Pushing to failure vs. stopping early: same muscle growth?
Similar muscle hypertrophy following eight weeks of resistance training to momentary muscular failure or with repetitions-in-reserve in resistance-trained individuals
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Training to failure didn’t lead to more muscle growth — even though it caused significantly more fatigue.
Common fitness lore says pushing to failure maximizes muscle growth; this study shows it’s not necessary — and may even be counterproductive due to excessive fatigue.
Practical Takeaways
For leg workouts, stop 1–2 reps short of failure on leg press and leg extensions to reduce fatigue while maintaining muscle growth.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Training to failure didn’t lead to more muscle growth — even though it caused significantly more fatigue.
Common fitness lore says pushing to failure maximizes muscle growth; this study shows it’s not necessary — and may even be counterproductive due to excessive fatigue.
Practical Takeaways
For leg workouts, stop 1–2 reps short of failure on leg press and leg extensions to reduce fatigue while maintaining muscle growth.
Publication
Journal
Journal of Sports Sciences
Year
2024
Authors
Martin C. Refalo, Eric R. Helms, Zac P Robinson, D. L. Hamilton, J. Fyfe
Related Content
Claims (7)
Individual hypertrophic responsiveness to resistance training exhibits moderate inter-muscle correlation, but a substantial proportion of variability is attributable to non-exercise-specific biological factors.
Stopping a few reps short lets you do about the same total amount of work over weeks as going all the way to failure — because you can recover faster and do more sets without burning out.
Lifting weights until you can't do another rep leaves you much more tired during and after the workout than stopping a few reps short — even if both methods build muscle equally.
Not all thigh muscles respond the same way — one part might grow a bit better with stopping short, while another grows a bit better with pushing to failure.
You don’t need to push to absolute failure to grow your thigh muscles — stopping just before failure works just as well and leaves you less tired, making it easier to train consistently.