Do You NEED to Go to Failure to Stimulate Muscle Growth?

Do You NEED to Go to Failure to Stimulate Muscle Growth?

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You’re in the gym. Muscles burning. You’re on rep 8…9…10…your arms are shaking, face scrunched up, teeth clenched.

Do you have to keep going until you literally can’t move the weight?

Or can you stop just shy of that breaking point—and still grow?

Let’s break it down.

First—What Is “Failure”?

“Failure” means you physically cannot perform another rep with good form.

Your muscles tap out. You try, but nothing happens. The weight wins—for now.

There’s also something called technical failure, where form breaks down before total muscular failure hits. That counts too.

So the question is: do we need to reach that point every time to grow muscle?

The Research Answer: Not Always

Here’s what the evidence shows:

You do not need to hit failure on every set to stimulate muscle growth.

What matters most is getting close enough, within about 1–3 reps from failure, also known as Reps In Reserve (RIR).

Key Studies

  • Sampson & Groeller (2016) found that training close to failure (≈1–3 RIR) produces similar hypertrophy as training to absolute failure.
  • Nóbrega & Libardi (2016) concluded that reaching failure isn’t necessary when training is performed with high effort and sufficient volume.
  • Grgic et al. (2021) showed in a meta-analysis that failure training is not superior—it’s simply a tool, not a rule.

Why Failure Feels Necessary

Because pain feels like proof.

Because emptying the tank feels heroic.

Because stopping with two reps left feels like quitting—even when it isn’t.

But progress isn’t about collapse.

It’s about repeatable domination.

So…Should You Train to Failure?

Here’s the truth:

✅ Occasionally? Yes.

Especially for isolation lifts—curls, lateral raises, pushdowns—where risk is low.

❌ Every set, every workout? No.

That’s a fast track to joint pain, fried recovery, mental burnout, and stalled progress.

The Failure Doctrine

  • Compound lifts: Stop with 1–2 reps in reserve most of the time
  • Isolation lifts: You can go to failure often
  • Last set of the day: Optional war set
  • If recovery tanks: Pull back—don’t double down

Failure doesn’t just tax muscle.

It taxes your joints, nervous system, sleep, mood, and drive.

Train hard, but train smart.

Bottom Line

You don’t need to go to failure to grow.

But you do need to go to war every set.

Challenging. Controlled. Intentional.

Not lifting like a casual.

Not chasing collapse.

Stacking quality reps until the muscle knows it was worked.

Push close. Stay in control. Recover hard.

Then come back next week ready to build again—a little better.

Brick by brick.

-Brickwall

Sources

Grgic, Jozo, et al. “Effects of Resistance Training Performed to Repetition Failure or Non-Failure on Muscular Strength and Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Sports Sciences, vol. 39, no. 4, 2021, pp. 449–460. PubMed, PMID: 34165090. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33497853/

Nóbrega, S. R., and C. A. Libardi. “Is Resistance Training to Muscular Failure Necessary?” Frontiers in Physiology, vol. 7, 2016, article 530. PubMed, PMID: 26838417. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4731492/

Sampson, Jason A., and Herbert Groeller. “Is Repetition Failure Critical for the Development of Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength?” Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, vol. 26, no. 4, 2016, pp. 375–383. PubMed, PMID: 26513015. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25809472/