more (which could very well be 2 RIR if Ronnie suddenly appeared) is a decent enough metric. And if the research suggests you probably shouldn't go to that Ronnie level of failure, even better.
@@MRM.98 See, I don't know about that. I think it's very unlikely people have 1-2 reps left when they think they're actually going to failure. It's pretty hard to be wrong about not being able to move the weight, or only getting half your ROM and then your muscle gives out. It's just hard to get wrong, imo.
It isn't really ambiguous at all. If you stop being able to do another rep with similar technique, you've failed. If you could have done more with someone yelling at you, then you weren't close to failure, you were just pussying out. Your muscles don't actually fail, then gain some DBZ power up when Ronnie Coleman yells at you.
Always train to failure and that does include the heart.
Hello Mike,
I am 63 years old with back problems and will need back surgery soon, I would like to buy a piece of equipment for the house to start out light and work towards getting back into shape. What are your thoughts on either a Total Gym or a Bowflex to start out on my journey to rehab and trying to keep fit? thank you Michael.
I train to failure , but to be fair I compensate by doing only a few sets per excercise.. I'm not the dude that would spawn 4 sets on everything lmao.
Most of the time I do only 2 - 3 sets max and 2 mins rest for isolation excercises and 3 mins for compounds ( except for compounds on machines in that case I would take 2 and a half mins )
For example :
- 2 sets incline chest press
- 3 sets Helms row
Superset :
- 2 sets chest flyes ( machine )
( 1 min rest between excercise )
- 2 sets rear delt flyes ( same machine )
- 3 sets lateral raises
- 2 sets incline bicep curls
- 2 sets tricep extensions.
Takes me just 1 hour and I'm gone lmao.
I didn't know John Pilgrim from Punisher season 2 lifted but I guess it makes sense.
I THOUGHT THE SAME THING 🤣
What's worked for me is having 8 to 10 week program the first 8 weeks I training close to failure. The last two weeks going beyond failure.
Makes as much sense as saying "give 110%"
@@kevinxero yeah just talking out my butt
Brad's skin tone is a perfect canvas for any tattoo artist that loves color designs
I tried some high volume training not to failure recently and didn't get any arm growth out of it.
But I wanted to try Mike's full stretch and slow negatives and got 1/4" on my after one training session. I dip 6 reps of and chins but each rep was negative only and I faught all the way down. I'm beyond sore. So each rep went to negative failure.
I think it shows how everyone is different. I've always responded to high intensity training and not high volume
Congratulations on the 2M!!
I always do 3 sets per exercise, and only go my last set to failure.
It will be very interesting to have a research, if all sets were taken to failure what would be the most effective volume of training, frequency, etc. I believe this kind of research would conclude to a training program that would be ideal for many trainers that are not professionals and have no coaches to find out what is the RIR in every sets. Real programs can be followed by many CONSISTENTLY, which is the most important factor for achieving goals.
if im not mistaken Frank Zane was also a preacher of not training to failure or RIR kinda. he said something like you shouldn’t train to failure but shy of 1-2 reps before you hit failure because if you train to failure you’ll be too fatigue and you can’t put the same level of effort and focus on the next sets. kinda something like that… i read it somewhere years ago so i might be wrong.
0:33 Brad missed an opportunity to just say "Yea" John Wick-style
Saw the thumbnail and thought Dr. Mike was holding on to a pair of bicycle handlebars, and became very concerned that he was getting into cardio.
Honestly, I and others I trained have seen so much more gains (strength and hypertrophy) with straight sets and RIR.
The fatigue in doing drop sets or supersets makes it harder to get more benefits out of the subsequent movements.
And, in some cases, you can end up working muscles to the point you need 3-4 days to recover. “I can’t sit on the toilet the next day” was a comment I used to hear after intense drop sets. With RIR, that isn’t a problem. And it is a problem when the person you are training wants to do cycling the next day because they enjoy it.
Wonder why Dr Mike's training videos are all to utter high-intensity failure then? I assume you've watched them?
@@baronmeduseEnd of mesocycle training. You don't have to periodize like he does though.
@@ZalvaTionZ Normal training always has a gradient towards intensity. It's like somehow in the internet generation everyone forgot how to train and needed videos to tell them what to do at every turn.
If anyone else is like me. You’re somewhat addicted to training and you need to do it daily for your mental health and overall well being. Your main concern isn’t “gains”.
If you train to complete failure it’s harder to recover from and it can lead to overtraining which is counterproductive.
If you want to work out daily you can’t go to failure.
I agree. If I don't train, I fail in life. The only reason to keep going right? To see where we can take it!
Agreed. At my age I have to intentionally avoid injuries as they take too long to heal. And during that time without lifting my mental health suffers.
@@6AnAsianGuy9 so true. It just calibrates your mind, body and soul. It’s a lifestyle.
@@wishpunk9188 you said it perfectly. I’d rather gradual, safer gains than big gains and periods of inactivity. The gains are almost just a symptom of consistency as opposed to the motivation. It all starts and ends with mental health!
3 day split and you're good to go to failure. Push, Pull, Legs is every day full throttle
Basically, go to failure here and there, not always not not never. It prob gives more benefit on big lifts than small muscle isolation moves. I think it helps to go there once every exercise, during the last or second last set.
Wife comment hit and got me motivated again for my workout today.
The way I was taught many moons ago is that if you do multiple sets, the last one should be to failure. You typically aim for the same number of reps in all sets, but you fail on the last rep of the last set. When you can go beyond the number of reps you're aiming for in the last set you increase the weights. I don't know how much of that is "bro science" or perhaps dated info. I can see how going to failure in all sets all the time might be too much.
I’ve been training hard and training to failure consistently!! But yeah last week got a costochondrite and it’s not fun !!
Training to failure, think it’s good but prone to injury!!
My experience and advice: warmup and mobilize-massage after each hard set. In my case it was from overcoming isometrics doing unilateral pushing (similar to cable chest but not moving and going all out). Intensity has to be taken seriously. It took months to recover but didn't have problems again after doing that (after each set doing "circles with my arm" and massing the chest area). Hope it helps and you get better soon.
@@segundacuenta726 Every advice help for sure !! Thx a lot
Brad is so serious about this stuff that Mike’s humor genuinely throws him off
Training more often but with RIR 2-3 made my life better honestly. Im not fried the day after, can go more often ( I love training ) and it has taught me restraint. It may feel good in the moment to give it all but it hinders/slows your progress down by a lot. Not to mention the next day fatigue/fried cns which makes you a walking npc.
Generally I like to fail on isolation movements on my last set and I never take compound movements to failure. It seems to have worked well.
Dr. Mike, is it possible in some of the videos where you mention certain studies that you give a link to those studies? I’d love to find these studies for lots of the things you talk about in your other videos!
Finally I saw Brad in other form than his name on a study
I train too hard. Always have. How do I know? Because I'm way too sore for way too long. Not everyone's intensity is the same and training to failure means different things to different people.
Very sore after muscular adaptation is kind of weird...
Creatine, more water, bcaas, glutamine, mct oil
It only takes a couple really hard reps to double soreness and recovery time.
Bro ive been so sore past 2 days from doing Mikes last 30 min HIT exercise, forgot i did it and was wondering why i couldnt move...was at work and back was hurting...luckily we got a gym at work so took 10-15 mins out to get a good pump and take away the pain...have a feeli g ill be paying for it tomorrow😂
@@simply11believelane47 You lost us at bcaas. Next to useless. Look it up.
Training multiple sets to failure with crazy volume or failure on anabolics may be a problem. I think taking some sets to failure utilizing progressive overload and with great technique has proven extremely valuable for ME. I recommend it to at least try.
Dr. Mike, do you have trouble getting through airport security because of those guns? Or do you prefer it for the cavity search?
Vid suggestions - effects of smoking on bodybuilding and the benefits and negatives of donating blood, the theory of getting rid of old blood cells for new ones (obviously not ideal for those on extra)
Red blood cells have a life of 120 days so i would think your body naturally turns over new cells? As for smoking, i think that's a pretty obvious detriment. besides inhaling carcinogens, ruining your lung capacity (which affects lifts), nicotine itself damages the endothelial cells
@@Dirk_van_Tonder yeah absolutely, I just thought it would be interesting to see how smoking effects people trying to build muscle specifically rather than just smoking bad. With the blood donating, I've heard it can be a good way of filtering out micro plastics, forever chemicals and "zombie cells" and was interested to see the effects of training with slightly less blood in the system
Really useful information. I will try not to absolutely obliterate every muscle I do. It's going to be difficult, because I feel that if I don't destroy the muscles, how will I know it's growing? But will try to do 1 rir to see if that's better
I was so surprised when you mentioned Jyväskylä, this is my university and I even went to a strength and conditioning conference here in 2012. I wonder if you were presenting then
Can you do a breakdown of Marinovich Training? Curious how you think it works for athletes, and what of it is good vs BS. Thanks Doctor Mike!! Love your content!!
One factor not mentioned was training frequency. So if you only hit a a muscle group once per week is going to failure still not a viable option. I can understand if you hit muscles 2 or more times a week not going to failure. But what about once a week training?
Man i tell you what, this video has really turned that light bulb on in my head. I was training my squats to failure almost every single set, by the time i finished the entire thing i would be just totally wiped out. I struggled for the rest of my workout, but i never questioned and just told myself not to be s little bitch but it makes so much sense now. That is a HUGE load on your body, and of course its going to just wind you. Great video, thanks doc!
Very good video🎉
Your gains keeping you big as hell.
Certainly
Dr. Mike you missed your calling. You would have been a phenomenal stand up comedian!
I developed insomnia for 3 months in 2021 and insomnia plus severe anxiety in 2023 from going all out 0 RIR on every set. In both cases TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) was the therapy that made me heal, magnesium helps ease the symptoms for anyone currently dealing with it
Almost at that 2 million! 🤙🤙