Training close to failure
Finishing most sets with 0-3 reps in reserve, and the last set of safe lifts to failure
Effort in the gym has a research metric: reps in reserve, or RIR. Zero means no more reps were possible; two means two were left in the tank. Lifters who follow this approach end most working sets between zero and three RIR, then push the final set of a low-risk exercise (machines, cables, isolation work) to outright failure. Why bother, if growth looks much the same whether you stop a rep or two short? Because that failure set is how you learn what close actually feels like. Heavy barbell squats and deadlifts stay short of failure since form breaks down first.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Greg DoucetteDoes it
Coach and IFBB pro · Harder Than Last Time
Bands go on squat, bench and deadlift and nowhere else. Everywhere else he says he would rather push a set further with forced reps, a drop set or a superset, and his advice on quad work finishes with training very hard, then resting long enough to give the next effort everything.
Source: Fit World Blog: Q&A With IFBB Pro Greg Doucette - Jeff NippardDoes it
Natural bodybuilder · Science-based lifting
Unless the exercise is a squat or deadlift, he says he almost always takes the last set of each exercise to failure, on the logic that you cannot judge one to three reps in reserve without knowing what zero feels like. Beginners, in his view, should stop a few reps short and work on technique instead.
Source: jeffnippard.com blog: How Hard Should You Train to Build Muscle?“If you never go to failure, you’ll never know what one to three RIR feels like. That’s why, unless I’m doing deadlifts or squats, I almost always take my last set of each exercise to failure.”
jeffnippard.com blog: How Hard Should You Train to Build Muscle? (opens in a new tab) · 13 May 2024 - Sam SulekDoes it
Bodybuilder and YouTuber · Spring Bulk gym vlogs
Sets end when the weight stops moving rather than at a count. On lat pulldowns he starts with the full stack plus extra plates, strips weight as he goes, and says he does not mind finishing barely able to shift the handle.
Source: Fitness Volt: Sam Sulek Full Day Of Eating And Back Workout - Layne NortonRecommends
Nutrition scientist and powerlifter · Biolayne
His training episode argues that proximity to failure matters more than load for hypertrophy. It also argues that volume is dose-dependent without being linear, and that lengthened positions deserve more attention than most lifters give them.
Source: Dr. Layne Norton Podcast: Keys to Building Muscle Part 1, Training
Aimed at the same thing
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