Q: I feel as though I need to train all of my sets to failure to get a good muscle-building workout. In Old Man Young Muscle, you take all of your sets to failure, but you’ve backed off of that. Why?
A: The latest research suggests that stopping one or two reps short of failure limits muscle damage and can optimize hypertrophy; however…
Research also says that the more sets you take to failure, the fewer sets you need for the fastest muscle growth. In other words, the harder you train, the fewer sets you need…
It’s a balance. For example, I still take my first high-rep set to failure for each muscle; the rest I usually stop a rep short.
Yes, I made darn good gains pushing all of my sets to failure with the original OMYM workout, which was three to four per muscle. The latest studies and comments from Chris Beardsley had me experiment with stopping short. I got stronger almost immediately…
Is that an age thing due to less stress? Perhaps. Younger trainees using the OMYM workout will probably find it necessary to go to failure with limited-set workouts…
The reason is the Size Principle of Muscle Fiber recruitment, which I explain in OMYM. That simply states that as the set gets harder, the muscle shifts from using slow-twitch fibers to fast-twitch. So at the end of a set is when you’re activating the most high-growth fibers.
But as I said, that creates more damage. Being older, I need to pull back on at least some of my sets to curb that and fully recover. As for you…
You didn’t mention how old you are. If you’re past 55 and/or have a hard time recovering from exercise, you should probably follow my lead by pulling back on most sets…
On the other hand, if you’re younger with good recovery, take all or most of your sets to failure. Remember, the short rests between sets in the OMYM workout create a lot of fatigue-product pooling in the target muscle. That means hitting failure may not be reaching true failure…
That’s due to the pain tricking your brain. Again, it will take experimentation for max-mass creation.
And speaking of individual hypertrophy requirements, if you have a low-pain threshold, you may need to take most sets to failure to get to enough high-growth fibers at the end of a set—even if you’re older…
How do you know if you have a low-pain threshold? Well, if your last rep or two doesn’t slow down or you go to the dentist and required numbing cream for a cleaning, you may be more of a delicate flower who should push to failure on more sets. A training partner with a sword can help…
Your Efficient Mass-Building Handbook: For more mass-building tips like the above plus complete workouts that include the ideal exercise for each muscle and the best stretch and contracted add-on moves, get your copy of Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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