At the end of the day, what you’re doing is working by your own admission, so wouldn’t change anything unless you’re not enjoying the higher rep training. Failure training generates more fatigue in general as does the higher rep range you’ve chosen and as you mentioned you need to take a light week every 6-9 weeks for recovery
The hardest thing to do is change.
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Some people are actually able to do this and won’t see a massive drop off . After a 12 rep failure set, I can also personally get another 10ish reps on the 2nd set
Weak people and/or people who don’t train hard.
Do you train people regularly?
Yes, I train people.
You said you can get 10ish reps. That is most likely 8 clean reps and 2 ugly partials.
Interesting that you’ve not come accross strong hard training people who can get it up for multiple sets. I dont personally do “ugly” reps
Maybe on laterals or curls no one is getting 10-12 reps on every set of squats.
10ish means it was not clean. Perhaps you prefer partials.
I feel like we’re running into the inevitable “no true Scotsman” that comes when we discuss “to failure”.
Because I’m on board with @OTay here. When you train a set to failure: you’re DONE. There’s no coming back for another set. In turn, I can think of VERY few sets I’ve ever trained in over 25 years that I would call “to failure”.
This is one of the closest ones I have on video
I assure you: after that set, I was NOT going to be able to pull another 10 reps. Or 8. Or 1. That workout was over.
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I would agree if were talking a hard set of sq/dl but training predominantly for hypertrophy theyre not movements that are prioritised. Doing 2 sets ofa machine press, pendulum or row to failure and not having a huge rep drop off in the 2nd set is just not the unicorn people make it out to be
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What are the optimal number of to-failure-sets for muscle hypertrophy? I believe that we can agree to-failure is worthless for strength.
Once you take a set to failure (in moderate rep regions), it is my belief that the next set the to-failure point involves more than maximum strength failure. It has much less value than the first to-failure set.
When do you consider that overtraining is so much that your recovery is insufficient to allow adaptability before the next “overtraining” session? I call this wanting it so bad, that you believe the solution is to train harder.
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I think this is very individual and people need to experiment to find the point where they can recover and adapt from the stimulus before the next session. Agreed for strength. @fitafter40 I’m not saying 1 is better than the other, I guess it all comes down to personal preference, as both obviously work.
I know you weren’t…i just get a kick out of the fact that this is still debated
no different than eating plans i guess
failure or not failure, high volume low volume, high reps low reps, free weights or machines…they all work if the key word consistency is implemented
there are so many ways to skin a cat
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I agree with this. As the OP, I just think I am not recovering great from taking all high rep sets to failure. This is why I’m going to try the 10-12 reps and hit failure on the last and final set only.
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Try 4 to 6… or 5 to 7… same hypertrophy outcomes with less fatigue accumulation / damage. Leave 1 RIR
If you’re going to failure on the final set you’re already at reduced MUR. Don’t go to failure… go to 1 RIR
This would be a good choice to run a while.
OP could give his recent plan for 12 weeks and then give the 4-7 reps with 1 RIR the next 12 weeks. Then compare the results. We would like to know which worked best for you. And possibly both work together for best. Maybe alternating every 12 weeks works synergistically better than either one or the other. The genius might be in the AND and not the OR.
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We tend to work harder at rep ranges we prefer oddly enough. Like people in the classic 8 to 12 camp will simply push harder in that range even if it’s not optimal. I like odd numbers, so I do 3,5, 7
He’ll likely see progress simply from the fatigue mgmt aspect if his programming is right
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But IMO, he will see even more progress if he incorporates both higher reps for 12 weeks and then lower reps with 1 RIR the next 12 weeks.
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Why do you think so ?