Failure is growth. Do it smart.
Failure is a word we often dread. We think it means we’re forever set back or even lacking in worth, but the fact is failure means growth, learning. Failure is not a single event; it’s a process. You’re constantly failing as you grow into greatness, the greatness you envision for yourself, your dream, your ambition. You fail because you simply learn. Sometimes you learn the soft way, sometimes you learn the hard way, so it feels like a hard fail. Either way, you need to give space for wisdom when there is failure and learning. When you go through challenges, there’s a phase of pushing through, of pain and struggle, so there has to be a phase of pausing and recovering. The more intense the challenge, the longer the recovery and rest. That’s where the growth and wisdom is.
Now, whether in life or in the gym, the principle is the same. You want to train to fail. You want to push yourself to your limits so that you can break past them, always seeking to go a little further. Which means you’re bringing pain and struggle, but that’s what you’re seeking, because you know the reward you reap is growth. You’re cultivating greatness. But in the same way, as you train hard, you have to remember to give space and time for wisdom and rest. If you push to failure, it’s demanding on your body, so you need to make sure you work as hard as you work smart. You need to allow for rest. Too much hard work is physically and mentally taxing and can lead to overtraining. There’s no growth in overtraining. So, the question is, should you push yourself to failure at every set? How much is too much? Should you really take it to the very last repetition where you can barely lift? If you ask me, I’ll say yes, because it’s a great way to measure your growth. Every time you’re able to add a rep, you’re growing in strength, and that’s a reflection of your dedication. That said, pushing to the very limit has to be done carefully, with heavy emphasis on proper form to avoid injury. There’s no point in doing more reps if you’re gonna sacrifice your technique, exhausting yourself beyond your capabilities just to say “I did 3 more”. You didn’t. You just got closer to pulling or breaking something. Especially when you train heavy, you want to be extra mindful about technique and pushing to failure, because of how taxing it is on the body and how much you increase the risk of injuring yourself. Generally, I recommend training in 6-8 week periods where you shift between heavier and lighter. For details on that, you can check out my phase 1 natural muscle building program here: https://ryzeprojects.com/store/p/natural-muscle-building-with-weights-phase-1.
Training in phases a.k.a. periods allows you to keep growing and breaking past any plateaus while giving your body a break especially from heavy lifting. Scientifically, it’s been shown that the best strategy for muscle growth and strength is to train to failure or close to it (see links below). Both methods have shown benefits for athletes seeking gains and improvement. This means you can either push to the limit or leave a couple of reps before failure and still achieve great results, as long as you keep training volume high with more sets and reps in total, depending on your goals. I normally follow the rule of training to technical failure, as opposed to absolute failure, which simply means going to the last repetition where you can still lift with proper form. Once you can’t anymore, you stop. Then it’s a matter of selecting the proper weight for the following set while getting enough rest time to allow yourself to stay within the desired rep range for the exercise. This is the best way to balance pushing yourself to the limit without going overboard and into the territory of injuries. I love training to failure. That’s where I find the most growth in my training. If you feel like that’s the best way you show up for training, then do it. Just remember to focus on excellent form as well as proper rest.
P.S. Isn’t it funny how we seek struggle and pain at the gym, but we tend to fear it in life? What if life on Earth is a gym, meant to give you the opportunity for growth, the opportunity for greatness, through challenges and struggle? How you handle challenges in life is the same as the way you handle them in the gym. You can either go about it with complaining and half-committed work, or with focus, discipline and grace. One of the most inspiring things I’ve seen is when people can handle challenges with quiet strength. They look unshaken and accepting despite the most difficult struggles of life. That’s powerful. You can choose for yourself how you want to go about it, but there’s only one of those ways that leads you to becoming your greatest self, fully grown and self-realized.
Fitness links:
My 6 week natural muscle building program with weights: https://ryzeprojects.com/store/p/natural-muscle-building-with-weights-phase-1
For those who like training at home, sign up to my complete home workouts & coaching with bands: https://ryzeprojects.com/memberships
Free home workouts: https://ryzeprojects.com/mindful-muscle-training/mindfulmuscletraining
Sources covering the science behind training to failure:
