Going all the way to muscle exhaustion during one set of strength training might give you a tiny bit more muscle growth in your arms and legs than stopping two reps early — but the difference is small and not always clear.

When you lift weights and push yourself almost to the point of not being able to do another rep, you’re more likely to build bigger muscles than if you stop earlier — even if you’re lifting the same weight or doing the same number of sets.

If you're someone who regularly lifts weights, doing more triceps exercises each week might help your triceps muscles get a little bigger—but only a little, and not as much as it helps your biceps.

If you're already used to lifting weights, training until you can't do another rep gives you about the same muscle growth as stopping a few reps short—so you don't have to push to absolute exhaustion to build muscle.

Going all the way to exhaustion on every set probably doesn't build more muscle than stopping a few reps short — both seem to work about the same.

If you lift weights and push your muscles closer to total exhaustion, you’ll likely gain more muscle size than if you stop earlier — even when doing the same number of sets and reps.