Going to failure VS chasing the pump VS volume

[scw43]

@aleks_p Yep and he’s more science based than any of these guys IMO.

 

[aleks_p]

@scw43 I really feel like I'm missing something when people preach "science based" and then shit on PC. Like, is it bc he smarts off at stupid people and questions? I really don't get it.

 

[tdidymas]

@robrandazzo Unless you're a competitive bodybuilder, just cycle your approach and see what works and get the benefits of different approaches.

A period of a strength focus with lower reps.
A period with hypertrophy focus at medium reps and more volume and just short of failure.
A period with very high reps to failure with rest pause.

 

[beginningtowonder]

@robrandazzo I do PPL rest PPL. Im taking every single move and set to absolute failure till i cant do single rep. Every 8weeks i do deload week. If been going to gym 10 months. I dont know if this is gonna backfire on The future but so far my progress have been AMAZING. I had 12 week diet that ended month ago and dropped 20kg and all that time i had able to progressive overload. End of the diet i noticed that i couldnt keep going anymore so i had to stop it but im very happy with my progress still

But every body responds differently and what is good for me aint maybe good for you. What ever works for you do that. Only trying different methods you find the methofäd that suits for you

 

[sehnsucht9]

@robrandazzo Yeah I'm big on failure. Everything that can safely be taken to failure is taken to failure every set. Less safe movements I usually keep 1 RiR.

I don't do a ton of volume. Usually between 12-15 sets for muscle groups. Only 6 of isolation for bis tris Rear delts, etc.

I grow pretty well.

Really id argue that the pump is best achieved by failure anyway, at least the very best pumps, although they aren't necessarily indicative of muscle growth.

And volume I'd say doesn't matter really if the sets aren't close enough to failure. You could do 50 sets with 10 RiR all day and not grow, or hardly grow.

Studies have been showing recently you can grow from just 2 or 3 sets a week on a muscle group taken to failure. Not necessarily optimally but you can grow.

I just think the closer to failure the more the rep stimulates Hypertrophy. Idc if it generates extra fatigue. I'm not here to worry about fatigue, I'm here to grow. I'd rather get fatigue that can be managed and guarantee that I grow than keep things at an estimated 3 RiR, grow much less, and still have to manage fatigue that you generated, the only difference is this fatigue hardly built any muscle.

 

[g_r_a_c_e]

@robrandazzo How old are you, OP?

In my 10+ years of training the worst mistakes I've made was training in the less than 5RM ranges. All my injuries, shoulder, wrist, neck, were from pushing too low of RMs therefore recruiting other parts of my body, most notably neck and traps, to compensate for moving the weight.

Once I dialed down the weight and shot for at least 6RM on compounds, but most often 8-10, and really feeling the target muscles rather than moving the weight, my physique went through ridiculous transformation in 2 years.

I can honestly say the 10 years prior were mostly wasted trying to shoot for weight targets. Nonetheless you should still be progressively overloading on higher rep ranges for growth.

Typically I run a body part split rotating hitting legs, chest, back twice a week, 2 on 1 off 3 on 1 off. Each session will have only 2 compounds and the rest are pump lifts in the 12-15 rep ranges.

 

[robrandazzo]

@g_r_a_c_e The only exercises where I do low reps are squats and deadlifts. It's usually at least 5 reps. Occasionally less for just testing strength once in awhile.

I've been careful not to ego lift. I mean I'm seeing progress, perhaps a bit slow these past few months. For example, in 2-3 months I've managed to increase my bench reps from 11 reps to 13 reps (benching my bodyweight - 70kg). Feel like that is too slow. So looking to optimise.

My pull ups probably have less progress. Could do 10/11 with perfect form, now 11/12.

 

[remas]

@robrandazzo I don’t go to failure, mostly because it’s hard for me to measure from each workout on my end. Some days my testosterone is higher than others, so it would create an inconsistency if I do partials or an extra failure rep one day and can’t repeat it the next when my testosterone is lower. I won’t go up unless I know for sure my form will be perfect.

 

[heart4youth]

@robrandazzo So I train to failure on the last one or two sets of each exercise, generally. Some days I back off to 2 or 3 rir if I feel like ass. For me, I often hit failure earlier than expected, so I’m like ‘ok I got two more on this set of rows’ then bam I can’t move the bar so if anything I train harder than intended more often than not lol. Anyway, I’m getting results so it is all good. I also feel like if you control the eccentric well going to failure is less dangerous. If you go slow on the way down you can hit failure without needing as much weight through your joints. I see so many people basically dropping eccentrics so they can ego lift more and RIP their joints when they train to failure often. So for me form and controlling eccentrics is the key to good stimulus to fatigue ratio and training to failure.

 

[striveforclarity]

@robrandazzo I try to do 2 main compounds per workout where I try to progressively overload the top sets. The rest of the exercises that session (the isolations) I chase the pump. Seems to be a good balance for me

 

[geo1981]

@robrandazzo Volume and RIR is for strength imo, where you want to get more practice in so that your nervous system gets the pattern down while limiting fatigue so you can get more repetitions. If you're doing a set to maximize hypertrophy stimulus, you go to failure, or as close to failure as you can get safely on a heavy multi-joint movement. Or you can do sets short of failure to begin fatiguing the muscle and leading up to a set to failure, but the end-goal is failure.

If you're relatively untrained or new to a movement pattern, it can pay off well to do more volume short of failure and get good at a movement more quickly, so that it then becomes a more useful hypertrophy tool.