Does training to failure build better muscle strength?

When you lift weights, you do repetitions, called reps, and groups of reps called sets.

Training to failure means doing reps until your muscles are too tired to do one more.

Some people think working this hard must be the best way to get stronger.

Scientists looked at many studies to see if that is true.

They found that stopping a little earlier, when you could still do one to three more reps, can build just as much muscle.

Training to failure makes you more tired and you may need longer to recover.

It can also be risky on tricky exercises like squats, where your form can get sloppy when tired.

For most people, a good plan is to finish sets when they feel very hard, but before total exhaustion.

You do not need to push every set to failure to get stronger.