Failure was once condemned, but now it’s celebrated.
Failure is seen as the basis for improvements in life, but it might not be so positive in lifting. There is another way, says a paper in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.
They got lifters to do reps until muscle failure or do the same number of reps but interspersed them with rest periods so the volume between the two groups was equal. Both groups gained the same amount of strength and made equal neuromuscular adaptations, but the non-failure group increased muscle size and endurance.
Find out where your repetition failure point is with a particular weight, say 15 reps, then split those reps across two sets instead of one.
There’ll be less pain but more gain, which goes against pretty much every gym poster you’ve ever seen…
