muscle failure
High Intensity Does Not Equal High Risk Of Injury
Every once in a while I come across an article by some well-meaning but ignorant trainer warning people of the dangers of training to failure.
If the point of failure is defined as the moment where it is no longer possible to continue an exercise in the prescribed form, than there is nothing dangerous about training to failure. Unless there is a pre-existing injury or condition which would contraindicate performance of the exercise to begin with, risk of injury only increases when one attempts to continue an exercise beyond the point where they are capable of using proper form.
Due to the greater physical and mental demands of to-failure training, a lower volume of work is necessary. I strongly suspect many of the beliefs about problems with training to failure, such as concerns over injuries, CNS “burnout”, etc., are probably the result of people attempting to train with a high level of intensity without an appropriate reduction in training volume.
I’ve been training people using high intensity training methods for over 15 years, and the majority of my clients train to failure almost all of the time after their first few weeks. None of them have ever been injured as a result, and this includes clients with various lower back problems. There is no merit to the claim that training to failure in and of itself leads to or is associated with injury, and while trainers who say so may mean well, they are mistaken.