Do you exercise properly?

For the vast majority of people the best way to exercise effectively is most likely to be finding a physical activity they love, have a strong desire to do very regularly and ideally be something where they will have continual goals to do better. For some people going to a gym will be that thing for them but most people are better suited to falling in love with cycling, dancing, skating, football, a martial art etc.

Training to failure = is repeating an exercise to the point of momentary muscular failure, i.e. the point where the neuromuscular system can no longer produce adequate force to overcome a specific workload.

It came into focus from bodybuilding where it has a lot of potential benefit but for most training it has a very negative effect.

If you want to progress at any level you should do the minimum required dose.

....... wrote: »

So it means to do it til you cant do it anymore?

Correct!

....... wrote: »

So it means to do it til you cant do it anymore?

Yep. When you're at the point where you're not able to complete another rep.

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

There are probably a lot of people who don't think you're training hard until you go to failure.

Honestly I would have been in that bracket as a younger man, but I have a lot of years of training, experience and more importantly overtraining (and other) injuries keeping that in check.

I certainly do train to failure some of the time, but absolutely not all of the time.

Sometimes if the body is sore and the motivation is lacking, just literally making it into the gym and doing some supplmentary work is a win. When the mind and body are in that state, training to failure isn't even an option for me.

I think you're overthinking the training to failure thing. It can be a good thing when used properly.

If you are training so hard in every single session to the point that you are unable to recover properly for all of your subsequent sessions, then it's a problem. Unable to recover = too sore and/or fatigued to train. This would apply to anything from lifting to running.

If you push yourself hard, but not as hard as possible, i.e. you leave the gym wrecked but you're fine a day or two later, then it's probably fine and nothing to worry about.

....... wrote: »

So its not just "do it til you cant do it anymore"?

Its do it til you cant do it anymore and cant train as a result for a few days?

It depends on the exercise. Some are more taxing and if you go to failure across a couple of sets regularly on compound movements, it won't be long before your subsequent training days take a hit.


It's not really an issue with movements that use fewer muscles.

It's all about recovery before next training session.

If im training in sets of up to 5 reps i will try avoid going to failure except maybe on the last set or two due to fatigue. If im going for 10+ reps i go to failure very frequently.

freemenfitness wrote: »

For sure but for many whom I have heard say this often they cannot do most basic movements and often lack muscle.

I think you are misunderstanding me. This is the part I replied to.

The thing is not many women are interested in these things yet the most common thing I hear from women is "I want to get toned" which the full sentence is build muscle tone.

"I want to get toned" isn't technically accurate, but every one knows what's implied - lose fat, build muscle or some combination of the two.
Saying "the full sentence is build muscle tone" is not more accurate.

freemenfitness wrote: »

For sure but for many whom I have heard say this often they cannot do most basic movements and often lack muscle. I am not saying they need to spend years bodybuilding but if your looking to loose fat and have no muscle to define then your not going to have a big job ahead.

When people, especially women, speak about toning up they mean that they are at a reasonably healthy body weight and don't have a weightloss goal. But want to lose the too soft appearance of their limbs and stomach and lift their butt. This usually means they have a small layer of excess body fat and weak (but still existing) muscles. So they want to lose some body fat while building the muscles. And there are many, many ways to achieve that goal. First off, if they have excess body fat, they need a calorie deficit. Whether that means increasing activity or altering their diet will vary but they are unlikely to lose fat otherwise. It certainly means keeping on top of your diet and not assuming a bit of exercise justifies eating a pizza, big bowl of ice-cream and having a few glasses of wine.

While building muscle can be achieved in a lot of ways. I never set out to build muscles but a side effect of the hobby I love is that I have a strong core and increasingly well defined calves, quads, glutes, abs, biceps and triceps. Alongside good aerobic fitness and decent and increasing endurance. I don't work at any of those, just keep pushing myself to meet the goals I have for my hobby. And by the time I've succeeded at a goal I already have 5 more, so that actual me might eventually get as good as imaginary me. I would honestly never be able to dedicate myself to the look of my body or even being a little bit more fit. And tbh, I think that's true of most of the population. It's a nebulous goal and a lot of effort during time I could spend doing things I enjoy more. It's why so many people have a desire to tone up but won't do it properly and reward their effort with treats that cancel the effort out.

But if I can spend my time doing something I adore doing. Something that is the treat I spend my day looking forward to or race out of bed to get on with. Something that I can get better at, that I can get stronger and fitter both from and for. Something that a thought out diet makes me better at. Something that forms part of my identity and defines a little bit of who I am. Than I will work damn hard at that except that I won't work at all because I'm just having fun and making myself happy.