A claim you hear on longevity podcasts

Can you stop short of failure on big lifts and still gain?

Strong consensus for. Of 8 studies that test it, 5 agree and 3 partly agree.

Best for:
Lifters weighing training to failure on squats and other big lifts
Price:
Free to read, with every receipt. Pro is $9 a month or $79 a year and adds AI Ask.

The claim checked: On big compound lifts you do not need to go to failure to get the benefits Hear it at 47:06

What do the studies say?

Strong consensus for

Failure means lifting until you cannot do one more rep in good form. Five of eight studies agree that stopping short gives similar gains. A pooled analysis, which adds up many smaller trials, found training to or not to failure may produce similar increases in strength and size. Another found non-failure better for dynamic strength. Three partly agree. One pooled analysis found muscle grows before failure but could not say how close to failure is best. Another found more fatigue within a set may help size. Most tested young adults, and few tested compound lifts alone.

Computed from 8 studies that test this point, each judged by two readers, in full. 10 more studies are waiting for a full read and do not count yet.

What was said on the podcast?

“But again, in those big compound lifts, it's not really even necessary to do that to go all the way to failure to see those benefits.”
Jeff Cavaliere, a guest on The Drive · 414 ‒ Resistance training as we age: exercise selection, training intensity, and much more · 47:06 on YouTube
Episode check Lift fewer, harder sets as you age, the episode says. Of four studies, none backs it and two favor more volume. 5 claims checked against 34 studies · 25 chapters not checked yet See the whole episode →
The point checked Strong consensus for

On big compound lifts, stopping short of failure brings the same strength and muscle benefits as going to failure

Agree 5

pooled analysis · 2022 · landmark

“The findings of this review suggest that training to or not to muscle failure may produce similar increases in muscular strength and muscle size.”

Effects of resistance training performed to repetition failure or non-failure on muscular strength and hypertrophy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Sport Health Sci
Who: Healthy young adults, trained and untrained, in randomized trials comparing training to failure with non-failure training
PMID 33497853

other primary study · 2020

“This study shows that resistance training to muscle failure or non-failure is similarly effective in promoting increases in muscle hypertrophy, strength, pennation angle and fascicle length, while also resulting in similar muscle activation in trained individuals.”

Effect of resistance training to muscle failure vs non-failure on strength, hypertrophy and muscle architecture in trained individuals. Biol Sport
Who: Resistance-trained men aged about 23 years (RT experience 5.1 +/- 2.6 years), each leg randomly allocated to failure or non-failure
PMID 33343066

other primary study · 2024

“Increases in quadriceps thickness (average of RF and VL) from pre- to post-intervention were similar for FAIL [0.181 cm (HDI: 0.119 to 0.243)] and RIR [0.182 cm (HDI: 0.115 to 0.247)].”

Similar muscle hypertrophy following eight weeks of resistance training to momentary muscular failure or with repetitions-in-reserve in resistance-trained individuals. J Sports Sci
Who: Resistance-trained men and women aged 18-40 with at least three years of experience (12 men, 6 women analyzed; mean experience about 7.5-7.8 years); within-participant design with limbs randomized
PMID 38393985

systematic review · 2026

“The meta-analysis suggests that resistance training performed to non-failure demonstrates superior efficacy in improving dynamic strength compared with training to failure, while no significant differences were observed for isometric strength, muscular hypertrophy, muscular endurance, or muscular power.”

Effects of resistance training performed to repetition non-failure on exercise performance in healthy adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil
Who: Healthy adults aged 18 years or older, mean ages 19.0-67.6 years; 203 trained, 353 untrained
PMID 42410632

Show 1 more Show fewer

controlled trial · 2020

“Further, moderate VL thresholds (i.e. VL10 and VL20) should be chosen to maximize athletic performance, since VL0 seemed to induce levels of fatigue that were too low to maximize adaptations, while VL40 did not produce further strength gains compared to VL10 and VL20.”

Velocity Loss as a Critical Variable Determining the Adaptations to Strength Training. Med Sci Sports Exerc
Who: Young resistance-trained men (24.1 +/- 4.3 years, 1.5 to 4 years of training), full squat only
PMID 32049887

Partly agree 3

controlled trial · 2023

“Our study was also only 6 weeks in duration (5 weeks of progressive overload and a 1‐week deload), thus perhaps not allowing enough time for hypertrophy adaptations to occur in a well‐trained population.”

The effects of resistance training to near failure on strength, hypertrophy, and motor unit adaptations in previously trained adults. Physiol Rep
Who: 19 resistance-trained college-aged adults (11 men, 8 women; about 24 years old; mean 6 years of training), unsupervised training
PMID 37144554

pooled analysis · 2023 · landmark

“The amount of VL experienced during resistance training does not seem to affect strength and muscle endurance gains whereas higher VL may be superior when the aim is to induce hypertrophy.”

The Acute and Chronic Effects of Implementing Velocity Loss Thresholds During Resistance Training: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Critical Evaluation of the Literature. Sports Med
Who: Mostly young resistance-trained or physically active men in velocity-loss studies, mainly back squat (26 studies) and bench press (12 studies), largely on Smith machines
PMID 36178597

pooled analysis · 2023

“Overall, this analysis demonstrated that skeletal muscle can be effectively stimulated to hypertrophy prior to reaching momentary muscular failure during RT, but because of methodological limitations, it is difficult to discern the proximity-to-failure that would theoretically maximise muscle hypertrophy.”

Influence of Resistance Training Proximity-to-Failure on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis. Sports Med
Who: Apparently healthy adults of any age and training status in randomised trials; most study groups had a mean age in the twenties, with one older sample (mean 65.5 years)
PMID 36334240

Disagree 0· none of the studies we read

More on exercise and muscle

Strong consensus for Below-average vs above-average VO2 max for age carries a 1.41 hazard ratio, the same as smoking Read the check → Strong consensus for Every 10 kg less grip strength means about 30% higher all-cause mortality Read the check → Strong consensus for HIIT makes the body build healthier, more efficient mitochondria Read the check →

All checked claims · How Precis checks a claim · Report an error

The Precis Weekly

Get each new check by email.

One email a week with the claims and episodes we checked, what the studies found and the minute each claim was said.

Free. Unsubscribe anytime.