Ways to achieve muscular failure

Author: Timko Ilya - master of the whole project and fitness trainer.
2012-05-07

You can read about why the so-called "muscle failure" is necessary and why it's important to train muscles "to the limit" in the article How often should muscles be trained to failure? In this article, I will describe the methods used by strength athletes to achieve maximum muscle fatigue.

1. Normal Approach

The simplest method. You do as many reps as you can until you can no longer lift the weight. Maintain proper technique while doing so. This method is not very effective because there is still some strength left in the muscles, but it's just not enough for that weight. This straightforward method is ideal for beginners.

2. Cheating

Translated from English, cheating means "to deceive." The idea is that you initially perform a set to failure with proper technique. When you can no longer lift the weight, you abandon proper form and start performing the exercise in a less controlled manner to squeeze out a few more repetitions. This option allows you to extract a bit more strength from the trained muscles by engaging other muscle groups. However, this method is not suitable for beginners, as you need to firmly establish proper technique before incorporating cheating.

3. Supersets for the Same Muscle Group

This is a fairly challenging and demanding method, but it's even more effective. Not for beginners! The essence of this method is that you perform one set for a specific muscle group. Then, immediately without rest, you do a set of a different exercise but still targeting the same muscle group. This results in a double set. Here’s an example:

Typically, two or three exercises are "combined" like this. In very rare cases, more.

Although these exercises target the same muscle, they make it work in different ways, stimulating new muscle fibers. This method is very demanding and requires great dedication and muscular endurance.

You can see an example of a plan entirely composed of such supersets in the Workout routine of supersets for girls.

4. Drop Sets

The idea is that during a set, assistants gradually "strip" the barbell, making it lighter. For example, if you're curling with a barbell, you do it with proper technique until failure. When failure occurs, the assistants immediately remove some weight from the barbell, and you continue without rest until failure again. This continues until you can no longer lift even the empty bar. This method is quite challenging, but I consider it one of the most effective (alongside supersets) for achieving complete muscle failure. You squeeze out everything your muscles can give. It's best for beginners to avoid this method as it can be too stressful for the muscles.

5. Assistance

This method resembles "striptease." Here, instead of removing plates, an assistant helps you lift the weight a few more times when you can no longer do it yourself.

It's important to understand that some methods work well for certain exercises and are completely unsuitable for others. For instance, in exercises like:

You can't really use cheating. However, it is convenient for bicep training. The "assistance" method works well for pull-ups. The "striptease" method is particularly handy with cable machines and without assistants.

Additionally, I want to emphasize that if you are a beginner, you should only use the "normal approach" for now. The other methods are more stressful and should be saved for when the "normal approach" no longer yields results. Subscribe for new articles and good luck!