Training to Failure
Not necessary for building muscle!

Training to failure is something that many weight lifters argue about. I'm not here to argue about which one is better. I've seen debates about this that have lasted years between people that are held in the highest regard in the weight lifting industry. I've seen friendships end over this debate! It's just not worth all of that.

Are both sides wrong? No. What I'm here to say is that reaching failure works and not reaching failure works! I know that both methods work and both methods work well but only if you have a good weight lifting program that realizes the differences in both. Going to failure each workout is going to require more rest in between workouts. Not training to failure is going to allow you to lift weights more frequently.

I would rather lift weights more frequently and provide my body with more opportunities to build muscle. I've found this to be the fastest way to build muscle over the past 9 years or so of weight lifting. That's what I'm sticking with! I hope you will too.

Why argue about which one works? Both methods work. I've experimented very much with both methods, and I do think that not training to failure is much better in the long run. More frequent workouts give you more opportunities to build muscle. Reaching failure on every set eventually wears down your body and your mind very much, which can lead to people quitting! This is why I've chosen the WLC Program to be one that doesn't require failure on every set. You will reach failure on some sets throughout the WLC Program, but the program is not meant to be one in which every set is taken to failure.

I've done Weight Lifting Programs that have you train to complete failure on every set and even beyond failure. I would usually only last around 6 weeks on these programs and I was toast. I would progress for a while, but then I would reach a point in which I lost all motivation and was most likely over that overtraining edge. I always tried to reach at least six weeks because there wasn't much progression at all from the last cycle I completed if I didn't reach the 6 week mark.

Train to failure programs end up with me overtraining rather soon. When I was able to keep overtraining away for a longer period of time, I was able to make pretty good gains. It was too difficult to try not to overtrain with many of the train to failure programs, and that's when I decided that I must find something different. I did have fun training to failure because I would love trying to beat the previous workout, but after a period of time it started to beat me down. I became very physically and mentally tired. And it wasn't due to a bad diet or lack of sleep.

The programs that I have tried that have you not train to failure usually lasted longer for me which led to more progress. Too many of them would still leave me overtrained because of the excessive number of sets they would have me do. They were trying to take advantage of the fact that you are not training to failure and overcompensate! Too many sets not to failure will also overtrain you!

You've got to know when enough is enough. The WLC Program is designed to build muscle while preventing overtraining. Preventing overtraining is one of the most important muscle building techniques out there! When you prevent overtraining, you give yourself a chance to make continuous progress throughout the weeks, months, and years. One case of serious overtraining can set you back several months!

I guarantee that you'll have a much greater chance to prevent overtraining by not training to failure. That right there is worth changing to a program like WLC that doesn't have you train to failure each and every set.

In some of the workouts toward the end of the program, you will most likely reach failure because I want you to push yourself as hard as possible to lift more and more weight at the end of each cycle. Don't sweat this because you will have a recovery week and a week or two of rest directly after the really tough workouts. Not training to failure each workout allows you to work your entire body more frequently, which I think is very important. Let's make a small comparison here between those once a week body part splits, the twice a week splits, and the WLC program.

The once a week splits have you working each body part around 50 times per year. The twice a week programs have you working each body part around 100 times a year. The WLC program has you working each body part 150 times in the same one year period.

I think I'd rather have 150 opportunities to build muscle than 50 or even 100! If you think you have to train to failure to gain muscle, you are wrong! Any program that allows you to lift progressively heavier weights over time will build muscle. That is the key.

The WLC Program gives you a fail proof method of increasing the amount of weight you lift over time and will build you slabs of muscle without training to failure most of the time. Strength gains lead to muscle gains. That's one thing that has been proven by so many weight lifters throughout time. You can gain tons of strength without reaching failure. I would argue that you can build even more strength not training to failure. Build strength in the muscle building rep ranges and bam! You have built some muscle.

Have you heard of people saying they need to shock their muscles into new growth? What in the world does that mean? You got me! All these people are doing when they attempt to shock their muscles is adding fatigue to their body. They then have to rest more between workouts just so their body can recover from this so called shock! Why would you train to failure just so you have to rest longer when not training to failure gives you more muscle building opportunities? Your body will reward you from not putting it through so much stress.

The WLC Space is a place for me to give you help and advice on anything related to weight lifting. If you want to comment on this page, you can start your very own forum thread there and I will answer any questions you might have. You can keep your weight lifting log there, have your own blog, post videos, post pictures, and more! Join today.

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