The Method How training works
Should you train to failure?
Close to it. One to three reps short builds nearly as much muscle as failure, for less fatigue.
StrongGood evidence, with a caveat worth knowing.
Updated . The Vanguard coaching team.
What most people miss
Failure is the rep you cannot complete. Across the trials, muscle growth rose as sets ended closer to it, while strength gains barely changed.1 Going all the way, though, added at most a trivial amount over stopping short.2
In trained lifters, stopping one or two reps short built the same quadriceps as going to failure: 0.181 cm against 0.182 cm over eight weeks.3
Failure costs more. Bar speed four minutes after a bench session fell 25% after failure sets, 13% at one rep short and 8% at three, though all three had recovered by 48 hours.4
The twist is that most people are not close enough. Across 12 studies, people underpredicted their reps to failure by about one,5 and in 141 people the typical error was about three.6 So the usual mistake is not too much effort. It is stopping well short and calling it hard.
The research
The papers behind the answer
Each one checked against the paper itself. The grade describes the strength of the evidence, never anyone's results.
Robinson, Pelland, Remmert et al., 2024 · Sports Med
Meta-regressions
Muscle growth rose as sets ended closer to failure; strength gains were similar across reps in reserve. Exploratory: reps in reserve were estimated from the studies.
Read the paper by Robinson, Pelland, Remmert et al., 2024 (opens in a new tab)Refalo, Helms, Trexler et al., 2023 · Sports Med
Meta-analysis · 15 studies
Training to failure gave a trivial edge in growth (effect size 0.19); momentary failure against stopping short, 0.12, not significant.
Read the paper by Refalo, Helms, Trexler et al., 2023 (opens in a new tab)Refalo, Helms, Robinson et al., 2024 · J Sports Sci
One leg each · n = 18 trained · 8 weeks
Quadriceps thickness rose 0.181 cm with sets to failure and 0.182 cm stopping one to two reps short.
Read the paper by Refalo, Helms, Robinson et al., 2024 (opens in a new tab)Refalo, Helms, Hamilton et al., 2023 · Sports Med Open
Randomised crossover · n = 24 trained
Bar speed 4 minutes after six bench sets fell 25% after failure, 13% at one short and 8% at three short; the differences were gone by 48 hours.
Read the paper by Refalo, Helms, Hamilton et al., 2023 (opens in a new tab)Halperin, Malleron, Har-Nir et al., 2022 · Sports Med
Scoping review and meta-analysis · 12 studies · 414 people
People underpredicted their reps to failure by 0.95 on average; more accurate closer to failure, with heavier loads and in later sets.
Read the paper by Halperin, Malleron, Har-Nir et al., 2022 (opens in a new tab)Steele, Endres, Fisher et al., 2017 · PeerJ
n = 141
People underpredicted their reps to failure, with a typical error of 2.6 to 3.4 reps.
Read the paper by Steele, Endres, Fisher et al., 2017 (opens in a new tab)
Research describes groups of people. Your coach will tell you how it applies to you.
From the floor
After each set the app asks how many reps you had left, and the target moves a rep closer to failure through the block. If your calls run generous, it reads your max lower.
The Vanguard coaching team