Sep 16, 2026 · 10 min · 7 segments
Research has shown that pushing your sets to, or close to, failure is one of the strongest drivers for muscle growth. However, lifting or failure is a bit too vague and subjective than “challenging…
And there's a number of reasons why I don't like the idea of pushing to failure.
It's like, yeah, you just take an exercise and you just do it until you can't do it anymore.
But the reason why it's so subjective is not that you're hitting a limitation.
It's why are you hitting that limitation? What's the limiting factor in that? Because a lot of times when we do an exercise, we're not so much pushing as far or as much as we can do, but as much as you're willing to do.
Pushing to the point where things are getting really uncomfortable and you're just like, ah, I'm just going to stop there.
As a coach for over 25 years, I've seen this many times again where people will... do an exercise, I'll watch her do a set.
And I'm like, I know you think it was your physical limit, but it wasn't even close.
It was more of a mental and emotional limit, which isn't to throw a shade on someone.
Because the other side of the coin is lots of times people will say, this is my limit.
Their gym crush walks in the door, they get involved in like a seminar and there's lots of people cheering them on or something like that.
Or they're just listening to a really great amped up workout playlist and suddenly they're getting like 14 reps.
And they're like, holy smokes, it's like, yeah, your mind changed, your emotional state changed, your body was capable of doing it, but it's really hard to tap into those extra repetitions because your mind and your emotional state can hold you back.
So a lot of times, quote unquote, failure is really more of just a mental or emotional limitation.
Plus there are physical limitations that aren't going to help you build muscle.
And there's a number of reasons why I don't like the idea of pushing to failure.
It's like, yeah, you just take an exercise and you just do it until you can't do it anymore.
But the reason why it's so subjective is not that you're hitting a limitation.
It's why are you hitting that limitation? What's the limiting factor in that? Because a lot of times when we do an exercise, we're not so much pushing as far or as much as we can do, but as much as you're willing to do.
Pushing to the point where things are getting really uncomfortable and you're just like, ah, I'm just going to stop there.
As a coach for over 25 years, I've seen this many times again where people will... do an exercise, I'll watch her do a set.
And I'm like, I know you think it was your physical limit, but it wasn't even close.
It was more of a mental and emotional limit, which isn't to throw a shade on someone.
Because the other side of the coin is lots of times people will say, this is my limit.
Their gym crush walks in the door, they get involved in like a seminar and there's lots of people cheering them on or something like that.
Or they're just listening to a really great amped up workout playlist and suddenly they're getting like 14 reps.
And they're like, holy smokes, it's like, yeah, your mind changed, your emotional state changed, your body was capable of doing it, but it's really hard to tap into those extra repetitions because your mind and your emotional state can hold you back.
So a lot of times, quote unquote, failure is really more of just a mental or emotional limitation.
Plus there are physical limitations that aren't going to help you build muscle.
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