who goes to failure on every set, and who doesnt??????

**daniel_3855** · 05-20-2008, 04:10 AM

right i have ask this question an 2 different threads but people are saying different things so this is the only way to find out for sure.

for large muscles who goes to failure on every set and who doesnt? how many sets?

for small muscles who goes to failure on every set and who doesnt? how many sets?

or are people saying different because some who go to failure on every set will only be doing up to 5 sets or so?

and people who dont go to failure will be doing 12+ sets?

when answering can you state your sets please.

thanks.

**MFT81** · 05-20-2008, 11:35 AM

I do not go to failure on every set no matter what body part I do. Only my last 1 maybe 2 sets are to complete failure (sometimes meaning failure with good form other times failure with a little body english/loose-sloppy form)

As far as I know recent study show that going to failure on every set increases cortisol and causes overtraining.

so with that I go VERY CLOSE to failure on each set if I do 8-12 for my rep range that means that the first few sets I could maybe do 13-15 reps total but will only do about 12 then Ill simply pyramid my weight up. I also keep a journal so I have a good idea of how much to start with making sure my weights increase overtime.....

the # of sets I do dosent really matter, as each set is challenging, sometimes I may only do 1 set sometimes 7 or 10.

one more thing, I will frequently add an intensifier to only the LAST set to go a tad beyond failure like strip sets, rest pause, forced reps, or negatives. and I only do these intensifiers on one or two exercises for each bodypart.

**abbot138** · 05-20-2008, 12:56 PM

^^^^100% agreed

**daniel_3855** · 05-20-2008, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by MFT81

I do not go to failure on every set no matter what body part I do. Only my last 1 maybe 2 sets are to complete failure (sometimes meaning failure with good form other times failure with a little body english/loose-sloppy form)

As far as I know recent study show that going to failure on every set increases cortisol and causes overtraining.

so with that I go VERY CLOSE to failure on each set if I do 8-12 for my rep range that means that the first few sets I could maybe do 13-15 reps total but will only do about 12 then Ill simply pyramid my weight up. I also keep a journal so I have a good idea of how much to start with making sure my weights increase overtime.....

the # of sets I do dosent really matter, as each set is challenging, sometimes I may only do 1 set sometimes 7 or 10.

one more thing, I will frequently add an intensifier to only the LAST set to go a tad beyond failure like strip sets, rest pause, forced reps, or negatives. and I only do these intensifiers on one or two exercises for each bodypart.

thanks for reply

how many times per week do you work bies and tries?

if i was doing them 2 times per week how many sets would you recomend.

**abbot138** · 05-20-2008, 02:09 PM

i do 10-12 sets a week for both and i know a lot of people on here would even consider that over-training. Where are you at in your training, development? If you are still in your first couple years of development it will be harder to over-train.

**ecto9** · 05-20-2008, 02:14 PM

I used to go to failure on every set for months at a time thinking I would benefit from it. Nope. I believe now it actually hinders gains if done too often. Now once a wk, that's better...

**PowerPress** · 05-20-2008, 02:22 PM

people do what they feel is enough to cause muscle hypertrophy wether it be from 1 work set or 10. mft81 feels he gets this better with 1 or 2 worksets and add forced reps, negatives, rest pause, static holds, etc... i like like to achieve muscle hypertrophy thew more worksets 2-3 per exercise with no restpause or anything else. theres not right or wrong way.

**Tatudlifter** · 05-21-2008, 11:14 AM

Go to failure on your last rep in your final set for each excercise, although everyone is different my advice would be go as hard as you can at the end!

**scottythebody** · 05-21-2008, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by MFT81

I do not go to failure on every set no matter what body part I do. Only my last 1 maybe 2 sets are to complete failure (sometimes meaning failure with good form other times failure with a little body english/loose-sloppy form)

As far as I know recent study show that going to failure on every set increases cortisol and causes overtraining.

so with that I go VERY CLOSE to failure on each set if I do 8-12 for my rep range that means that the first few sets I could maybe do 13-15 reps total but will only do about 12 then Ill simply pyramid my weight up. I also keep a journal so I have a good idea of how much to start with making sure my weights increase overtime.....

the # of sets I do dosent really matter, as each set is challenging, sometimes I may only do 1 set sometimes 7 or 10.

one more thing, I will frequently add an intensifier to only the LAST set to go a tad beyond failure like strip sets, rest pause, forced reps, or negatives. and I only do these intensifiers on one or two exercises for each bodypart.

Thats what I try to do, but sometimes it's really hard for me to end a set when I know I could pump out another 1-2 reps