If you lift weights until you can’t do another rep or stop before that—as long as you do the same total amount of work—you’ll get just as strong either way. You don’t have to push to absolute exhaustion to build strength.

59

Pro

0

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

59

Community contributions welcome

59

Effects of resistance training performed to repetition failure or non-failure on muscular strength and hypertrophy: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

Human

2022 Mar

This study looked at whether lifting weights until you can't do another rep gives you more strength than stopping before failure — and found no real difference, as long as both groups do the same total amount of work. So, you don’t need to push to failure to get stronger.

Contradicting (0)

0

Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Effects of resistance training performed to repetition failure or non-failure on muscular strength and hypertrophy: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Score: 59

DOI: 10.1016/j.jshs.2021.01.007

Similar Assertions

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.

59

0

90%

If you lift weights without pushing yourself to total exhaustion, you might get stronger faster—especially if you end up doing more total lifts overall compared to people who do go all the way to failure.

59

0

85%

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.

59

0

85%

If you're someone who already lifts weights regularly, pushing your muscles until they can't do another rep might help you grow slightly bigger muscles than if you stop before reaching failure.

59

0

84%

If you lift weights until you can't do another rep, it won't hurt your muscle growth or strength—as long as you're doing the same total amount of work as someone who stops short of failure. So going all the way to failure is totally fine.

59

0

84%