Dr. Layne Norton

I can tell you every single rep of that set was hard and felt uncomfortable, okay?

And so I think people, if they've never trained to failure, it probably is a useful experience to do with a spotter under conditions like be smart, right?

But I do think it is useful.

Now, when it comes to bodybuilding and growing muscle,

Whether you train to failure or stop shy, similar effects.

But you probably want to stop on compounds.

And again, I'm guessing based on some of these meta regressions, I could come out, I could be a little bit off, but I think I'll be pretty darn close.

On compound lifts, big compound lifts, probably need to get within two to three reps of failure to get the maximum benefits.

For isolation, probably one or two.

But for powerlifting, this is where it gets quite different.

And again,

There are bodybuilders who train to failure in every set and are very strong.

There are powerlifters who are very strong who don't look super muscular.

And so people will – there's actually like some people in the scientific community who will say like things like muscle mass doesn't matter for strength.

I think very strongly that they're incorrect.

And there are people who will say, well, strength doesn't matter for hypertrophy.

I think strongly that you're also probably incorrect, okay?

Because all things being equal, let's take somebody who wants to grow muscle.

All things being equal, if they are stronger, they can create more mechanical tension.

They can do the same reps with more weight, okay?