Bodybuilding is a funny thing. Consistency is certainly the key to achieving success, but also, sometimes doing the unexpected can yield even greater results.
How strictly you follow your training program can also have a positive or negative impact upon your results. One such aspect of your training program which can have a tremendous impact upon your results is how you work your repetitions.
What I mean is, there are two things needing consideration:
- Always trying to work with a maximum amount of weight you can use while still fulfilling all of your repetitions in all of your sets — and finding it challenging, and very challenging for the last few reps.
- Knowing when to push it that little bit further, when the opportunity arises.
Of course, the first bullet point is where most of the gains will come from. Muscle failure isn’t necessary to build muscle, but, progressively raising the weight week after week just enough to find it challenging but not so overwhelming it cuts you short of finishing your sets is the key to muscle growth.
Sometimes, however, you will find you have a little extra left in you even after your last few reps of your last set. Do you simply stick to the reps you know you have to do, or do you do more?
Quite often, it will pay to continue to failure. Usually, you will only be able to do one or two extra reps, but the benefits of riding this wave when it comes can provide good results. That’s because it’s unexpected, and the body responds best to unexpected.
As I’ve said in other articles though, consistently training to failure can sometimes put the central nervous system into shock, and can curb muscle growth. This is one type of overtraining, and complete rest or lighter sessions for a while will fix it.