From the first moment that most of us hit the gym, the question of how many reps we should execute, and how intensely we should train is a quandary that stays with us throughout our sessions. Do too many reps overtrain the muscle and obstruct growth? And how do our goals of building muscle, or increasing strength, relate to our regime?
Fortunately, a new scientific report seems to have the answer. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University worked on the major new study, to determine the best models for both strength and muscle hypertrophy outcomes, collecting data from 55 previous studies to map out their conclusions. The results showed that if your goal is to build strength, then working close to failure doesn’t appear to have a significant advantage. For muscle mass gains, however, the closer you get to failure, the more muscle growth tends to occur.
“If you’re aiming for muscle growth, training closer to failure might be more effective. In other words, it doesn’t matter if you adjust training volume by changing sets or reps; the relationship between how close you train to failure and muscle growth remains the same,” said Michael C. Zourdos, Ph.D., senior author and professor and chair of the Department of Exercise Science and Health Promotion within FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science commenting to sciencedaily.com “For strength, how close you push to failure doesn’t seem to matter as much.”
So, how do we put this into practice? The study authors recommend working so that you get to 0-5 reps shy of failure for best results in terms of optimal muscle growth but remember to work within your limits to avoid injury. For strength training, the experts recommend stopping at 3-5 reps short of failure.
“When people estimate how many reps they have left, this perception influences the weights they choose. If the estimation is off, they might use lighter weights than needed, which could limit strength gains. On the flip side, our meta-analysis shows that training closer to failure also leads to greater muscle growth,” said Zac P. Robinson, Ph.D., first author and a Ph.D. graduate of FAU’s Department of Exercise Science and Health Promotion. “So, for the average individual, training close to failure may be the best option – as it seems to improve the accuracy of our perception of effort as well as gains in muscle size.”
