FAILURE IS NOT A DIRTY WORD
We talk a lot about lifting to failure, but just what does it mean to really lift to failure. The full @10RPE. In the gym I see a lot of people going to “failure” who aren’t failing. I also am guilty of this at times. The reason for this problem, I believe, is that we are so trained to win that failure seems wrong to us. We are competitors. We are there to kill. However, the importance of failure simply cannot be overstated.
Let’s start with the basics; what is “failure?” Failure is when you cannot do a single rep more. What is important here is that you realize this ought not be a subjective decision. If you are thinking “ok, that was the last one” and then put the weight down you did NOT go to failure.
Let’s have an example. Take the deadlift. Unlike the bench and the squat, the deadlift is something you can go to failure with if you do not have a spotter. We don’t want you going to absolute physical failure on barbell bench presses without a spotter. I need you
How do you not squeeze out a few more reps?
guys to be busting your ass in the gym, not your windpipe. Ok, so we are going to do a set to failure on the deadlifts. When is the last rep? This is important. We aren’t going to almost failure. We aren’t going to where we believe we are at failure. We are going to lift that weight, with proper form, until the damn thing falls out of our hands. Trust me, if you are deadlifting long enough and with enough reps the bar will let you know when you failed. Get to that point.
As anyone who is following this blog knows, I do not recommend training to failure on every set or even every day. I am usually looking to dial you into around 8-9.5 RPE. But when you start noticing plateaus or if you feel you need a little challenge, pick a lift you can safely go to failure with, put about 50% of your max lift on and lift that weight until your body gives out. Don’t even count the reps. If you really go to failure, you will know when you get there.
Here is Arnold talking about reps until failure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6P2iGguD-g
When you feel you are totally done, do about 10 more reps. Just keep thinking of Arnold saying “cmon, let’s get serious” as calmly as can be while you are already feeling like you are going to pass out.
Preexhaustion
Muscle memory is the real deal and the body is an incredibly efficient machine. If you do a lift enough times your body gets good at it. While it is just as counterintuitive as saying we are looking to fail, we do NOT want our bodies getting good at a lift. The reason we want our bodies to suck at a lift if because we want to expend maximum energy and reap maximum benefit.
As the body trains itself to do a lift, say barbell bench press, you become efficient at doing it. As you become more and more efficient at bench pressing you will receive less and less benefit from doing it. This leaves us with a problem. If lifting makes lifting less impactful what are we supposed to do? Well, we mix things up.
One way to mix them up is through preexhaustion. Are you just running the paces with your lifts? Are you just doing your sets and reps until it
Give it a shot. You will be able to tell the difference pretty quickly.
becomes routine? Ok, well next time you do a lift that is becoming routine, lets stick with bench press, try to use a preexhaustion method. Let’s say you are doing 5 sets of 10. Before your first set take the bar with 25% of your max weight and crank out 75 clean reps. After you get your 75 reps, take a little walk around the bench, stretch a bit and then go into your 5×10 as normal. Your muscle memory will be ready for the 5×10 but the muscles will not. Having already beat up the muscles you are going to be activating all sorts of things that went quiet due to your body becoming more efficient.
Block Out Distractions
One thing I have taken to doing in the gym is wearing a hoodie, especially on leg days. Pulling the hood up and focusing on nothing but the lifts is really helping my game. I feel the mind muscle connection much more, I feel the lift much more and while this sounds odd, with the florescent light, other people lifting, noises and whatnot being muted by the blinders, I find myself caring about the lift more.
Sleeves? GTFO.
The next thing is music. I tried to lift without music and it didn’t work for me. I find very loud and very aggressive music to be best. Yesterday I got rid of my earbuds which always felt like a distraction to wear but I used them because they were sweat resistant and put on my brand new pair of Gripped Fitness Equalizer V.3 headphones.
I was a little nervous ordering these headphones and I went back and forth on them for a while. I didn’t feel 100% comfortable ordering something I had no access to try on. Eventually my earbuds got so annoying that I pulled the trigger and I am glad I did. These headphones are perfect for the gym. They are super clear and super loud in a way that totally enhances the music and the experience at the gym.
The headphones are comfortable and make a tight fit without being too tight. They don’t slide around and are light so you almost
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forget they are there. I did a very long weight lifting session with them and they felt great. Later on I put them through the real test, a full hour of intense intervals on the stair climber. I was a sweaty mess, but the headphones stayed on my head well, were unobtrusive and wiped down easily after.
If you guys are looking for gym headphones I cannot recommend Gripped Fitness Audio’s product more. You can find them on their website https://www.grippedfitnessaudio.com/
If you have any tips and tricks for when you start feeling burnout rather than burn, please list them below along with any questions or comments.
Grind on!