Strength Strength Training Everything You Need to Know About Muscle Failure Is exhausting a muscle the best way to build it? By Paige Waehner facebook linkedin Paige Waehner is a certified personal trainer, author of the "Guide to Become a Personal Trainer"; and co-author of "The Buzz on Exercise & Fitness." Learn about our editorial process Paige Waehner Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Richard Fogoros, MD on February 08, 2019 Richard N. Fogoros, MD, is a retired professor of medicine and board-certified internal medicine physician and cardiologist. He is Verywell's Senior Medical Advisor. Learn about our Review Board Richard Fogoros, MD Updated on April 05, 2020 Print Getty Images / Westend61 Muscle failure refers to lifting weights to the point where a muscle can no longer contract concentrically. That's a fancy way of saying that the muscle is simply unable to perform another repetition. The way the body builds muscle is by lifting more weight than it can handle. We overload the muscle so that it will adapt by growing more and bigger muscle fibers (to help handle that added weight). The ultimate form of overload is to train to momentary muscle failure, which recruits the maximum number of motor units and muscle fibers. That is why many bodybuilders use this kind of training. But there's no consensus that this is always the best way to build muscle. How to Do It The idea is to do as many repetitions as you can, with good form, until you're tired. Then, keep going until you can barely get through the last rep—a push that will feel uncomfortable. You don't want to drop a weight on your head, for example, but recognize when your form is slipping and stop at that point. Training to Failure Most regular exercisers don't train to complete failure. Those who do are usually bodybuilders, powerlifters, people involved in competitive strength training, or people with the specific goal of building larger muscles. While it's important to lift heavy weights, whether you're a man or woman, a bodybuilder or not, training to failure isn't always the way to go. It has its drawbacks: Training to failure hurts. It's really hard to reach muscle failure every single time you do an exercise. It taxes your body and your mind, and it's very hard to push yourself like that unless you're motivated by a competition. It can lead to overuse injuries. Doing this over and over can put your body at risk for injury and overtraining. It requires more rest time. The harder you work, the more rest you need and the less exercise you can do in general. That means you're not working out as much—a hindrance since volume is an important part of any strength program. It may not be necessary. The jury is still out as to whether going to complete failure is really the best way to build bigger muscles. Muscle Building Vs. Strength Training How to Add It to Your Routine Instead of training to muscle failure all the time, consider doing it on some exercises or during some workouts. This can be a way to periodize your workouts and focus on cycles where you work on training intensity and lifting to failure and then cycles where you focus more on volume and avoid working to complete failure. You can also weave failure training into regular workouts by picking a muscle group or an exercise (such as push-ups, biceps curls, or triceps dips) and seeing how far you can go. But remember that even if you don't lift to failure, you're still doing something good for your body when you lift weights. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Get exercise tips to make your workouts less work and more fun. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Fit uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Johnson TL, Klueber KM. Skeletal muscle following tonic overload: functional and structural analysis. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1991;23(1):49-55. PMID: 1997813 Nóbrega SR, Libardi CA. Is Resistance Training to Muscular Failure Necessary? Front Physiol. 2016;7:10. doi:10.3389/fphys.2016.00010 Additional Reading Kravitz, L. Training to Failure. Adapted from Wimore, J.H., & Costill, D.L. 204. Physiology of Sport and Exercise (3rd ed.). Champaign, IL:Human Kinetics, 2004. Willardson JM. The Application of Training to Failure in Periodized Multiple-set Resistance Exercise Programs. J Strength Cond Res. 2007;21(2):628-31.