If you lift weights until you can't do another rep, or stop just before failure, your thigh muscles grow about the same amount after eight weeks — but stopping short feels less exhausting each time.
Scientific Claim
In resistance-trained individuals, eight weeks of resistance training performed to momentary muscular failure produces similar increases in quadriceps muscle thickness as training performed with 1- to 2-repetitions-in-reserve, despite higher acute neuromuscular fatigue with failure.
Original Statement
“Increases in quadriceps thickness (average of RF and VL) from pre- to post-intervention were similar for FAIL [0.181 cm (HDI: 0.119 to 0.243)] and RIR [0.182 cm (HDI: 0.115 to 0.247)].”
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
appropriately stated
Study Design Support
Design supports claim
Appropriate Language Strength
probability
Can suggest probability/likelihood
Assessment Explanation
The study is an RCT with randomization, supporting causal inference, but the abstract does not confirm equivalence testing or power analysis; probabilistic language ('similar') is conservative and appropriate given potential small sample size and unknown blinding.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
This study found that lifting weights until you can't do another rep gives you the same muscle growth as stopping just before failure—so you don’t need to push to absolute exhaustion to build bigger quads.