Dr. Layne Norton

But that goes to show the power of placebo and the power of belief. When I say placebo, people think what I'm saying is you're lying about your experience. That is not what I'm saying at all. I think your experience is probably quite valid, right? What I'm saying is it may not be due to the thing you think it's due to, but your beliefs about the thing.

And so where I get really focused is let's do the big stuff, right? Because so many people are so worried about little stuff. And one of the things I'll tell them is, Hey, I have no data to back this up, but my intuition tells me that the amount of stress you're spending on these small variables is probably killing you faster than if you got those variables wrong.

And so where I get really focused is let's do the big stuff, right? Because so many people are so worried about little stuff. And one of the things I'll tell them is, Hey, I have no data to back this up, but my intuition tells me that the amount of stress you're spending on these small variables is probably killing you faster than if you got those variables wrong.

And so where I get really focused is let's do the big stuff, right? Because so many people are so worried about little stuff. And one of the things I'll tell them is, Hey, I have no data to back this up, but my intuition tells me that the amount of stress you're spending on these small variables is probably killing you faster than if you got those variables wrong.

And if we could just focus on the big rocks first, and if we can pick up some pebbles after we get the big rocks, great. But don't drop the big rocks trying to pick up pebbles.

And if we could just focus on the big rocks first, and if we can pick up some pebbles after we get the big rocks, great. But don't drop the big rocks trying to pick up pebbles.

And if we could just focus on the big rocks first, and if we can pick up some pebbles after we get the big rocks, great. But don't drop the big rocks trying to pick up pebbles.

Yeah. So you define failure the way I define failure, which is you cannot take the weight through another concentric repetition without breaking form. Um, Reps in reserve would be an RIR of one means you stopped one rep shy of failure. RIR of two, you stopped two reps shy of failure and so on and so forth, right? And so I would define those that way.

Yeah. So you define failure the way I define failure, which is you cannot take the weight through another concentric repetition without breaking form. Um, Reps in reserve would be an RIR of one means you stopped one rep shy of failure. RIR of two, you stopped two reps shy of failure and so on and so forth, right? And so I would define those that way.

Yeah. So you define failure the way I define failure, which is you cannot take the weight through another concentric repetition without breaking form. Um, Reps in reserve would be an RIR of one means you stopped one rep shy of failure. RIR of two, you stopped two reps shy of failure and so on and so forth, right? And so I would define those that way.

This is going to generate a lot of discussion in the comments. I can't wait to see it. So I'm going to cite quite a bit of work from my powerlifting coach, Zach Robinson, because he is at FAU, just finished his PhD and did a lot of meta-regressions and meta-analyses on this exact topic.

This is going to generate a lot of discussion in the comments. I can't wait to see it. So I'm going to cite quite a bit of work from my powerlifting coach, Zach Robinson, because he is at FAU, just finished his PhD and did a lot of meta-regressions and meta-analyses on this exact topic.

This is going to generate a lot of discussion in the comments. I can't wait to see it. So I'm going to cite quite a bit of work from my powerlifting coach, Zach Robinson, because he is at FAU, just finished his PhD and did a lot of meta-regressions and meta-analyses on this exact topic.

So I'll give you the answers first that are straight down the line scientific answers, and then I'll explain things. For muscular hypertrophy... You need to get close to failure, but you probably don't need to train to failure to maximize hypertrophy, but you got to get pretty close. You can be stronger, but to maximize strength, you're probably better off not touching failure very often.

So I'll give you the answers first that are straight down the line scientific answers, and then I'll explain things. For muscular hypertrophy... You need to get close to failure, but you probably don't need to train to failure to maximize hypertrophy, but you got to get pretty close. You can be stronger, but to maximize strength, you're probably better off not touching failure very often.

So I'll give you the answers first that are straight down the line scientific answers, and then I'll explain things. For muscular hypertrophy... You need to get close to failure, but you probably don't need to train to failure to maximize hypertrophy, but you got to get pretty close. You can be stronger, but to maximize strength, you're probably better off not touching failure very often.

So there are a few studies now looking at this, showing that – I think there was one study recently, and I can't remember the exact details, but I remember it being pretty well designed –

So there are a few studies now looking at this, showing that – I think there was one study recently, and I can't remember the exact details, but I remember it being pretty well designed –

So there are a few studies now looking at this, showing that – I think there was one study recently, and I can't remember the exact details, but I remember it being pretty well designed –

And the takeaway was hypertrophy was similar between the groups, but the group that went to failure or stayed a few reps shy of failure actually got stronger compared to the group that was taking most sets to failure.