I am preferential to training to positive failure, but I am also professionally honest and will readily acknowledge that it is not mandatory or necessary to train this way for strength and muscle gains.
Training to failure does tend to make people more strong, and it is best suited for a lower volume approach, your sets are going to contain more stimulating reps. It is a certain psychological archetype that likes the all out one or two sets to failure approach.
But many people don’t enjoy training that way, and the scientific research does clearly show that you can make equivalent strengthen muscle gains NOT training to failure, and doing multiple sets per exercise works just as well.
Specifically for strength development, stopping sets short of failure can be a more effective programming strategy (can does not mean always).
This is why I say training is a customized process, there are multiple ways to achieve the same goal, what works best for you will be determined by your own experimentation, your genetics, and your psychological personality preferences.
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