Acute fatigue and recovery responses to resistance training performed to momentary muscular failure: an exploratory multimodal physiological study.

When people train to muscular failure, their bodies take longer to recover than when they train without reaching failure, even if the total amount of work done is the same.

When people lift weights using 10 reps at 85% of their maximum capacity without pushing to complete muscle exhaustion, they report recovering faster and maintaining normal autonomic nervous system activity compared to lifting to complete muscle failure, even when the total amount of work done is the same.

In trained men, lifting until muscle failure results in fewer repetitions per set and lower volume for individual exercises, but the overall total workload for the entire workout remains the same as when stopping short of failure.

In trained men, lifting weights until muscle failure causes a temporary increase in heart and blood vessel stress during and right after exercise, but this stress returns to normal levels shortly after stopping.

In trained men, lifting weights until complete muscle fatigue does not lead to better short-term muscle or movement improvements than stopping before complete fatigue, even though it causes greater physical stress.

In trained men, lifting weights until complete muscle fatigue causes higher levels of stress markers and muscle soreness than lifting the same total amount but stopping before fatigue, resulting in slower recovery of muscle strength over three days.