Mike Israetel

You can get there with, let's say, 30 sets that are four reps shy of failure. You can get there with 22 sets that are one or two reps shy of failure. And you can get there with 20 sets that are all the way to absolute muscular failure. So if you are really training not so super hard for reps in reserve, you'll have to do substantially more sets to see the same hypertrophy.

But study after study after study illustrates that when you're getting one or two reps away from failure, it is often statistically undifferentiable on raw growth than going all the way to failure. However, the fatigue of true failure training, probably mostly because of that nervous system component, is exponentially higher.

But study after study after study illustrates that when you're getting one or two reps away from failure, it is often statistically undifferentiable on raw growth than going all the way to failure. However, the fatigue of true failure training, probably mostly because of that nervous system component, is exponentially higher.

And so as far as an efficiency and long-term sustainability strategy, training all the way to muscular failure every session as a matter of principle, probably on the margin suboptimal, and you should probably, most of your sessions should be one or two reps in reserve.

And so as far as an efficiency and long-term sustainability strategy, training all the way to muscular failure every session as a matter of principle, probably on the margin suboptimal, and you should probably, most of your sessions should be one or two reps in reserve.

If you're doing dumbbell presses, you finish your last rep and you're like, gone to my head, I could do one or two more, but that's it. Most times it's probably best to stop at that point. Because what you're getting if you go north of that is a 10 to 1 fatigue to stimulus ratio, whereas everything before was like 1 to 1, 2 to 1, 3 to 1, 5 to 1, and all of a sudden it's 10 to 1.

If you're doing dumbbell presses, you finish your last rep and you're like, gone to my head, I could do one or two more, but that's it. Most times it's probably best to stop at that point. Because what you're getting if you go north of that is a 10 to 1 fatigue to stimulus ratio, whereas everything before was like 1 to 1, 2 to 1, 3 to 1, 5 to 1, and all of a sudden it's 10 to 1.

It's a lot of fatigue cost to pay for when in the literature chronically ends up being either tiny, tiny bit better or not better at all.

It's a lot of fatigue cost to pay for when in the literature chronically ends up being either tiny, tiny bit better or not better at all.

I would never know. All sorts of things. I just like to aim for the general at that point. Might as well have a cool story. But yeah, the training to failure, the vast proportion of people that really propose that training to failure is somehow special for results. They didn't reason their way into that. They emoted their way into that.

I would never know. All sorts of things. I just like to aim for the general at that point. Might as well have a cool story. But yeah, the training to failure, the vast proportion of people that really propose that training to failure is somehow special for results. They didn't reason their way into that. They emoted their way into that.

Training to failure is something the 13 to 19-year-old you would have really found a lot of spirit energy in, as I like to say. It's adult male putting on his hat of, I'm a mountain goat.

Training to failure is something the 13 to 19-year-old you would have really found a lot of spirit energy in, as I like to say. It's adult male putting on his hat of, I'm a mountain goat.

and i run into that's what i do i saw an adorable video of some folks that own a few goats and a few dogs their pit bull is like not hiding but sitting under this like little thing and there's like a teenage goat that's looking at him and he jumps up on his hind legs and tries to like hit him in the head and the pit bull backs up and he's like, and the goat just tries to do that again.

and i run into that's what i do i saw an adorable video of some folks that own a few goats and a few dogs their pit bull is like not hiding but sitting under this like little thing and there's like a teenage goat that's looking at him and he jumps up on his hind legs and tries to like hit him in the head and the pit bull backs up and he's like, and the goat just tries to do that again.

He's just trying to get it on. Like he just wants to hit stuff. That's all he wants. And so when you're a young male, when you are prone to wanting success for yourself, you're the type of sort of type A personality that wants to look back on their life

He's just trying to get it on. Like he just wants to hit stuff. That's all he wants. And so when you're a young male, when you are prone to wanting success for yourself, you're the type of sort of type A personality that wants to look back on their life

And if you had to roll the dice and say, the reason you weren't optimally successful is that you work too hard, they'd be like, ah, sweet, whatever. That's kind of cool. But if they saw the dice roll and say, well, the reason you weren't optimally successful in life is because you didn't work hard enough, they would not live with themselves.

And if you had to roll the dice and say, the reason you weren't optimally successful is that you work too hard, they'd be like, ah, sweet, whatever. That's kind of cool. But if they saw the dice roll and say, well, the reason you weren't optimally successful in life is because you didn't work hard enough, they would not live with themselves.

Those kinds of folks generally tend to go to muscular failure for just that spirit energy. It feels right, damn it. And it feels good. And it's purifying almost at an existential level to be able to have given something your all. in the face of challenge, in the face of injury risk, in the face of grotesque pain. And you know this from sport experience.