I hear a lot about training to “muscular failure” – is it right for me? Spend enough time at the gym and you’re bound to hear the phrase “training to failure” – but what exactly is it and, perhaps more importantly, how do you know if it’s right for you? By: Dan Salupo The purpose of any sound strength training program is to systematically manipulate certain variables (e.g. sets and reps, weight, amount of rest, etc.) over a planned period of time to create new stimuli for our muscles to adapt to—“a biological process that eventually makes them stronger,” says Iván Chulvi-Medrano, PhD, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport at the University of Valencia, Spain. One popular resistance training modality used to facilitate the muscle strengthening process, referred to as muscular failure , is defined by Chulvi-Medrano as “the point during a resistance exercise in which the activated muscle group is unable to generate enough force to complete a full- repetition due to fatigue...