Not Training to Muscle Failure May Enhance Muscle Endurance

Training strategy needs to match training objectives.

By Shirley Archer-Eichenberger, JD, MA
Aug 10, 2020

Updated on: August 5, 2020

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In another study examining weight training protocols, researchers from Brazil and the United States found that not performing repetitions to failure—i.e. stopping short of that—may be more effective at increasing muscle size (in the vastus lateralis) and muscle endurance performance in untrained individuals than training to failure.

The study is available in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (2020; 34 [5], 1237–48).

IDEA Fitness Journal SPRINT – August 2020

Shirley Archer-Eichenberger, JD, MA

Shirley Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.

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