We’ve all heard the yells and grunts of guys in the gym. Making faces and frowning as their muscles cry out in failure.

I’m about to show you why training to failure is important and how to do it properly.

We’ve all been there. That point of complete exhaustion when your muscles cry Uncle and you can’t lift a single thing.

I was on the incline bench yesterday lifting a lot heavier weight than usual. On my third set, as I was coming down, my muscles reached their limit. If I didn’t have a spotter, 85 lbs dumb bells would’ve come crashing onto my face.

Unlike many novice trainees, I moved on to the next muscle and didn’t continue to pound away at my chest.

If you train to muscle failure, you’ve recruited just about every fiber of muscle you have and they’ve all failed. When your muscles oxidize (do work) they produce lactic acid. When that acid builds up, they don’t move anymore.

When you micro-tear most of the muscle, you’ve given yourself the maximum chance of recovery.

By damaging 60% of the muscle, only 60% will repair itself. But damaging 97% of the muscle will cause 97% to repair itself. The more muscle that repairs itself, the faster you’ll see significant growth. Greater repair means greater growth. The repair may take a little longer, but not significantly longer and you’ll see more muscle.

Your tempo should remain constant throughout the exercise. Your technique shouldn’t waver either. Keep a positive attitude and push through the pain until you can’t perform the exercise anymore. Make sure it’s muscle failure and not joint failure.

This is a great strategy for maximum muscle growth but it is a little dangerous without a spotter. Always get someone to spot you on that last set or two when you know you’re going to give out.

Your spotter needs to be vigilant as to when you’re about to fail and you need to communicate your failure point with your spotter.

No pain, no gain, isn’t exactly correct, so train hard and train smart.