Muscle Failure Training
Muscle failure training needs considerable care and attention to detail in order to avoid losing muscle from training to failure. Sports science has now proven that if we train to the point of failure on each set you do you'll lose muscle. You will become catabolic (losing muscle) because of your elevated cortisol levels.
Someone who has been training for less than 6 months, training to the point of failure is not recommended. The reason is that a novice will probably defer to bad form by cheating the rep and possibly cause injury. If you have been training for a few years however, training to the point of failure can be extremely beneficial.
Muscle failure training using correct form will boost your strength, help you to break through training plateaus and achieve the ultimate pump from doing AMAP (as many as possible) with any given weight. A study that was done in 2007 which was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research showed that training to the point of failure will increase motor unit activation plus it speeds up the secretion of HGH and testosterone.
When compared to other conventional methods of training, muscle failure training done selectively has shown to increase muscle mass. Using AMAP also has the advantage of strengthening your mind when training as well as the additional benefit of getting a better return from your growth hormones.
It is important to note when doing AMAP you need to concentrate on your form and stop as soon as your form starts to deteriorate. Motor control and muscle strength will immediately stop when your form changes, which means you will not benefit from doing the movement incorrectly.
Your strength can be used very effectively to train to the point of failure. Let's say that you normally do 4 sets of 5 reps for squats when training legs. If you do AMAP on your last set and you can squeeze out 6 or 7 reps, then you are pushing yourself correctly. If you can do 10 or more reps, then you need to increase the weight you use for 5 reps.
AMAP can also be used to improve muscular endurance at the microscopic level which immediately improves your recovery rate. You just need to select a weight and do AMAP. The next time you train that same body-part, or the next week, you then try to do one or two reps more.
In conclusion muscle failure training can be done very effectively by using AMAP, however it is important to note that that you should NEVER do AMAP for more than four weeks in a row. AMAP can be done using any movement except complex exercises like deadlifts, power cleans, good mornings and overhead squats.
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