Lifting weights until you can't do any more reps makes your muscles grow bigger than lifting weights without pushing to your limit, based on a big review of studies.

If you're already experienced with weightlifting, pushing your muscles to failure might help them grow bigger—but if you're new to lifting, doing the same thing doesn't seem to give you the same benefit. Your experience level changes how effective this technique is.

If you lift weights until you can't do another rep or stop a little earlier—but do the same total amount of work—your muscles will grow and get just as strong either way. So you don’t have to push to absolute failure to see results.

If you lift weights until you can't do another rep, you might build more muscle than if you stop before reaching that point—but we’re not totally sure yet.

Lifting weights until you can't do any more reps doesn't make you stronger than stopping a few reps short, according to a big review of studies.

When people lift weights without pushing to their absolute limit, they actually get stronger faster than if they push to failure, as long as the total amount of lifting isn't the same. This comes from a big review of studies on adults.