Positive failure is a contradictory term, if there ever was one. When I mention this to a new client, they look at me strangely, as failure in most cases is seen as a negative. Only in the crazy world of bodybuilding can failure be positive, sometimes I forget it given the amount of time I have been rocking the iron.

But it’s true, failing a set of work lets you know where you are in strength and lets you know you’ve worked your muscles to a point where they failed, being temporarily unable to do another rep, making inroads into your muscles. existing muscles. levels of strength, endurance, and the ability of your muscles to handle the work assigned to them. Muscles have two options, to die under the coming attacks or to grow bigger and stronger to handle the loads placed on them, trying to overcompensate because basically the body is lazy and more interested in preservation and conservation, resentful of being pushed beyond your comfort zone.

This can be a tricky balancing act that, if mishandled, can lead to overtraining, the body’s last line of defense to pull you back. Training for positive failure depends on a combination of factors, the number of sets, body part splits, how often a given muscle is trained, and the definition of failure.

We hear the terms positive failure and absolute failure, these are not interchangeable and knowing the difference is vital for continued progress. As you may have guessed by now, outright failure is much more taxing on your body and should be used sparingly.

Positive failure occurs when a point is reached during a set of repetitions where the muscles cannot do another repetition without breaking good form, although loosening form a bit would still be considered a positive failure, but total abandonment of proper form and excessive use of bodily English would not be. In most cases, this is enough to induce a response from the muscles, as the body does not see this as a threat, but simply as hard work within the body’s ability to recover and compensate the next time it is. submitted to it, ready to grow a little bigger and stronger.

This relationship of training, recovery and compensation must be respected and not taken for granted or taken advantage of or, like any relationship, it will explode in your face in the form of overtraining, a negative failure where only stagnation and regression reside.

Absolute failure, on the other hand, is like a lethal weapon that in the wrong hands can be disastrous, resulting in chronic overuse injuries and terminal overtraining. Absolute failure occurs when intensity principles are added to a set at the end when another rep is not possible in reasonably good form and some means of deception are employed to keep the muscle working in the form of forced reps, drop sets, lightly . pausing for a few seconds, partial repetitions at the strongest leverage point of the muscles, etc.

The fallacy with the notion of absolute failure is that there is no such thing, let me repeat this so you don’t miss it, there is no absolute failure because with a little rest the muscles are able to move a load of work, even if they are It is about a reduced amount of workload and this is where people get into trouble, believing that they will reach a point where the muscles will be totally unable to work and will never find it, leading them to do a lot more work than necessary and will only cause damage. .

You see ignorance of this in all gyms, someone will do a set and if it looks like the person is about to fail, they will jump in and encourage them to do a few more reps, even grabbing onto the bar and forcing them to do it. numerous forced reps before allowing the person to finish the set.

I remember the time when I was doing wide grip pulldowns and when I was getting to the end of the set, someone came up to me and pulled the bar, yelling at me to do a few more reps, ruining the last rep and pissing me off. .

I informed him that it was inappropriate to jump on someone’s set without being asked and without knowing the person’s current intensity tolerance level. He walked away looking dazed, thinking that one’s training tolerance has limitations and fluctuations that need to be monitored and modulated.

My own brother discovered this the hard way. On leg training day she decided to give her thighs a refresher. He did set after set of non-blocking squats with a short break in between. I lost count of how many sets he did, but never found a point where he couldn’t do another set, but an hour later he threw up every half hour in the half hour for the next twelve hours. By the time it was over, it looked like death had heated up and he missed the next week of training and struggled with his workouts the following week, lesson learned.

To say that we were tough would be accurate, but it takes more than the ability to push your body to the extreme, you need to understand how difficult is difficult enough, a lesson my brother will never forget.

Another example is the time long before our training runs that I decided to put together the ultimate compound set workouts operating on the theory of more is better. I put together the list of most effective exercises for each muscle group, at least ten exercises in a row. I laid out the master plan to my brother and we proceeded.

The intensity was unreal and the pump was incredible, leaving us sore for days. Now, in my experience, you shouldn’t have to wait to start seeing the results of your training, this is not magic, but simple overload and compensation. The first week passed and nothing, the second week passed and still nothing. Even considering my young age at the time, I knew that continuing would be foolhardy and, more importantly, a waste of effort.

I was amazed that the work on the muscles had no effect. We could complete all sets, the muscles seemed to be able to handle the work. It was here that I realized that the ability to do the job did not ensure success and that there had to be a turning point where more is not better, but more is more. I took a good look at the workouts and started cutting back on the number of linked exercises in a row, calculating different amounts for each muscle group based on their size and the training participation function as a whole.

After these adjustments were made, we started training again and immediately saw results even though the workouts compared to what we had been doing seemed tame and not that difficult, learning that less is more or more exactly the correct amount was enough. to push the muscles. without overwhelming them.

Therefore, your goal in training is to train to positive failure in good shape most of the time with short periods of time using intensity principles to bring out only stubborn or difficult muscle groups, saving the most intense workout for a longer period of time. shocking effect to shake up new growth without abusing this and undoing the good benefits of leading to outright failure, knowing when to end a series.