The essence of the technique
One of the main advocates of training to failure was professional bodybuilder Mike Mentzer. At one time he was Arthur Johnson's mentee and a fan of this technique.
Over time, Mentzer refined it and called it “High Intensity Training,” or HIT for short.
The basis of the technique is rare (2-3 times a week) and short (15-30 minutes) sessions.
In each exercise, after a thorough warm-up, only one working approach is performed until failure.
Its presence is one of the main requirements.
Mentzer in his book “Supertraining” gave a clear definition of muscle failure - this is the complete inability of the muscles to lift the weight of the weight by at least one centimeter.
However, it was precisely around this training principle of the HIT method that serious controversy broke out among bodybuilding experts.
Some claimed that it was most effective for stimulating muscle growth, while others (a larger group) were convinced of the uselessness and even danger of such a technique.
Over time, another misunderstanding became clear. The concept of “refusal” among bodybuilders who read Mentzer’s book translated into Russian and among American bodybuilders who read the book in the original was significantly different.
Iron Health
In previous articles, I talked about why you should use failure approaches in your training. Today I will talk about how to make such training not only safe, but also more effective.
Optimal rest time
Let's start with the fact that using the “failure” training method involves increasing the rest time - both between approaches and between workouts in general. The fact is that “failure” repetitions significantly increase the consumption of creatine phosphate and ATP in the muscles, and they also tire out the nervous system considerably. That is why the optimal rest period between approaches is 3-5 minutes. Do not skimp on rest, because during a “refusal” the heart is at its maximum stress, and it needs time to fully recover. Lack of rest will not only lead to muscle overload, but also excessive stress on the heart muscle, which can negatively affect the athlete’s health in the future.
Optimal training frequency
As for the frequency of training, the technique of “failure” repetitions should be used no more than 2 times a week. This is the mode that gives maximum results. It is not recommended to use this style of training for two consecutive sessions. If you go to the gym 3 times a week, you can schedule the first and third workouts to be “off” workouts. This will be best.
In general, amateur athletes are recommended to practice “failure” repetitions every other workout. On days when you don't practice failures, break off your work set 1-2 reps before a possible failure rep. This regime promotes a confident increase in strength without the threat of overtraining. Generally speaking, you should constantly monitor your condition. At the slightest sign of exhaustion (both nervous and physical), take a few days to rest and refrain from using “failure” training.
Maximum performance
Athletes who train purely on strength programs and use failures achieve strength gains that are twice as large as athletes who do not use failures. Scientific research has long confirmed the effectiveness of such training, but there is one caveat. Only one approach out of four should be given up. If you break this rule, then there is practically no increase in strength, but the likelihood of stagnation and overtraining sharply increases. These observations were fully confirmed by scientific research, which proved that the use of “failures” in multisets is a waste of time and effort.
Thus, the biggest strength gains come from performing just one “failure” approach at the very end of the exercise.
The concept of “refusal” here and in American bodybuilding
All Russian-speaking bodybuilders are familiar with the HIT method thanks to the Russian edition of the book “Supertraining” (the first appeared in the late 90s).
It provided a clear definition of “refusal” as described above. It is this postulate that all adherents of such training have adopted in our country.
Some time passed, and experience showed that in most cases the technique is very traumatic. But almost no one observed the stunningly rapid increase in muscle mass promised by the author.
In addition, it turned out that with prolonged use of HIT, pronounced overtraining develops.
Our bodybuilders were perplexed, because many professional athletes of those times used this technique and progressed at a cosmic pace.
And the most prominent supporter of “failure training,” Dorian Yates, generally became a six-time Mr. Olympia.
It was only years later, when pro workout videos became widely available for viewing, that it became clear that bodybuilders in the United States had a completely different definition of failure.
It turned out that in the minds of American bodybuilders, this is a significant slowdown in the speed of movement of the weight.
When watching videos of Western athletes who used refusal in their training, it was clear that assistants began to help lift the bar long before it crushed the bodybuilder.
As soon as the barbell (dumbbells, block) began to slow down, assistants immediately joined in and helped to do another 2-4 repetitions.
In our country, it was customary to achieve complete refusal, as it is written in the book. That is, the assistant did not touch the bar until it crushed the athlete with a 100 percent guarantee. Only after this did the partner help to do an additional 1-2 repetitions.
It is quite possible that it was this difference in the concept of failure between us and them that led to such different final results in the rate of muscle gain.
Theory and practice of the method
Mike Mentzer spoke about the scientific nature of his method. However, his thoughts were based more on logic and philosophy (don’t be surprised, Mentzer was also a philosopher). But in matters of biochemistry and human physiology, he, as they say, “swimmed.”
Science's opinion
There are no scientific studies yet on the effectiveness of refusal training. However, there is some evidence to support the benefits of low-volume loading using only one work approach.
Two groups of beginners trained for 12 weeks using two different methods, while the number and set of exercises were the same. But in the first group they did only one working approach (without failure), and in the second group they did the classic three for bodybuilding.
After 12 weeks of training, the results were compared. It turned out that the gains in muscle mass and strength were approximately the same. Although the organizers of the experiment noted that in the one approach group they were slightly larger.
The only thing that was reliably established during the experiment: the one-set technique provides better recovery for beginners during strength training.
In the second group (three-set pattern) there were people with signs of overtraining, but in the one-set group there were none.
Practical experience of training to failure is quite ambiguous. There are a lot of positive examples of using the HIT method, as well as a large number of negative examples.
Summarizing practical experience, we can say the following:
- Failure training is not suitable for beginners. Its main target audience is athletes with intermediate and advanced levels of physical fitness.
- The HIT method can provide good gains in muscle growth for experienced athletes. This is mainly due to the improvement in the quality of overall recovery of the body
- These are quite traumatic activities, so you need to pay attention to the warm-up and use the help of assistants when performing exercises to failure
- May cause severe overtraining, especially with long-term use
By the way, Mentzer himself proposed combating this phenomenon in a rather original way - reducing the frequency of training per week and conducting one high-intensity session once every 7-10 days (that is, 3-4 workouts per month).
- The technique promotes a fairly rapid increase in strength indicators (compared to the classical training scheme)
- There is an opinion that training to failure in one approach is more suitable for people with a predominance of white (fast, power) muscle fibers.
How many failure sets should you perform?
Many athletes have long debated how many failure approaches in exercises actually need to be performed. And how many of these refusal approaches should be performed for each muscle group.
Agree, this is a question that will always be relevant?! Therefore, the answer to it will always be ambiguous and often contradictory.
The fact is that at different stages of training, a particular athlete will use a different number of failure approaches depending on the muscle group he is working on.
It will also depend on the number of exercises themselves in your program. Therefore, different athletes will always have disagreements on this matter.
I can only tell you my point of view, and you can agree with it or not. This is up to you, I will just tell you based on my personal experience.
When I first started training, I only performed 1-2 failure sets per muscle group. And this seemed to be enough for me and I was constantly growing by leaps and bounds and I had no problems with progress.
But, of course, after almost 20 years of training, I increased it from 1-2 to 6-10 failure sets per muscle group. But this did not happen to me in one day, but all this happened gradually.
Over time, as you probably know, our muscles strengthen and become much stronger and more resilient, which means that in order to bring our muscles to complete muscle exhaustion, these 1-2 failure approaches are no longer enough and therefore you are forced to add more.
This means that you will have to constantly stimulate your muscles with even more volume, more load and much more intensity.
This is an inevitable fact that you will come to sooner or later. If you haven't already come to this...
Therefore, after some time, we add 1-2 more exercises to work out some muscle group. This way we stimulate our muscles even more.
Of course, instead of exercises, you can simply add 1-2 failure approaches, but I prefer to perform completely different exercises for 1 muscle group. And at the same time, in each such exercise, I do only 1 failure approach.
Therefore, depending on the muscle group, we add additional exercises. This can be 2-3 (4) or more additional exercises at once to work out one muscle group.
But at the same time, in each of the exercises, we perform only one single failure approach, not two, not three, but only one working approach, which we bring to positive muscle failure.
But this does not mean at all that in each of the exercises, in addition to our warm-up approaches, we perform only one single working approach.
Not at all, you can perform 3-5 or even as many as 10 working approaches in each exercise.
But, at the same time, only one of them will be your “refusal” working approach and, as a rule, this will be your very last working approach, in which you will have to give your best every time at 100% maximum percentage.
All other working approaches that come before your “refusal” approach simply smoothly lead you to your last working and, at the same time, immediately refusal approach.
In other words, in each exercise we perform only 1 working approach “to failure”.
But all the other working approaches before your last “failure” approach play the role of tiring ones.
- Working approach (tiring)
- Working approach (tiring)
- Working approach (tiring)
- Working approach (tiring)
- Working approach (to muscle failure)
But at the same time, you can have as many such working approaches as you like, but there is only one “failure” approach.
You will not need to perform each of your working sets to “muscular failure”, but it will be enough to complete it in your last working set.
This way you can perform several of your exercises at once, in each of which you will perform 5 working approaches, where the 5th approach will be your failure approach.
Why do you even need to do a lot of training volume in the form of a lot of working sets when you can only do one such set?
The fact is that when you come to the gym with fresh strength and muscles, it will be very difficult for you not only to bring them “to failure”, but also to tire them thoroughly in “one” working approach.
But by performing a large number of working approaches, you gradually tire your muscles more and more with each such approach, and at the end you put an end to the last working approach.
Some athletes who actively use various drugs also advise performing no more than 2-3 failure approaches in each of their exercises. I believe that such a number of failure approaches in each of my exercises is not only a lot, but also not productive.
Because after such constant refusal approaches, your recovery processes will simply begin to slow down...
And if this is unnoticeable for pharmacological athletes, then for natural athletes it will be a huge stress. I myself am a supporter of refusal approaches, but always in moderation.
Usually this is one exercise and one such failure set, which I find more than enough for such stimulation and subsequent muscle growth.
Well, what if, say, you perform 5 exercises for 1 muscle group. And at the same time perform 2 - 3 failure approaches in each of them, then you will get about 10 - 15 failure approaches per muscle group.
In my opinion, this is a lot and you will recover for a very long time after this. Although you can certainly try. But, I assure you, you won’t be able to train like this for long.
The optimal option, as I already said, is 1 exercise and 1 failure approach.
Over many years of training, I have come to the same conclusion that it will be enough for a natural athlete to perform 1 working set to positive muscle failure in each of his exercises.
And at the same time, the exercises themselves should be no more than 3-5 per target muscle group.
- Large muscle groups 3-5 exercises
- Small muscle groups 2-3 exercises
In order to effectively work out a large muscle group, for example, the back muscles or even the legs, it will be enough to perform only 3 to 5 exercises aimed at one muscle group, with only 1 failure approach in each of these exercises.
But for small muscle groups, in order for you to work it out properly, it will be enough to perform just 2 - 3 exercises aimed at 1 muscle group.
This will be more than enough for absolutely any athlete to make good progress in muscle growth.
And even for those athletes who have already been training for more than 10, 15 and even more than 20 years.
And this will also be enough for those who work not only naturally, but also for those who take pharmacology...
I have given you the optimal number of exercises to work your muscles well, but it may be different for each of you.
Therefore, when asked how many refusal approaches you need to perform in general, I always answer that it will be quite sufficient to perform only 1 “failure” approach in each of your exercises.
But how many such refusal approaches you should do for any one muscle group, then you decide for yourself.
If you only need to do one set per muscle group, then do just one set.
Well, if you feel that this approach alone is clearly not enough for you, do as much as you need. For some, it will be enough to perform only 2 - 3 failure approaches, but for others, even 10 approaches will not be enough.
Therefore, I believe that everything is individual and this number will be different for everyone.
I have prepared a more detailed and extensive video for you on this topic. See here...
Classic bodybuilding techniques and HIT: which is more effective?
If you are a beginner, then it is better to practice classic bodybuilding regimens for the first 6-12 months. At a minimum, they are less dangerous.
If you have an intermediate or advanced level of physical fitness, you can try the HIT method.
It is possible that your muscle composition is dominated by white fibers. Then refusal training will fit perfectly into your program.
If such exercises provoke frequent injuries in you, and the increase in muscle mass is the same as with traditional methods, then the HIT regimen is not suitable for you.
What is actually more effective? The question remains open. Most often, bodybuilders find the answer to this question only through experience.
Working to failure is a training method that allows you to achieve 100% intensity of muscular effort. This type of work should be used with caution by athletes who have problems with muscle growth. Failure repetitions, on the one hand, cause shifts in muscle fiber metabolism that are beneficial for muscle hypertrophy. On the other hand, high intensity of effort has a negative effect on the central nervous system when used regularly: with systematic work to failure, there is a tendency to stagnation of strength results and muscle growth.
However, if your training involves working to failure, and failure is a necessary part of the training plan, then the question becomes, how many sets of failure should there be in an exercise? One, two, all approaches?
We will answer this question with two examples from the history of sports science. The first example is the so-called DeLorme method [1]. The second is McCloy’s method [2].
DeLorme's training method is as follows. The reference point is the weight of the weight with which you can perform 10 repetitions until failure (this is approximately 75-85% of 1 RM). This weight can be correctly designated as 10 RM. The working diagram for exercises using this method looks like this:
- 1st approach: working weight equal to half the weight for 10 RM, number of repetitions – 10;
- 2nd approach: working weight is 75% of the weight at 10 MP, number of repetitions – 10;
- 3rd approach: working weight is 10 RM weight, number of repetitions – until failure.
Rest time between approaches is 1-1.5 minutes.
McCloy's training method (better known as the Oxford method) is in many ways similar to the DeLorme method, but has fundamental differences in the opposite direction. Methodological scheme:
- 1st approach: working weight is 10 RM, number of repetitions – until failure;
- 2nd approach: working weight is 75% of the weight at 10 MP, number of repetitions - until failure;
- 3rd approach: working weight equal to half (50%) of the weight for 10 RM, number of repetitions - until failure.
Rest time between sets is 3 minutes.
Both methods were developed by specialists in the field of sports medicine back in the first half of the last century. And in the middle of the last century, both methods were compared in scientific experiments. The results of the experiments, as A.N. writes in his book. Vorobyov [3], showed the superiority of the DeLorme method over the McCloy method in terms of its effect on muscle strength and hypertrophy. But the results regarding muscular endurance testify in favor of the McCloy method.
Thus, using the example of the experiments described above, it can be argued that one (last) approach to failure brings more results in gaining mass than several failure sets in an exercise. In turn, multi-set work to failure can develop muscle endurance.
LINKS
[1] DeLorme TL Restoration of muscle power by heavy resistance exercise // Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. 27:645, 1945.
[2] McCloy CH How about some muscle? // Journal of Health Physical Education. 7:302-3, 1936.
[3] Vorobiev A.N. Weightlifting sport. Essays on physiology and sports training. M., 1977, p. 76-77.
© Bodybuilding for hardgainers
