Man everything you said is what I believe in spot on. Heavy compounds/main lifts, best to leave 1-2 in the tank for recovery and safety, avoiding form breakdown. Side lateral raises? Fucking HAMMER THEM OUT till your shoulders fall off.
@@iangraham-white5717 So you're saying it's better for me to progressively overload my RIR from microcycle to microcycle rather than training to failure on all sets even though I'm doing low volume?
The best channel on youtube. As 38 yr old lifter, the training to failure when its not appropriate is definitely a cause for thought, as my body is literally telling me to scale back . 😅 .
Alex greetings! I rly didn't understand how reverse-banding a bench press makes it grindier throughout the entire ROM. The bench press is naturally lengthened-overloaded and becomes easier as you go towards the lockout. Now with the reverse bands, it will become even HARDER in the descent (even MORE lengthened-overloaded than it originally was) and even EASIER towards locking out. I'm having difficulty understanding how this makes the entire ROM more challenging so it would qualify as a ''grindable lift''. Thanks!
I been training like Alex and my overhead press went from 45 to 50kg with light Bands in just 4 Workout next week will be 52.5kg 4 sets of 3 reps will that make me big thx (:
hey alex, do you think that for a novice resting 1’30’’ between squats is too little? i finally arrived to 100 kilos (2 plates basically) and i’m really struggling to complete the 5x5 because i feel i didn’t rest enough
I really love how your information and training philosophy's change with time and more knowledge. Never married to certain info and continuously give great advice!
@@steffenpetersen2103 i think You can get pretty good results Man, start now it's a ling process anyways, in this time You may get more equipment as well. Good luck and get swole!
As a 62yo lifter I find that perceived “failure” is somehow regulated by a natural system in the mind that says “you about to snap yo Sh*t!”. This system takes over much more so as you age (almost like a fear) and my advice is to follow it.
@Rozrywka Po Pracy I agree that safe setup is foundational as it always is. I disagree that fear is unnecessary. Call it apprehensiveness if you’re hung up on “fear”. You’re own “no-fear PR” example contradicts yourself and proves my point.
Depends... If your a 62 year old lifter who doesn't have great technique, have a list of old injuries, then yeah follow it. If you got good technique, know how to move properly, got a rack to secure yourself in, don't have a list of old injuries then I'd so go all in.
Never went to true failure when i was training for strength, with the exception of isolation movements. Now that i've only been training for bodybuilding i go to failure or beyond on everything, but the barbell compounds, not only for safety, but also since i feel my target muscle working less or other muscle's taking over. Plus i have to admit, training to go to failure is much more fun imo.
I've watched you through college before I went to the gym. Now I have a full time job years later and it's amazing to see how much your physique, knowledge your speaking skills have improved. Keep it up Alex we really appreciate your content!
Funny enough my numbers never budged on typical novice programs, until I started the Berserk method from Bald Omni Man. Once I started maxing out my numbers immediately jumped up. Labour, and years of Boxing did a number on my body so I likely just lost confidence in intensity
I just love the simplicity of training with going to failure - I can only recover from doing 2 working sets per exercise, but since I logbook my training, I instantly see if I made progress, without having to deal with RPE (I find this to be quite disturbing) I also just love how a set to failure feels xD
I've trained to failure less often as I grew more advanced. But I still do an all out set to failure sometimes, nothing quite like it. Just feels good.
The more I tried reaching muscular failure on different lifts the more I learnt how much off my RIR estimations were... I would go as far as calling the muscular failure the only objective method of determing the true end of a set.
@@AlexLeonidas yup totally. I'm still very much a novice, deadlift like 315 now, so recovery is still okay but no where near as fast as it was on day 1
As someone who regularly lifts to failure on the last set of an exercise, I thought I was closer to failure on my earlier sets than I really was. The feeling of failure on a fresh muscle on the very first set is quite a bit more grindy and painful than on a third or fourth set and I was something like 3-4 reps away on some movements.
Dude, i've been lifting for about a year and a few months, e just love your videos, you are like, the only person i follow on instagram that i don't know. With that said, i'm a brazilian, here, most of my friends don't talk english very well, i'm always sending them your videos, but they don't continue watching because they just don't get the weight numbers, idk, maybe you could put some lyrics with it in kg, so your range over other countries can grow, thanks for the work you put in your videos man !
I spent a long time with my gains plateaued and I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting bigger. I saw a video like this and it inspired me to grind out each rep until I was about to drop the weights from fatigue. The sudden difference in gains was astonishing.
in all honesty, this RPE shit has killed huge part of training. Maybe training balls to the wall every set is not the most optimal, but i just fucking love simple bestial way of training and just fucking bang those reps until you feel that you will fail the next rep if you try. I stop the set when i know that i will fail the next rep or i know the next rep will be ugly slow grinder
Have a question about progressing on neck curls: I am currently at a 25kg (55lb) plate for 5 sets of 40-50 reps, with 1-2 min rest, on the last sets with a little rest-pause. I find it difficult to grab more than one plate on neck curls, mainly because my gym consists of thick bumper plates... Any suggestions to progress?
@@zohancargotis2109 I haven't measured for quite a while... I guess a bit over 18inch without pump. But thats really just a guess. Edit: yeah, about 18inch.
Every time I feel like not working out and I see a new AlphaDestiny video, my motivation skyrockets to 110%. Thank you for being the reason I have started lifting weights and lifting properly. Shoutout from MTL by the way!
Love how RP preached ideas and concepts are being adopted by all these other influencers on UA-cam. It is the most accurate and complete source of information on lifting for strength and size.
Your back has been huge for a minute... but it looks fucking crazy prison fighter movie jacked when you do the wide grip deficit pull ups... keep at them. Great video Alex
Modern data shows beginner, intermediate, and advanced lifters get almost the exact same (negligible difference) stimulus from 3 RIR as 0 RIR, with far less fatigue. If you have a perfect mind-muscle connection, and you KNOW your fatigue, stay at 2-3 RIR.
Yep, train to failure with safety measures available. I echo the voices of those who are weary of taking random spots at the gym... A lot more dangerous trusting someone random versus not going to failure in that case.
I mean the fatigue is that I'm 40 and have young kids that wake me up all the time in the middle of the night and I have preexisting neck and back problems and I work a full time job and my house and yard and homestead need a million things done and I do them myself because it's too expensive to hire people and even though I'm a new lifter I go to the gym and work out to failure on every exercise or until I start losing consciousness(blood sugar issues). So I don't really feel bad about trying to make sure that I make the most out of the work I put in. And lots of people might have a different situation, but tons of people got other things going on in life and only have so much fatigue to donate to the gym.
I don't understand one thing: At 5:54 he mentions 5 sets of 10 of dumbbell curls to failure. I know it was just an example, but am I wrong in saying that if you really push until failure it's literally impossible to do 5 sets with the same weight and same reps? In my experience I would be able to do 10 in the first set, then 8 in the second, 6 in the third etc.
i also find higher rep sets are harder to guage failure. like if you reach failure on a set of 6 its pretty obvious, but if you reach failure on a set of 25 its hard to guage if you actually did or if the burn was too intense or your cardio just got gassed but the muscles were good
I simply disagree/ more fatigue doesnt always mean form degradation. Ive been going to failure on all my compounds yet my form stays true. It just depends on the person were talking about
I'm a novice who basically trains to failure on everything. I train full body 3x a week. I mostly do reverse pyramids w a top set of 3 on all my big compounds, then drop 20lbs or so and AMRAP my next 2 sets (I'm doing volume/intensity). Monday is strength day, Wednesday is a light day w a focus on weak points, Friday is volume. I usually do a 3x10, and then the next week I'll do 4x10, then 5x10, and add 5-10 lbs to the lift after completing the 5x10 I'm just throwing on weight every single strength day every single week. I've add 30lbs to my frame and 60lbs + on all my compound lift all in 4 months.
I trained that way for years and definitely found it worth it, but moving forward if you can avoid hitting true 100% then that's overall better on recovery/longevity. RPE 9-9.5 is the max you should ever go for singles.
I've been going to failure lately but everything I am doing it's suitable. I remember going for a 2nd deadlift of my max and I got stuck just above the knees. The harder I kept pulling, the more frozen in time my body got, and I held it a few seconds just for the bizarre experience. That 2nd attempted rep made me pay the next few days, but 1 rep of more weight that I had in me would not have.
Jay Vincent would disagree with you. You should have him on your channel and have a discussion on this. He's bringing back one set to failure and has trained over 20,000 people with great results and no injuries while only having them workout 2x a week. He brings a lot of science to one set to failure. Would be interesting to see this discussion (:
@@AlexLeonidas cool, I like both of you and consider both of your methods of training legit just different systems. Would be cool to see a discussion between you (:
@@oscarperez5539 "Jay vincent would disagree with you" on what?? Did you even watch the video lmao? Why does your original comment read like an advert for his channel? Odd bloke
Bro I just go hard period i hit the gym like my life depends on it twice a week with gpp once to two times a week and it works fine …my advice for people who work 40+ hour weeks go hard twice a week and do gpp once a week and u will be fine 💪
The way I train most of the time is always going to failure because if I can Always do 1 more rep or even half a rep more than last time I know I'm Making progress with a given weight.
I totally get what you're saying about having safety measures in place to make training failure a lot cleaner and more focused, my bench and squat training got an instant boost in intensity when I upgraded my squat stand to a power rack
At nearly 35 my method is fairly simple. Everything is to failure or just shy of it for machines, dumbells cables etc. For heavy low rep stuff I stay shy of failure.
broo i always wanted to know about this topic when to train to failure i cant even explain how confused i was thanks a lot for making video on these topics
use to train a little too hard but I've been using Leroy Colberts full body every other day method and I'm leaving like 1 to 2 reps in the tank and my physique is the best it's ever been. I'm 4 yrs into consistently training
I’d say if you’re a beginner try to fail on every exercise cuz u probably don’t have a any idea of what true muscular failure is and feels like. At least this way you’d be training hard enough
Back in the day we were doing rpe 10 every set on every exercise , definitely not optimal 🤣.That was what we were told from the motivational videos don't leave anything in the tank give it all till you collapse...
@Rozrywka Po Pracy let's just say rpe ten was my warm ups 🤣🤣. I was literally crying during sets many times almost fainted and felt like puking (puked few times ). That is why proper advice and guidance must be given from the start .
Why bother training hard if I cant become the strongest. Im like 6'2 and 280lbs yet I can only do a 1 rm of like 475lbs in the stupid hexbar and only 365lb squats for 6 reps. I either need to get hooked on gear or simply give up, cuz I am the weakest human alive.
I used to train to failure on pull ups. Hit a plateau. Stopped doing that. Started working on low rep explosive pull ups (trying to get bar to waist) and then archer pull ups...also not to failure. However, I kept attempting to increase my one rep max on the weighted pull up (so technically this was to failure). Long story short, I broke through the plateau and am back to making gains. Now I'm up to 100 lb max weighted pull up and can do 90 pounds for two reps. Through this progression, I unlocked my muscle up...which I think is responsible for spurring new gains as it allowed me to introduce a different movement pattern and renewed my vigor and excitement for explosive pull ups. I genuinely believe all this was made possible once I stopped trying to go to failure and stopped caring what my max pull ups in a set are. I got into practicing the movement, practicing it weighted, practicing variations. That is where the growth occurred. However, even though I don't really train to failure. I still feel "wrecked" after a pull up workout. Lots of pump. Can barely lift my arms etc. So I make sure I hit a point where there is significant muscle building stimulus and fatigue. I just don't fatigue myself all out in one set. That has been a new revelation for me. Helped me get past the 90 pound weighted pull up where I was stuck for almost two months. Excited to continue it!
I train to failure every time. I do 3 full body workouts a week but do a total of 9 sets per body part weekly. Thus, like you said, I ramp up the intensity.
This video is a bless and i fully agree with everything here. Thanks a lot Alex to remind us the good things and to keep using common sense! And i train to (or at least near) failure, on pretty much every lifts but decline bench/squat and RDL
There are some natural bodybuilders in the UK smashing low volume high intensity style training and they do really well in the shows. Check out A.J. Morris, or Ben Howard.
This is the true benefit of conjugate for me, I never have to think about effort level. As long as you have an appropriate number of variations it all shakes out in the end. Was it failure? Was it easy? Doesn't matter. As long as progressive overload is being induced then the intensity was correct.
If you pick a rep range and try to get stronger in that range you'll naturally hit momentary muscular failure. So say BB Incline Bench for a range of 5-8 reps. Once you hit 8 reps add weight to the bar. Your max may be 6 reps with that new weight. Now keep trying until you hit the 8 reps. Rinse and repeat.
If by failure we mean literal failure I don’t like doing that on any exercise under any rep range. Even 0 RIR isn’t always appealing to me I don’t like to strain on curls or squats for example. I’ve somewhat gone away from the idea that getting in the extra most effective reps on every set is important. Generally sets of 12 over 10 with the first set being 3 RIR (meaning you’d put on 65% of 1 RM aka 15 reps if you went all out) and the last set 0-1 seems to be just as good for growth while generating less fatigue and less injury risk. Because 65% of 1 RM is still a challenging weight. To get in more “effective” reps we have our strength work which is by default closer to failure and higher quality in terms of how challenging it is. Leaving 0 RIR on a set of 10 vs maxing out there’s a reason why you can do 1 all the time vs the other needing to be used wisely. Why you would even do that if you don’t care about strength peaking I’d say because high intensity low volume is less fatiguing at a certain point. That’s partly why we do sets of 10-12 opposed to 20-30. On a set of 30 it basically took until the 15th rep to start being challenging. You’re using up way more energy for lower quality volume. This theoretically would appeal to moderate intensity vs high intensity at a certain point. Basically meaning a good balance of volume and intensity is optimal which would explain why ppl who do high intensity and high volume swear that they make better gains than ppl who just stick to moderate intensity
Yo Alex, I am gonna share something weird with you. For the past one year I have religiously incorporated 5 sets of daily regular push ups to my regimen. On top of feet elevated one arm push ups or dumbbell bench press. Start of the year I could do 46 kilo dumbbells for 9-12 reps. Now I can do 100+ full rom push ups. I just did 85-90 percent of me max reps for 5 sets a day. As they got easy to enough till where I felt like it was half my max reps, I did a max out set and push ups increased by 50-100 percent each time. So now at 100+ push ups, I can do 50 kilo dumbbells for 15 reps before failure. That's a huge jump. Considering I barely train dumbbell bench once a month. Also I lost a good 7-8 kilo of bodyweight as well for poor adherence to diet. Basically I wasn't eating anything until 2 A.M in the afternoon. I also had barely 5-6 hours of sleep at night. Now here is my question. I am certainly happy with my newfound strength. However, am I at any risk of tendon tears? Cuz if muscles got stronger with primarily due to high rep work, did the tendons get equally strong as well? Cuz it was high reps mostly.
I think there's 100% more than a couple people that need to drop back a little on training to failure, myself included. I've been trying to wind down on my intensity just a smidge as I keep getting beat up and need deloads often. I just love training to failure, like every set every exercise, mechanical drop sets, weight drop sets, supersets... I just can't help it. I'm nearing elite according to ExRx, and in my sub conscious mind I think harder the better, the more the better... And I have to constantly remind myself no... Ease up, don't get beat up.. I've dropped from 20 down to 18 sets/week/muscle group and dropped intensity down to 1 top set to failure, followed by rpe 9s for next 3-4 sets. Isolations or secondary compounds I go reverse, 2 rpe 9 sets followed by a all out past failure drop/super set. It's almost like a disorder 🤣 I know better yet I constantly over train 🤣 should I jump on gear so my recovery is quicker and I can train more? Jk jk Having said that, I think we aren't too common.. at least the gyms I've been to. Most do bare minimum.
Lately what I've been doing is not going to failure on compound (bench, deadlift, squat) but go to failure on everything else isolation wise and calisthenics. Trying to increase the pullups and pushups. Should I do RIR for the calisthenics too and only cook isolations? So far with going 5 days a week I've been only slightly sore going into the gym and then it goes away after I get warmed up. I know more advanced olympic lifters in the past have said something along the lines of go into the gym lifting as much as you can with as great technique as you can and as fresh as you can be or somethin like that.
I feel like I'm the opposite: the noob who thinks I got reps left in the tank, but don't. It's like your video on the estimated 1 rep maxes. My actual 1 rep max is MUCH less than what I thought. I've had a spotter to test whether my RPE scales are legit and almost every time, my RPE 10 comes sooner than expected (even with adequate rest and whatnot)
I just don’t train hard enough, stopping early once I reach my required rep range. I’ll just go harder, and train between 3-30 reps. That should cover it.
1:12 a friend started training with me and he thought he could only do 10 reps, it was a shoulder press machine so I made him to not stop until I said and he got 25 reps with good form
If training to failure I highly recommend showing love to your weak spots. So if you do high reps for squats and you have back pain. Make sure to give love to the back (I.e good mornings and hyper extensions). Overuse I injuries shouldn’t be overlooked
Man everything you said is what I believe in spot on.
Heavy compounds/main lifts, best to leave 1-2 in the tank for recovery and safety, avoiding form breakdown.
Side lateral raises? Fucking HAMMER THEM OUT till your shoulders fall off.
Agreed. Think you are done with laterals? DO 10 MORE
@@iangraham-white5717 I just use rest pause on lateral rise from 8reps straight to 5,5,5 reps it burns
As a beginner lifter, is it okay to go all-out muscular failure IF I do 10 or below weekly sets?
@@iangraham-white5717 So you're saying it's better for me to progressively overload my RIR from microcycle to microcycle rather than training to failure on all sets even though I'm doing low volume?
@@iangraham-white5717 I wasn't wondering this question until I saw the AlphaDestiny video on failure.
Videos where he rambles >>>> the depth of his knowledge shines thru
The best channel on youtube. As 38 yr old lifter, the training to failure when its not appropriate is definitely a cause for thought, as my body is literally telling me to scale back . 😅 .
I will try incorporating sets to failure in my accessories. Cheers.
Awesome video man!
Alex greetings! I rly didn't understand how reverse-banding a bench press makes it grindier throughout the entire ROM. The bench press is naturally lengthened-overloaded and becomes easier as you go towards the lockout. Now with the reverse bands, it will become even HARDER in the descent (even MORE lengthened-overloaded than it originally was) and even EASIER towards locking out. I'm having difficulty understanding how this makes the entire ROM more challenging so it would qualify as a ''grindable lift''. Thanks!
Pure wisdom
Baby face when you shave lol
I been training like Alex and my overhead press went from 45 to 50kg with light Bands in just 4 Workout next week will be 52.5kg 4 sets of 3 reps will that make me big thx (:
hey alex, do you think that for a novice resting 1’30’’ between squats is too little? i finally arrived to 100 kilos (2 plates basically) and i’m really struggling to complete the 5x5 because i feel i didn’t rest enough
3 mins minimum rest for your main compound lifts .
What is your current weight
182lbs
I really love how your information and training philosophy's change with time and more knowledge. Never married to certain info and continuously give great advice!
There also isn’t universal fitness and health advice that always applies for everyone all the time. Advice changes based on what your audience is
@@DrTopLiftDPT of course bro, that kinda goes without saying tho.
Alex, can i get jacked with heavy adjustable dumbbells and a pullup bar ? I got a total of 90kg in total
@@steffenpetersen2103 i think You can get pretty good results Man, start now it's a ling process anyways, in this time You may get more equipment as well. Good luck and get swole!
@@steffenpetersen2103 yes.
As a 62yo lifter I find that perceived “failure” is somehow regulated by a natural system in the mind that says “you about to snap yo Sh*t!”. This system takes over much more so as you age (almost like a fear) and my advice is to follow it.
@Rozrywka Po Pracy I agree that safe setup is foundational as it always is. I disagree that fear is unnecessary. Call it apprehensiveness if you’re hung up on “fear”. You’re own “no-fear PR” example contradicts yourself and proves my point.
😂😂😂 so true
Depends... If your a 62 year old lifter who doesn't have great technique, have a list of old injuries, then yeah follow it. If you got good technique, know how to move properly, got a rack to secure yourself in, don't have a list of old injuries then I'd so go all in.
Never went to true failure when i was training for strength, with the exception of isolation movements. Now that i've only been training for bodybuilding i go to failure or beyond on everything, but the barbell compounds, not only for safety, but also since i feel my target muscle working less or other muscle's taking over. Plus i have to admit, training to go to failure is much more fun imo.
I've watched you through college before I went to the gym. Now I have a full time job years later and it's amazing to see how much your physique, knowledge your speaking skills have improved. Keep it up Alex we really appreciate your content!
I appreciate you OG, how time flies!! Good stuff on making money & continuing to kick ass in the gym.
Knocked this video out of the park!
Preciate that Geoffrey, your failure content is among the best!
Funny enough my numbers never budged on typical novice programs, until I started the Berserk method from Bald Omni Man. Once I started maxing out my numbers immediately jumped up. Labour, and years of Boxing did a number on my body so I likely just lost confidence in intensity
I just love the simplicity of training with going to failure - I can only recover from doing 2 working sets per exercise, but since I logbook my training, I instantly see if I made progress, without having to deal with RPE (I find this to be quite disturbing)
I also just love how a set to failure feels xD
I've trained to failure less often as I grew more advanced. But I still do an all out set to failure sometimes, nothing quite like it. Just feels good.
The more I tried reaching muscular failure on different lifts the more I learnt how much off my RIR estimations were... I would go as far as calling the muscular failure the only objective method of determing the true end of a set.
The lack of novice fatigue is so true. I remember the first time I got a 275 lb deadlift for a double, I somehow got a triple the day right after.
It's INSANE how much better your recovery is, like I low key miss those days! You can really abuse the body, fatigue hits different.
@@AlexLeonidas yup totally. I'm still very much a novice, deadlift like 315 now, so recovery is still okay but no where near as fast as it was on day 1
I did lateral raises for little under a month everyday when I was around beginner level and increased my strength everyday
@@joojotin facts bro. I barely have any muscle and i can hit equal reps and weight on the same exercises literally a day after if not more.
@@ama7erasu854 it wont work long, its only when you sre still very beginner thay it works.
As someone who regularly lifts to failure on the last set of an exercise, I thought I was closer to failure on my earlier sets than I really was. The feeling of failure on a fresh muscle on the very first set is quite a bit more grindy and painful than on a third or fourth set and I was something like 3-4 reps away on some movements.
Dude, i've been lifting for about a year and a few months, e just love your videos, you are like, the only person i follow on instagram that i don't know. With that said, i'm a brazilian, here, most of my friends don't talk english very well, i'm always sending them your videos, but they don't continue watching because they just don't get the weight numbers, idk, maybe you could put some lyrics with it in kg, so your range over other countries can grow, thanks for the work you put in your videos man !
I almost downvoted this video because you shaved your beard. However I enjoyed the content of this video and that is why I didn’t down vote.
I remember when I was a noob training with just a set of adjustable dumbbells at home I would go to failure on every set good times lmao
I spent a long time with my gains plateaued and I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting bigger. I saw a video like this and it inspired me to grind out each rep until I was about to drop the weights from fatigue. The sudden difference in gains was astonishing.
did you do this every set?
@@09dariii yes. I do every set past failure im 107kg 13% bf.
In my experience Bodyweight Calisthenics also allows you to take as many weekly sets to failure as you can mentally tolerate per movement pattern.
Seeing all this new training footage, it looks like you went super Saiyan. Those gains are insane in the membrane
in all honesty, this RPE shit has killed huge part of training. Maybe training balls to the wall every set is not the most optimal, but i just fucking love simple bestial way of training and just fucking bang those reps until you feel that you will fail the next rep if you try. I stop the set when i know that i will fail the next rep or i know the next rep will be ugly slow grinder
This video has completely clarified training to failure for me. This channel is truely a gem.
I'm happy this finally clarified failure training for you! Cheers Justin
We should pay for this kind of videos, it's almost ridiculous...
Have a question about progressing on neck curls: I am currently at a 25kg (55lb) plate for 5 sets of 40-50 reps, with 1-2 min rest, on the last sets with a little rest-pause. I find it difficult to grab more than one plate on neck curls, mainly because my gym consists of thick bumper plates... Any suggestions to progress?
How thick is your neck currently?
@@zohancargotis2109 I haven't measured for quite a while... I guess a bit over 18inch without pump. But thats really just a guess.
Edit: yeah, about 18inch.
Every time I feel like not working out and I see a new AlphaDestiny video, my motivation skyrockets to 110%. Thank you for being the reason I have started lifting weights and lifting properly. Shoutout from MTL by the way!
Love how RP preached ideas and concepts are being adopted by all these other influencers on UA-cam. It is the most accurate and complete source of information on lifting for strength and size.
Your back has been huge for a minute... but it looks fucking crazy prison fighter movie jacked when you do the wide grip deficit pull ups... keep at them. Great video Alex
Yo I appreciate that John!
Modern data shows beginner, intermediate, and advanced lifters get almost the exact same (negligible difference) stimulus from 3 RIR as 0 RIR, with far less fatigue. If you have a perfect mind-muscle connection, and you KNOW your fatigue, stay at 2-3 RIR.
You explained it very well in the video. I leave reps in the tank for heavy compound lifts, and absolutely demolish isolation exercises
I mostly do compound and I go to a small gym so no spotter so no Fail I also need to take more time off iam Definitely over training
Apparently I had been training like a wuss. Started to train my hack squat from 10 reps to 20 reps this month. Finally I have a taste of failure.
Yep, train to failure with safety measures available. I echo the voices of those who are weary of taking random spots at the gym... A lot more dangerous trusting someone random versus not going to failure in that case.
I mean the fatigue is that I'm 40 and have young kids that wake me up all the time in the middle of the night and I have preexisting neck and back problems and I work a full time job and my house and yard and homestead need a million things done and I do them myself because it's too expensive to hire people and even though I'm a new lifter I go to the gym and work out to failure on every exercise or until I start losing consciousness(blood sugar issues). So I don't really feel bad about trying to make sure that I make the most out of the work I put in. And lots of people might have a different situation, but tons of people got other things going on in life and only have so much fatigue to donate to the gym.
I don't understand one thing: At 5:54 he mentions 5 sets of 10 of dumbbell curls to failure. I know it was just an example, but am I wrong in saying that if you really push until failure it's literally impossible to do 5 sets with the same weight and same reps? In my experience I would be able to do 10 in the first set, then 8 in the second, 6 in the third etc.
i also find higher rep sets are harder to guage failure. like if you reach failure on a set of 6 its pretty obvious, but if you reach failure on a set of 25 its hard to guage if you actually did or if the burn was too intense or your cardio just got gassed but the muscles were good
True that man, and this is why many lifters fall into the junk volume/fake effort trap with higher reps
I simply disagree/ more fatigue doesnt always mean form degradation. Ive been going to failure on all my compounds yet my form stays true. It just depends on the person were talking about
Yo love your content .IF U GET A CHIN IMOLANT U WILL BE HELLA HANDSOME TOO LOL
I'm a novice who basically trains to failure on everything. I train full body 3x a week.
I mostly do reverse pyramids w a top set of 3 on all my big compounds, then drop 20lbs or so and AMRAP my next 2 sets (I'm doing volume/intensity).
Monday is strength day, Wednesday is a light day w a focus on weak points, Friday is volume. I usually do a 3x10, and then the next week I'll do 4x10, then 5x10, and add 5-10 lbs to the lift after completing the 5x10
I'm just throwing on weight every single strength day every single week. I've add 30lbs to my frame and 60lbs + on all my compound lift all in 4 months.
Pretty awesome dude, that's a very non cookie cutter way to train and I'm glad it's working for you as a novice.
@@AlexLeonidas Well the programming I learned from you and EliteFTS combined w a good caloric surplus has let me get where I am. Thanks brother.
Alex’s content has been on fire. Every vid vid lately has led to me tweeting my training. I feel like I’ve hired Alex to refine my training. 💪💪👍
Woohoooo now that's what I'm talking about, Craig! 💪💪
Do you think it’s ever worth it to go all out rpe10 on the max effort method or do u think training maxes r best to be kept around 95%?
I trained that way for years and definitely found it worth it, but moving forward if you can avoid hitting true 100% then that's overall better on recovery/longevity. RPE 9-9.5 is the max you should ever go for singles.
@@AlexLeonidas awesome thanks man I’ll defo bare it in mind 👌
I've been going to failure lately but everything I am doing it's suitable. I remember going for a 2nd deadlift of my max and I got stuck just above the knees. The harder I kept pulling, the more frozen in time my body got, and I held it a few seconds just for the bizarre experience. That 2nd attempted rep made me pay the next few days, but 1 rep of more weight that I had in me would not have.
Jay Vincent would disagree with you. You should have him on your channel and have a discussion on this. He's bringing back one set to failure and has trained over 20,000 people with great results and no injuries while only having them workout 2x a week.
He brings a lot of science to one set to failure. Would be interesting to see this discussion (:
You didn't even watch the video and I'm not going to debate heavy duty training, I discussed that in the end see 14:22
@@AlexLeonidas cool, I like both of you and consider both of your methods of training legit just different systems. Would be cool to see a discussion between you (:
@@oscarperez5539 "Jay vincent would disagree with you" on what?? Did you even watch the video lmao? Why does your original comment read like an advert for his channel? Odd bloke
I saw jay vincent workout, slow tempo concentric (which is a red flag)
Alex’s appearance changes drastically based on the hair to beard ratio
A teen-ager face with the muscles and the hair of a man !
Bro I just go hard period i hit the gym like my life depends on it twice a week with gpp once to two times a week and it works fine …my advice for people who work 40+ hour weeks go hard twice a week and do gpp once a week and u will be fine 💪
I swear, everytime alex shaves his beard he becomes 10 years younger
I train to failure, I like the idea of giving my all for one set and try to improve from last time and its easy to follow
I train to failure just because i enjoy it, it's satisfying, although it's not all the time
The way I train most of the time is always going to failure because if I can Always do 1 more rep or even half a rep more than last time I know I'm Making progress with a given weight.
Definitely cuts out of a lot of confusing for tracking progression
I totally get what you're saying about having safety measures in place to make training failure a lot cleaner and more focused, my bench and squat training got an instant boost in intensity when I upgraded my squat stand to a power rack
yo alpha destiny can you do a video on one set to failure stuff that going on right now on elliot hulse his channel...? keep up the good stuff!
One your best videos man, this is great stuff, really good point on the end range of rows
At nearly 35 my method is fairly simple. Everything is to failure or just shy of it for machines, dumbells cables etc. For heavy low rep stuff I stay shy of failure.
I like these mid length videos. Sometimes the 5 mins feels short and the multi hour ones are tough to fit
So if i do 6-8 weekly sets for my chest, should I go to failure on every set in a session?
broo i always wanted to know about this topic when to train to failure i cant even explain how confused i was thanks a lot for making video on these topics
use to train a little too hard but I've been using Leroy Colberts full body every other day method and I'm leaving like 1 to 2 reps in the tank and my physique is the best it's ever been. I'm 4 yrs into consistently training
love all your videos btw!
I’m getting tired of the chicken and rice? Any good recipes?
I’d say if you’re a beginner try to fail on every exercise cuz u probably don’t have a any idea of what true muscular failure is and feels like. At least this way you’d be training hard enough
Back in the day we were doing rpe 10 every set on every exercise , definitely not optimal 🤣.That was what we were told from the motivational videos don't leave anything in the tank give it all till you collapse...
@Rozrywka Po Pracy let's just say rpe ten was my warm ups 🤣🤣. I was literally crying during sets many times almost fainted and felt like puking (puked few times ). That is why proper advice and guidance must be given from the start .
Your are looking bigger Alex👌
Love your videos always great advice.
Safety Bars when lifting is a must 😉great advice as always my brother 💪🏽
Really awesome video -- love the nuance -- I learned a lot and solidified some concepts that I knew but didn't know well. I Appreciate it! 💪
Could you possibly make an upper body workout?
Yeaaahh
Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Why bother training hard if I cant become the strongest. Im like 6'2 and 280lbs yet I can only do a 1 rm of like 475lbs in the stupid hexbar and only 365lb squats for 6 reps. I either need to get hooked on gear or simply give up, cuz I am the weakest human alive.
That’s better than 1% of population head up bro keep perspective
I used to train to failure on pull ups. Hit a plateau. Stopped doing that. Started working on low rep explosive pull ups (trying to get bar to waist) and then archer pull ups...also not to failure. However, I kept attempting to increase my one rep max on the weighted pull up (so technically this was to failure). Long story short, I broke through the plateau and am back to making gains. Now I'm up to 100 lb max weighted pull up and can do 90 pounds for two reps. Through this progression, I unlocked my muscle up...which I think is responsible for spurring new gains as it allowed me to introduce a different movement pattern and renewed my vigor and excitement for explosive pull ups. I genuinely believe all this was made possible once I stopped trying to go to failure and stopped caring what my max pull ups in a set are. I got into practicing the movement, practicing it weighted, practicing variations. That is where the growth occurred. However, even though I don't really train to failure. I still feel "wrecked" after a pull up workout. Lots of pump. Can barely lift my arms etc. So I make sure I hit a point where there is significant muscle building stimulus and fatigue. I just don't fatigue myself all out in one set. That has been a new revelation for me. Helped me get past the 90 pound weighted pull up where I was stuck for almost two months. Excited to continue it!
I train to failure every time. I do 3 full body workouts a week but do a total of 9 sets per body part weekly. Thus, like you said, I ramp up the intensity.
Best content creator on all of UA-cam! Mate this stuff is gold!
You know its gonna be a banger when you see the red LEDs in the background
I've gone to failure like this for years because I know it's not real failure 😂
Killer tips about going closer to failure in the stretched position of rows. I'm going to try that next time, no more wasted gains 💪
This video is a bless and i fully agree with everything here. Thanks a lot Alex to remind us the good things and to keep using common sense!
And i train to (or at least near) failure, on pretty much every lifts but decline bench/squat and RDL
There are some natural bodybuilders in the UK smashing low volume high intensity style training and they do really well in the shows. Check out A.J. Morris, or Ben Howard.
Damn the Constipation face in this one😂😭
Are you still do concurent training?
Inb4 Greg Doucettes response video
Alex I feel like your face is changing... Is it just me???
Age, homie! Not in my early twenties anymore
This is the true benefit of conjugate for me, I never have to think about effort level. As long as you have an appropriate number of variations it all shakes out in the end. Was it failure? Was it easy? Doesn't matter. As long as progressive overload is being induced then the intensity was correct.
True that man
Heavy GVS in this video! Love it
If you pick a rep range and try to get stronger in that range you'll naturally hit momentary muscular failure.
So say BB Incline Bench for a range of 5-8 reps. Once you hit 8 reps add weight to the bar. Your max may be 6 reps with that new weight. Now keep trying until you hit the 8 reps. Rinse and repeat.
If by failure we mean literal failure I don’t like doing that on any exercise under any rep range. Even 0 RIR isn’t always appealing to me I don’t like to strain on curls or squats for example. I’ve somewhat gone away from the idea that getting in the extra most effective reps on every set is important. Generally sets of 12 over 10 with the first set being 3 RIR (meaning you’d put on 65% of 1 RM aka 15 reps if you went all out) and the last set 0-1 seems to be just as good for growth while generating less fatigue and less injury risk. Because 65% of 1 RM is still a challenging weight. To get in more “effective” reps we have our strength work which is by default closer to failure and higher quality in terms of how challenging it is. Leaving 0 RIR on a set of 10 vs maxing out there’s a reason why you can do 1 all the time vs the other needing to be used wisely. Why you would even do that if you don’t care about strength peaking I’d say because high intensity low volume is less fatiguing at a certain point. That’s partly why we do sets of 10-12 opposed to 20-30. On a set of 30 it basically took until the 15th rep to start being challenging. You’re using up way more energy for lower quality volume. This theoretically would appeal to moderate intensity vs high intensity at a certain point. Basically meaning a good balance of volume and intensity is optimal which would explain why ppl who do high intensity and high volume swear that they make better gains than ppl who just stick to moderate intensity
Yo Alex, I am gonna share something weird with you.
For the past one year I have religiously incorporated 5 sets of daily regular push ups to my regimen. On top of feet elevated one arm push ups or dumbbell bench press.
Start of the year I could do 46 kilo dumbbells for 9-12 reps.
Now I can do 100+ full rom push ups. I just did 85-90 percent of me max reps for 5 sets a day. As they got easy to enough till where I felt like it was half my max reps, I did a max out set and push ups increased by 50-100 percent each time.
So now at 100+ push ups, I can do 50 kilo dumbbells for 15 reps before failure. That's a huge jump. Considering I barely train dumbbell bench once a month.
Also I lost a good 7-8 kilo of bodyweight as well for poor adherence to diet. Basically I wasn't eating anything until 2 A.M in the afternoon. I also had barely 5-6 hours of sleep at night.
Now here is my question. I am certainly happy with my newfound strength. However, am I at any risk of tendon tears? Cuz if muscles got stronger with primarily due to high rep work, did the tendons get equally strong as well?
Cuz it was high reps mostly.
I think there's 100% more than a couple people that need to drop back a little on training to failure, myself included.
I've been trying to wind down on my intensity just a smidge as I keep getting beat up and need deloads often.
I just love training to failure, like every set every exercise, mechanical drop sets, weight drop sets, supersets... I just can't help it. I'm nearing elite according to ExRx, and in my sub conscious mind I think harder the better, the more the better... And I have to constantly remind myself no... Ease up, don't get beat up.. I've dropped from 20 down to 18 sets/week/muscle group and dropped intensity down to 1 top set to failure, followed by rpe 9s for next 3-4 sets. Isolations or secondary compounds I go reverse, 2 rpe 9 sets followed by a all out past failure drop/super set. It's almost like a disorder 🤣 I know better yet I constantly over train 🤣 should I jump on gear so my recovery is quicker and I can train more? Jk jk
Having said that, I think we aren't too common.. at least the gyms I've been to. Most do bare minimum.
Sounds very difficult if you have full time life, you know, 60 HR job, family you love, plus extras, what's your secret?
Lately what I've been doing is not going to failure on compound (bench, deadlift, squat) but go to failure on everything else isolation wise and calisthenics. Trying to increase the pullups and pushups. Should I do RIR for the calisthenics too and only cook isolations? So far with going 5 days a week I've been only slightly sore going into the gym and then it goes away after I get warmed up. I know more advanced olympic lifters in the past have said something along the lines of go into the gym lifting as much as you can with as great technique as you can and as fresh as you can be or somethin like that.
Do you still train neck?
I feel like I'm the opposite: the noob who thinks I got reps left in the tank, but don't. It's like your video on the estimated 1 rep maxes. My actual 1 rep max is MUCH less than what I thought. I've had a spotter to test whether my RPE scales are legit and almost every time, my RPE 10 comes sooner than expected (even with adequate rest and whatnot)
What's ur bf%? If that's what 14-18% is like i want it
About that, yeah!
I just don’t train hard enough, stopping early once I reach my required rep range. I’ll just go harder, and train between 3-30 reps. That should cover it.
@ChubbyDestiny It's really amazing how your cheeks fluff up even though you're at a normal weight. Did you raise your sodium intake after the cut?
1:12 a friend started training with me and he thought he could only do 10 reps, it was a shoulder press machine so I made him to not stop until I said and he got 25 reps with good form
Yeah. I did this with my little brother. I’ll teach you to fail little bro, learning from the best, I’m the biggest failure I know lol
what???.... I just can't understand how people are... it's almost impossible to NOT to train to failure on all sets
If training to failure I highly recommend showing love to your weak spots. So if you do high reps for squats and you have back pain. Make sure to give love to the back (I.e good mornings and hyper extensions). Overuse I injuries shouldn’t be overlooked