Hey guys im wondering while training what way is it better to train and gain size .Training till failure or just go by reps really want to know because im serious about muscle gains and want to make more progress then i did last year because i have gained more knowlegde from bb these couple of months

If you reach 8 reps on your set and you feel like you can go for 12 reps then you push to that instead of stopping. This comes down to how much weight you are using. If you want to reach 8-10 reps that is a good scheme to be in as long as the weight is appropriate for those reps. Going till failure is not something I recommend on all sets and exercises. Because this leaves a VERY uneven distribution of the reps, as you are using different reps all the time. Therefore it is important that you find the weight that you need to use for the rep scheme you are aiming for. So this means that you need to find that "golden middle ground", not to much weight and not to little weight.

i have to go to the 12-20 rep range atm because i just came back to the gym from injury have to push weight back up so ill just try do 1 to 2 reps before failure .

This is highly controversial but I would say stick to your plan. Progressive overload is the most important factor to gaining muscle. The way I see it, if you do 5 sets of 10 reps with 100 lbs now, and after 3 months you are able to do 5 sets of 10 reps with 140 lbs, you will have gained muscle. Simple.

If you do your 10 reps and decide to go to failure (13 reps) you are no longer sticking to your pre-made plan.

Another way to progress is to do 5 sets of 15 reps with 100lbs. You will gain muscle with this method as well. So decide how you want to progress. Advanced lifters dont just do what they feel like doing at the gym. They decide their working sets/reps and weights a month in advance and then they stick to the plan they made.

Not to mention that going to failure really inhibits your recovery process and energy levels. I would go near failure but without ever reaching it.

Kostas

I agree with what William and Kostas are saying. You don't have to lift to failure to gain muscle, you just need to lift heavy enough to where that last rep you start to struggle. Many people will say you have to lift heavy with low reps and others will say to lift light with high reps. Truth is heavy, light, failure or not will all build muscle and it is best to train according to your goals but I recc utilizing all ways.

Another thing to keep in mind is to always keep your muscles guessing. For instance today I did my 1000 rep shoulder/arm workout. I do this twice a month and it's absolute hell but it definitely works. Not a lot of people have experienced what true muscle failure is. I'm almost 100% certain when I get my Muscle Genes report back it will say I respond to high volume training.

I was thinking the same thing @CDNrower.

If you want your body to change, you have to change what you are doing to it from time to time as well. But only occasionaly, you don't want to be switching things up every single day for example.

Jordan

Indeed! Regardless of what program you find, give yourself an honest 8-12 months on it with 100% effort and progressive overload and your transformation will be absolutely insane.

Speaking of progressive overload, a lot of people go about it wrong and just give up thinking they're not getting stronger. Buy yourself a fractional plate kit and bring it to the gym with you. If you add just 1 lb to your bench press each week, that's a 52 lb increase over a year. So if you're stuck at 185 for reps and want to get to 225, there's a very pleasant way to reach it almost assuring you no risk of injury as well. For compound lifts like squats or deadlifts it all comes down to your goals and how much you're willing to risk. We have this powerlifter at our gym that is just insane strong. He was next to me squatting 4 plates for low reps and he watched me as I squatted 185 lbs for 20 honest full range reps. I'll never forget what he said... "What I do is hard, what you do is impressive."

So again it depends on your definition of strong.

Bojan,

I think it is a convergence of all the previous posts. Muscles grow in size and strength when they are forced to adapt. This adaptation is initiated thru progressive overload. Progressive overload can be accomplished either by increasing the weight or increasing the volume of work a muscle must do. They both lead to size and strength gains but what routine - high intensity/short rest periods or training until failure - depends on your goals and what your body adapts to best.

Based on my musclegenes report, I respond best to high intensity training with short rest intervals. As such, I don't train to failure and while I do increase the weight I do so in small increments because I am doing supersets and giant sets exclusively. If you adapt better to traditional progressive overload with average volume and rest periods, then training to failure may be a better option and the increase in poundages can be bigger as you are getting more rest between sets. The key point is there is no best way as everyone is unique and responds to weight training differently. You need to find the technique that works best for you and build from there.

John

sweet thank you very much for the responces for my reps should i do it slowly or just at a normal speed . Slow as in 3 sec pos 3 sec neg .

For muscle growth you use a slow tempo so that you get more time under tension.