[ad_1]
No pain, no gain, as the old exercise adage goes. But how much pain do you have to endure to get the benefits of weight training? Fitness experts say it depends on what you’re trying to achieve. For years, some trainers have instructed gym-goers that to get the best results, they need to train “until failure,” meaning until you physically can’t perform another repetition or exercise. However, some recent studies suggest that this extreme diet, when applied to weight training, may only benefit some people.
Michael Zourdos, chair of exercise science and health promotion at Florida Atlantic University, who co-authored the review of 55 studies, said, “If someone wants to increase muscle mass as much as possible, one should consider training to failure. ” Paper on this topic in the journal, Sports Medicine.
Experts debate the need to train to failure for weightlifting success
Zourdos and colleagues found that lifting weights “to failure” can lead to larger muscles, but is not required to increase strength. He said people who work hard, but don’t push themselves to exhaustion, are still likely to improve their health and fitness. “There’s a difference between training for health and training for specific performance benefits,” he said.
Zordos said that for the average person who just wants to increase their fitness levels, it is very easy to achieve results. He said people who workout regularly will benefit from an intense session that falls within five to 10 repetitions to failure rather than training to complete exhaustion. He also said that “training to failure” often comes at a cost, as people working to that standard can become so tired and sore that they skip their next gym session or two.
In extremely rare instances, an overdose can be harmful, leading to a potentially fatal condition called rhabdomyolysis, where damaged muscles begin to break down, potentially leading to kidney damage. James Fisher, a sports science expert and consultant in Southampton, England, said the idea of working out to the point of exhaustion can be discouraging for many people. “We’re really talking about how hard you should work when you go to the gym,” he said, adding that the concept should be interpreted as meaning that people can spend less time in the gym — if they work harder. .
“If you’re short on time, you can push yourself harder, and then you don’t have to work out as long,” he said. Fisher explained that to increase strength, it is important to push your muscles to a certain limit. “If you lift a weight that you can easily lift 10 times or more, you’re never really working hard enough,” he said. “Now, if we increase the weight so that it feels properly hard on the ninth and 10th repetitions, that will benefit your muscle fibers.”
Still, Fischer said the best workouts are ultimately “the ones that people will actually do,” no matter how hard they push themselves. He said that to improve overall health, strength training is probably the best thing people can do for their health, quality of life and longevity. Whatever your fitness goal, the concept of failure training can be incorporated into your workout, Fisher said. Then, he said, people should rest the muscle group they have trained for about two days.
For those with more experience, experts recommend saving failure training for occasional workouts, or on the last set of exercises in your session. “It’s not for every person, every time they workout,” Fisher said. “It’s a tough way to exercise.”
[ad_2]
