If you're already used to lifting weights, going all the way to failure on each set doesn't give you better strength or endurance gains than stopping two reps short — at least over 8 weeks.

Going all the way to failure on every set doesn’t really make you stronger than stopping a few reps short.

If you're lifting weights at about 85% of your max for 12 weeks, going until your muscles can't do another rep doesn't make you stronger or bigger than stopping just before exhaustion — you'll still get great results without hitting failure.

For beginners lifting weights, pushing until you can't do any more reps doesn't give extra strength gains compared to stopping earlier, as long as you do the same total amount of work. Both ways lead to similar improvements in how much you can lift.

If you lift weights until you literally can't do another rep, you'll feel more tired right after than if you stop a couple reps before failure — even if you're someone who regularly lifts weights.

Doing one set of strength training until your muscles are totally tired might help you jump higher than stopping two reps early, but we’re not sure if the difference really matters.