"rmr" wrote in message
...
NO. This is really bad advice. NEVER lift to failure. You will injure
yourself. Can you imagine a newby trying tto squat to failure. recipe
for a broken back. Or trying a bench press to failure - broken neck!

DONT DO IT.

How about qualifying this with never do it unless you are an
experienced
weightlifter? With the exception of my shoulders and scapular area, I
almost always work to failure and have been for years while under the
tutelage of a very experienced personal trainer.

I'd say never do it until you've been working out a long time, are sure
you have correct form, and in most cases someone around to spot you.

OK, you know more about it than me. If you are an experienced
weightlifter who really knows what you are doing - there may be a
reason to lift to failure.
But this is a weigh****chers newgroup not a weightlifters newsgroup.
With respect you are probably the ONLY competitive lifter here!! For
the rest of us leaving one more rep in the bag is the thing to do.

Ray

Actually I'm not a competitive weightlifter though I was considering the
option and had trained with that intent when I started out. I brought this
up with my trainer yesterday and he reiterated that once you get your form
correct, you are doing yourself a disservice "leaving one more rep in the
bag." Lifting to failure uses the most amount of power units in your
muscles. Leaving that aside for no good reason (like you've got one more
set) is just wasting it because you aren't working your muscles to their
full potential. I don't have the time to **** away at the gym playing
around. I need to push, pull, lift, stretch, and get the heck out of there
and can only do it twice a week.

That said, lifting to failure is only done on the very last set of any given
exercise and should only occur if it doesn't involve breaking form. Also,
one should never attempt to go beyond failure and give yourself plenty of
recovery before working that muscle again. Mind you no one would ever
recommend doing squats to failure.

Not everyone here is a beginner at lifting and I know I'm not the only one
with some experience. If you want to work out to 90-95% there's nothing
wrong with it, but what I don't care for is the blanket statements that are
OPINION based ("never" do this or that). It's just perpetuating myth.
--
the volleyballchick