You Gotta Train Ultra Hard To Grow Bro...RIR Is Stupid

[@R.H160]

Psychological drain and fatigue is a real problem and more people need to be talking about it. Thank you for this.

[@andyfreeman6865]

I worked out to failure on a six day PPL split, each other workout concentrating on everything. I could do this for two weeks and I was fatigued for at least a week. It affected my efficiency at work. I going from 110% of what's required down to 60-70% just from lack of energy. I love working out to failure because it drives me however, that aftermath is unbearable.

[@stevewise1656]

Agreed!

[@julianleite3877]

as well as central nervous system fatigue because it only creeps up on you over a week or so , meditation after training really helps me with that

[@fabioooh]

@@andyfreeman6865 I was doing like you ,honestly sonce I started upper lower upper lower with low volume high intensity I started to gain a lot of strenght

[@Linkous12]

I have a stressful job, and I can definitely tell a difference in my workouts when I have an extra bad/stressful/anxiety-filled day at work. It's like most of my power is drained.

[@g4md0r32]

I really like how dr.Mike is literally the exact opposite of what you would think of a person with his build.

[@Loquacious_Jackson]

He's all the bad parts of a meat-head, and all the bad parts of an academic rolled into one shit sandwich.

[@Imyourhuckleberry229]

He’s like beast from x men

[@Michael-yv6pe]

Idk he kinda seems like a dick. Not saying he's a bad person just straight forward speaks what's on his mind etc

[@MalamuteMan1]

What an ignorant comment.

[@justinu4521]

I feel like my muscles aren’t what fails. It’s the fear of my bones, tendons, ligaments, and joints being injured that checks me

[@rickterrance4981]

That's the thing NONE of it matters if you freaking damage your body. My brother damaged his shoulder ego lifting and even after surgery he isn't able to train his delta as hard as he once could

[@cimi93x]

Yeah that happens with heavy compound lifts, there's basically zero risk of injury when going to failure or beyond on isolation lifts if you're natty. Don't be a wuss.

[@justinu4521]

@@cimi93x lol bro I have 3 plates 16 screws in my right arm and a disc replacement in my neck c5-c6. My days of proving anything are long gone

[@cimi93x]

@@justinu4521 how'd that happen tho? was it going to failure or heavy compounds?

[@justinu4521]

@@cimi93x neck was bjj/mma arm was cocaine and Mexico 😂😂😂😂

[@susanwojcickisnicetwin]

"Don't pretend your feelings are thoughts" That's just great life advice.

[@annoyedchef7124]

The profet Israetel has spoken

[@Memfys]

You come for the wisdom, stay for the humour. Keep it up, Dr. Mike!

[@christopherspohn8071]

Yes i do.

[@petri2767]

I come for the wisdom, but leave for the humour.

[@NolenGYT]

And I just came

[@TheCampdragon]

I’m edged by the wisdom, but it’s the humor that makes me come.

[@630171official]

I come for the humor and take away some wisdom

[@stoopiddub333]

you really have to appreciate how Mike can roll through a video without chopping it up with cuts and deliver side splitting jokes off the top of the dome consistently without notes.

[@MrAdamo]

He definitely has notes, you can see him look off to the side

[@stoopiddub333]

@@MrAdamo Apologies for not specifying. "Without (joke) notes" or for all I know, he has those jotted down also. I doubt this, however, because he doesn't look off to the side when he delivers a quip.

[@pedrohenriquegomesdeolivei9058]

WOW! "Just admit it. You think going to failure is hardcore and being hardcore is fun. That's the only reason you think that. You haven't put any thought into it. Don't pretend your feelings are thoughts." SAVAGE!

[@watsonkushmaster3067]

Sadly enough, thats what most of the gym population needs more of...our niche are the people who already train hard and need to scale it back sometimes, but general public not at all, they need to push harder in the gym

[@ImKong]

And Like Dr Mike said too, you see all these huge IFBB Pros influencers posting their workouts doing 30+ sets to failure per workout, that the average ignorant gym rat goes like "yeah bro if you're not training this hard, you're a fucking pussy".

[@Dougie.A.M]

​@@watsonkushmaster3067 💯%

[@Tickyyyyy]

that hit me so hard cus i realised its so true, i feel like the coolest hardcore mf on my 3 dropsets of legextentions not being able to walk properly anymore but every time someone says maybe its to much im just like ah thats bs and never research really, maybe a mistake lol

[@DeRockMedia]

@@Tickyyyyy ya bro, i dropset while supersetting combined.. sometimes i think i go overkill but nothing feels better than getting to failure at the lightest weight.

[@shmurfy4971]

Mike we need more videos of normal training from you!! Like I wanna see how you train in week 1 of a meso more than I wanna see people being pushed to failure and beyond

[@dessertstorm7476]

i bet you're fun at parties

[@hoondog100]

If u become a member you'll get instant access to like 12 videos of Mike training 😊

[@utubebrowseupload]

Same here!

[@Magnus_Loov]

Problem is, so many people don't know how going to absolute failure (and beyond). That is important for the last cycle and I would say a majority don't do it because it just simply is too f-ing hard! It is motivational. But people that have some type of rational thinking should know that Mike preach deloading and reps in reserve all the time. That the "all out" extremely taxing sessions is only for a couple of workouts before switching back to a deload.

[@Wildkoala1]

That’s easy, member subscription to the RP members portion of this channel and you will literally see him walk you through week 1 of his meso 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@Rollotomasi79]

Some people don't seem to understand, that training to failure and not training to failure are both good. It's all about context. And unfortunately the way KZbin and social media works, the things that get the most views, have the biggest following and the things that are actually good are not the same thing

[@theunderdogmagazine]

Underrated comment

[@bedroommusicproducer]

This information is SO helpful, it's re-wiring my mentality about working out! It's so true how everything is integrated... "the fatigue from destroying yourself in the gym spills over into other areas of life" + "more machine than ronin" + "the gym is a tool" were massive takeaways for me. Can't thank you enough for sharing this info for free!

[@oaschbeidl]

"Only train to how much you can recover, anything beyond that is a stupid idea." I've had to learn this the hard way, as I started from a very weak base and tried to keep up with "beginner" programs that were way too hard for me. Held my progress back for years. Nowadays I go a little bit easier on myself and lo and behold - I'm making more gains and feel better on average! Who woulda thunk that completely destroying yourself 4x a week isn't the way!

[@jerryappleton6855]

That's why I lift weights...2 x a week. 1 x upper body, 1 x lower body. And 1 x session for core and lower back. And I've never been bigger or stronger.

[@noone3992]

​@@jerryappleton6855that's 3 thi

[@jerryappleton6855]

@@noone3992 I don't lift weights whilst doing core and lower back...🤣

[@laisphinto6372]

as a weeb i compare it to how vegeta trains compared to goku. vegeta really goes hard all the time and dies almost every time by Training but for some reason he never catches up to son goku

[@marc2638]

​@@jerryappleton6855 well that's awesome for you my man but that works for you not for others. I'm 45 and train hard 6 days a week and I keep getting bigger and stronger all depending of course on how hard I push. I can curl 80lbs for reps and sets, 4 sets at 10 reps 1.5 minute rests. That doesn't mean I'm always hammering away, I'll change that 80lbs to 60 and lift really slow and deliberate. Working out is a personal journey all the advice in the world doesn't apply to all. Another thing people oversee when giving advice is what is that persons ultimate goal? Strength? Size? Endurance? Or just maintaining? These are all drastically very different workout routines for individuals and can not be all across the board fair play advice to all. Mentally and psychologically I am above most average people, my 9 year military background makes that a fact all on its own, if you can't push yourself and be honest about that you won't make progress or you'll make very little slow progress. Point to all this,,,, so may options and variables working out, 1 thing that rings true for all is everyone is different and what works for 1 won't or won't work as well as it does for the other. I always say get to know your body, learn how to push, when you curl and yu are at 8 reps and struggling that's when you do 2 more that pushing and most people do bot like that state of mind it's too uncomfortable for them, that's why they look average which is cool if thts what they want

[@Tommy2P]

Dr Mike almost broke my nerd WOW heart but brought it right back.

[@ulquiorraschiffer1956]

This guy needs his own comedy show 😂

[@douglasauruss]

You're watching it

[@doctorwhodj]

😂Wait this isn't a comedy segment ? 😂

[@deansilva8401]

I love Mike's sense of humor

[@stevesorensen9648]

I agree, pretty funny guy.

[@aminyapussi4740]

WTF is 11:00 minute mark . Im fucking ded

[@jadenhalstead7290]

I’ll stick with my 8 hour arm workouts

[@astockphotoofspaghetti9433]

😂😂😂

[@timsmith7164]

This came out perfectly in time with me starting a new training cycle, found myself doing too much last cycle and getting so much psychological fatigue, got stuck in that "it's the grind" mindset

[@benjamindavis2475]

Going hard every day isn't a grind. Training consistently for 10 years is the grind 🎉🎉

[@paulemccullough]

The analogy about being a sputtering car for those who don’t recover properly is really helpful. Thank you for that! I tend to overdo it and injure myself like a fool. Learning that recovery is just as important!

[@FirstFocusProduction]

There are few talking heads I can handle on the net. But I could listen to the Doc all day. So grateful for this channel and having an ACTUAL, well-presented source of evidence-based advice, all with a dead-pan wit! Bro.

[@scottpowell9034]

I think both work. There are huge guys who train completely differently. Just do what you enjoy and can stick with

[@TheBobes]

I backed down weights on my lifts & went from 6-8 reps to 10-15 reps on all my exercises. Added 5 kg to most of my lifts in the second week. Intrigued to see how far I can push it before I "crash & burn". I train mostly 3 RIR, with some sets closer to 1 RIR. The stimulus is great. Fatigue is lower. Joints don't hurt.

[@einsteinx2]

I did the same with the same results starting a couple months ago. Been making better progress now than before and way less joint/tendon issues and fatigue.

[@wowandrss]

Teach me, being 3 RIR feels like it might as well be 100 RIR. My last 3 reps get like exponentially more difficult. Last two are like hitting a brick wall. I have juice and then suddenly i'm at ZERO.

[@einsteinx2]

@@wowandrss sounds like you have a great way to see when you’re about 2RIR then, which is mostly what I target anyway. When you get to the first rep where it starts to get exponentially difficult, finish that rep and stop, that should be 2RIR. If you bang out one more of those really hard reps you should be about 1RIR. That’s really as far as you ever need to go anyway.

[@davidnicholls7582]

I did something similar, was lifting 8-12 reps, started with a given weight for 8 reps, 3 sets. Would progress my workouts to push out more reps until I reached 12 for 3 sets. Once I got there, I figured I was due for a weight increase and then back down to 8 reps. This was my beginner's routine, just wanted to increase my strength, it worked. Now I am doing 15-20 reps, 3 sets, little less weight, but, getting better growth, with excellent pumps and burns.

[@domepiece11]

I love 10-15 reps.

[@gabrielamanjarres399]

Your sense of humor is what keeps me motivated 😂

[@iwantabiscuitplz]

I have had this idea that I need to always train super hard for way too long, it means I'm always unsatisfied when I do a workout and fail to completely exhaust myself or feel I could have pushed more - or I get so stressed about the workout to come that I skip it altogether. Thank you for making this video to remind us of the importance of building workout habits that are actually sustainable! Also, funny thing, one of my biggest strength wins this year came from bouldering and climbing multiple times a week. Because I have so much fun doing it and don't think of it as a workout I have to go hard at, I have been consistent with it and have become stronger. I can now do pull-ups, which I could never do before, seemingly without any effort. I guess that is to say, every little counts and this is an example of how you don't have to train to failure, just be consistent.

[@str1ker_eureka]

16:42 I was at the bottom of a squat listening to this and I nearly wasn’t able to get back up 😂 Thank you Dr Mike for nearly getting me crushed

[@manuel56354]

I loved that part, was so funny

[@joksimradovic4040]

It happend to me today when I remember this shit...

[@VikingTerror]

That grandma joke literally had me crying with laughter. I seriously think this world needs a Dr. Mike and Dom Mazetti collaboration workout!

[@scottranalli6012]

This is THE single best video I've seen by you. So much great information in a concise package regarding Volume and RIR. And thank you for stressing the psychological/emotional stress part of the whole picture!

[@MailmanMuscle]

I train hard almost all the time, but that’s mostly because of my job is strenuous (check my handle), my work schedule (normally 50-60 hours per week), and real life (married with 3 children). My “all the time” is limited. I’m down to 35-45 minute training windows, 3 times a week or averaging every other day if I’m lucky. I’ve found that I don’t have the luxury of holding reps in reserve on such little volume if I want to make progress at this point in my life (training life and overall). I also don’t have the luxury of increasing volume by much. For those who do, take advantage of Dr Mike’s advice.

[@jchapman1605]

This is a very on-point comment. Life is different for everyone and you have to find what works best within your constraints. HIT training WILL get you maximal stimulation in minimal gym time.

[@watsonkushmaster3067]

Preach...

[@memyself5924]

Lmfao mailman.... stressful...... how? Try a week gasfitting and plumbing bud. Sling some 3 foot pipe wrenches for 12 hours and tell me being a mailman I'd hard. Embarrassing.

[@MailmanMuscle]

@@memyself5924 I said strenuous, not stressful. If you can tell me how walking 6.5-9.0 miles per day while carrying various sized loads is not strenuous, then I guess I have just been imagining that I experience a lot of fatigue along with wear and tear. Also, while I never described my job as stressful, I also don’t present it as more strenuous or difficult than all other jobs. I’m sure there are plenty of jobs harder than mine, and I respect those who do them. If you enjoy having 🍆 measuring contests based on how hard your job is, do your thing.

[@TRXSTA38]

@@MailmanMuscle Top tier response to a dumbass comment lmao

[@bigl5740]

Ur the best Dr.Mike! All these tik tok videos have convinced me over time into going into failure every set every week. I’m talking 5-6 workouts every week going to failure every set🤦‍♂️ I was wondering why I was always feeling constantly fatigued both physically and mentally. My workouts later in the week would always suck compared to those earlier in the week as well. Social media causes a lot of confusion to those who don’t know this. Thank you for clarifying this!

[@sch88]

Hilarious AND a genius. Dr. Mike is the whole package.

[@Severin2]

I never knew ANYTHING about this. I did home workouts with dumbbells for years, and then joined a gym in November. I immediately jumped into taking myself to my limits with no thought to recovery. I ended up needing to take 2 full months off, as my sleep was so compromised. The emotional fatigue was insane. Thanks for this resource!

[@craigsutherland3484]

"The real ingredients of effective training: consistency & progression" Absolutely spot-on. Better doing 45min/day consistently than 3 hours/day for a month, getting mentally burned out, and not going back to the gym for another year.

[@ign0bilium]

HAHAHA, actually listening to this at a Saturday when I am playing World of Warcraft. I have to get my ass to the gym now!

[@EGarza-mk2mk]

I love alternating training to failure at the end of a cycle and having weeks of build up beforehand. Considering that growth isn't linear, training shouldn't be either.

[@Dillfaro]

Thanks for this my man. I just finished a good volume workout and wanted to relax by listening to a little Dr Mike. You have the perfect blend of comedy and useful information. Keep on keeping it real

[@azulsimmons1040]

Rocky 3 Apollo says to Rocky, "There is no tomorrow." That is my argument for going all out all the time. It's movie science.

[@owaissiddiqui8978]

At 43, I have one very simple training principle: The only thing that shouldn't progressively increase over time in one's training is the risk of injury (simple workouts done consistently and conscientiously, that motivate you to return to the gym regularly and tweak your routine to keep it challenging but rewarding, is the balancing act in a solid workout regimen). What's more, a good routine should help improve strength, mobility, AND recovery - if recovery is being compromised, best to ease up and deload for a bit and reassess the routine. Thanks for the consistently and conscientiously great content, Renaissance Periodization (New World Encyclopedia was my childhood friend too lol).

[@pedroe.p.decastro8522]

The way I've found that works best for me is to always "train to failure" but it's a chill "wussy failure". I train alone so there isn't really someone hyping me up, I don't listen to music (I actually listen to audiobooks) and I avoid the drama. I know I'm not going to what some people call true failure, but it's close enough and, to me, more consistent than RIR (I guess I don't have the body awareness to estimate that, it never really worked for me).

[@Sk0lzky]

I listen to audiobooks during training too but I always have to rewind a few seconds back after last two reps >

[@kyleolin3566]

Yup, I too listen to audiobooks or lectures when lifting. I usually do one to two warmup sets, with two working sets (always adding more weight, but trying to keep the reps the same). For example, my compound lifts, I do 6 reps. Last deadlift session I went 6x135, 6x225, 4x315. When I hit 6x315 (or higher reps if I’m feeling spunky), then I will up the weights. I go until I think I will miss the next rep, or strain myself to put it up. Sometimes I do, but tis life 🤷‍♂️.

[@samozeleznaterapia3643]

This is the way

[@kristianjensen5877]

"Chill wussy failure" enjoyer here too. After injuring myself a couple of times pushing to failure (and probably beyond), I've concluded "chill wussy failure" is a lot more sustainable in the long run, both from a physical and psychological perspective. Going so hard that we basically can't train for a week due to pain not only stops/slows muscle development for the duration but it also feels incredibly bad knowing we did that to ourselves.

[@syberk1d]

I personally prefer the failure training For me training 3 days per week With an average of 6-8 compound sets and around 3 -5 isolation sets to compliment the compound sets works well for me, I’m an ectomorph and believe I have a high proportion of fast twitch fibres. So going in with high intensity with lower weekly volume for me is a good spot through trial and error I also pyramid each set to fail in the 4-10 rep zone, and lower the reps with each set by going 10% heavier per set first set fail 8-10reps, 2nd set 6-8 reps , 3rd set 4-6 reps Leg day always leaves me zapped as pushing 360kg leg press to failure on 3rd set always leaves me temporarily fatigued. Anyway just my two pence on failure training and my speculation on why I feel it’s optimal than other types of methods

[@RuskiyStandardRaw]

Would love to see you touch on the intensity concepts outside of the parameters of standard bodybuilding splits/frequency. Like balls to wall intensity but then balls to wall rest.

[@JayVincentFitness]

The harder you train, the more motor units are recruited and stimulated to grow. You might grow with 3 RIR. Or 2 RIR. Or 7. Who knows what the number is. That’s why you train to failure. To make sure you hit the minimum threshold for stimulating growth. You must then adjust volume and frequency to accommodate the intense training. Not apply the same volume as you were doing before, then take every set to failure. That would result in over training.

[@christopherrodriguez9974]

I always fight with the idea of training to failure. I still consider myself a beginner. But I'm glad to see that I don't have to always go that deep. Thank you for this.

[@cimi93x]

why'd you automatically take his advice as the truth tho? cause he has a dr in front of his name? there's a lot of people who will suggest going to or even beyond failure on most of your isolation/machine/cable sets. Those people also often tend to make continuous progress as advanced naturals. So question is whose training methods will you adopt, the ones that can prove their methods work by real life, tangible evidence, or the dr. who reads studies but looks the same as he did years ago, while taking PEDs?

[@DanielTanios]

@@cimi93xThere's solid evidence that holding reps in reserve is good for hypertrophy. It results in comparable stimulation but much less fatigue, meaning you can recover better and actually end up doing more reps over the course of a week, thereby maximising time under tension. There's persuasive empirical evidence for it, it makes mechanistic sense and there are plenty of pros, natural or otherwise, applying it irl. It's not clear what your argument is, apart from shadowy allusions to some influencers you follow who tell you to train to failure. No one is saying it doesn't work. It's just not optimal for most people. It's ironic you bring up guys abusing PEDs, since they have the most to gain from training to failure: they recover quickly anyway but make use of the extra stimulation provided by failure. It's naturals that need to be careful of Platz or Mentzer or whoever going on about going to failure: you're not on PEDs like them and won't recover like they do. Bro science dies hard 🤷 Having said that, guess what, if a natural plateaus, they can always experiment with taking their sets to failure. It's not that hard. The issue with telling beginners that they should train to failure is that it makes it harder to develop the habit of training: when their neurological circuits are still pretty inefficient, constant, genuine training to failure cooks their CNS. They're just too mentally exhausted and end up quitting. But hey, if it's working for you, keep at it. The final truth most braindead bro-science types can't seem to get through their thick skulls is that as long as you progressively overload and can sustainably recover, literally everything works.

[@chadzard4]

@@cimi93x Stop being cringe. You're not that big even for a natty.

[@thor498]

​@@cimi93xi belive the actual evidence. Not some bullshit some genetic freak might benefit from and i probably wouldn't

[@JdotCarver]

This guy is a legend. It's informative, it's raw and it's entertaining. Please continue. 👍

[@jnwoodard8764]

I’m in my early 40’s, feeling like I’m in my late 60’s, because I trained stupid in my 20’s.

[@vikoccult7494]

The good is that failure training is guaranteed gains. Whenever people are lifetime intermediates they either train =>5RIR or they dont eat enough. The smartest way would be 1-2 RIR on Compounds and 0-1 RIR on Isolations from a SfR perspective. The problem is people are really bad at gauging their true RIR. Even Dr. Mike has often very badly guessed RIRs on working sets and overestimated. Lyle Mc Donald critiqued him about that and on that topic I a agree with him. What I dont like at all and what I think no Natty should do is the low proximity to failure =< 5 RIR high volume 30 sets per muscle per week pump approach Dr. Mike also in his past promoted.

[@mkasd3710]

Just wanted to say that I appreciate your efforts in creating a well thought out and educational video.. Much appreciated!!

[@King_Konglish]

I have played WoW for 17 years and confirm you need friends or at least associates 😂

[@dakotaroberts9832]

Glad I'm not the only one in this tiny Venn diagram! Never thought I'd hear Mike mention WoW :P

[@djomla9999]

I played a ton of Dota and that's where you ruin friendships lol

[@Rave.-]

You need bitter frenemies to parse against.

[@SAGAYER1]

Dr Mike is funnier than a high level comedian. There are instances that I laugh so hard. Not just the funny stuff, has videos are very informative, science based and simple to understand. This things together will make this channel reach to 1 million subscribers and even beyond. Take care Mike, you're awesome!!!

[@_ZenMF]

Lol he said "dildo rows " 😂

[@JohnProph]

I used to be a bit in the "RIR is stupid" camp. I would take everything to around 1rir and always try to beat the log book etc. All this while doing decent volume. It finally sort of caught up with me when I hit the wall in week 3 of a meso. All of a sudden my bench was regressing etc. I looked back and saw that I had went to failure on some stuff in week 1 etc. So I backed off a bit for the last 2 weeks of that meso. I took a deload with a full week off. When I started back this last meso I stayed around 3 RIR in week 1 using strict form etc. I got some pump but it did feel like a vacation almost. BUT I gradually built things up and I just finished week 4 and now I have a lot of sets around 1RIR and I have 1 more week to go. Its WAAAAAYYYY better this way and its nice to make those weekly gains like clockwork. I probably started hearing the RIR stuff like 4 years ago but it finally started making sense when I hit the wall in week 3 of a meso

[@thunderkat5282]

I agree. :)

[@TypicallyUniqueOfficial]

I’ve tried all the routines and I’ve landed on HIT, That’s what built the most muscle and strength on my physique by far. I think everyone SHOULD try training all sets to failure and also try leaving reps in the tank THEN compare results.

[@andyfreeman6865]

This isn't applicable to the vast majority. I like the way you think but most shouldn't train to failure for many reasons. Consistency is most important next to progressive overload. Failure is where injuries usually lie.

[@thunderkat5282]

I think failure training DOES ramp up gains and boost the process like nitrous in cars or something. But, like nitrous in cars, you plague fast. Mike just spreads it out and ramps up over time. That’s all 😊

[@Jammaster1972]

When you really think about it everything should lead to HIT. That's the whole point of lifting. Meso cycles should begin with volume to build your base, then finish the cycle with HIT to gauge your maximal performance. To me the answer is both.

[@TypicallyUniqueOfficial]

@@andyfreeman6865 Consistency and progressive overload are most important for sure. I think the point I was driving at is that we are all unique. In a scatter plot, as we see in research, there are responders to each type of training. I would also say that depending on the movement and how you execute the lift (controlled eccentric for example) failure isn’t injury inducing. If someone speeds up their reps as they approach failure or they lose tightness, of course that’s going to increase risk of injury. This is why it’s important to have a good coach or someone knowledgeable to teach beginners how to train properly. It also doesn’t make sense to train to failure in a barbell squat, but on a hack squat or pendulum squat I’d argue you see the most benefit trained 0-1 RIR due to how targeted it is. But many forms of training are viable. I have seen results almost never going to failure and doing more sets, though I personally stall more frequently in size and strength when I do this (all things being equal, such as calorie surplus + 1g protein per lb of bodyweight).

[@andyfreeman6865]

@@TypicallyUniqueOfficial Something I recently learned is if I don't train my biceps to failure, they don't grow well whereas 3 RIR for my triceps gives me almost the same progress as failure. This validates your point more, at least in my own experience. For the injuries, I've never injured my biceps on a biceps workout but I've injured my chest and rotator cuff a few times benching. I would say there's a very good establishment on what workouts make someone prone to injury. Low weight, isolation workouts are very unlikely to hurt someone but compound movements can really cause acute damage and lead to other issues. It's not a one size fits all topic and think most of us blank term things for simplicity sake, yet we probably agree. I love rucking yet it's one of the most injury inducing things you can do. People should train to failure on occasion, especially if exercise is a hobby. There is psychological benefits if not anything else. Failure is a very great place to be because extreme stress refines us.

[@drschwandi3687]

Super interessting point about fatigue form hyping yourself up. Never thought about that but it makes perfect sense. Probably best to safe that for your most important workouts and sets.

[@danboi9841]

Found this channel recently and gotta say, really appreciate the content. Equal parts humor and humility, keep up the good work and thanks for the vids

[@ianhudson7462]

“Don’t pretend your feelings are thoughts” there are no words for how perfect this is. I was today years old when I heard the most critical phrase of life.

[@VikVaughnMISC]

The way you speak makes me think you're really awkward IRL and have a reddit account.

[@wconditi]

Learning programming for strength training can be as dull as pink dumbbell wrist curls, but Mike makes it very palatable and enjoyable to grab the concepts so many miss and then have buried with ghost-written crap in magazines and 'train insane' shoved down their throats. Great video.

[@rob7736]

I think the problem is most people underestimate their RIR and truly don’t push themselves. 2-3 RIR can be hard

[@rikmcrae]

I have the opposite problem. I have hard time judging what 3 RIR is, so tend to take sets to failure more often than I should out of fear of not pushing hard enough.

[@Cryptolorian]

@@rikmcrae Same here, and this leaves me fatigued for days and it accumulates over time. I just can't workout light even though I have every intention to do so!

[@northpaul3276]

Most people break form to get a few more reps on bench press to impress others, then complain about injuries and do generally shit frequency, and their tonnage sucks - from what i noticed🙂

[@danieltemelkovski9828]

@@rikmcrae You could start by learning to accurately gauge what 1RIR feels like, then 2RIR, and then finally 3RIR. The thing is, it differs greatly depending on how many reps you're doing in that set. A 5-rep set it's very easy to judge 1RIR. But a 15-rep set? It's almost completely willpower to overcome 'the burn' and grind out one more rep, so it's very hard to be sure.

[@rikmcrae]

@@danieltemelkovski9828 yeah, that’s the approach I’m using. I’m fairly confident at judging 1 RIR, it’ll come with more experience. 👍

[@georgeanastasopoulos5865]

Excellent lecture. Another conflict with training very intensely most of the time is the terrible possibility of injury.🏋

[@egregiousblunder5395]

Love gym bro lore. There are body parts I do need to push closer to failure every set, other parts I can do two sets clean sets and I am torched. Also, trying to recover at 41 makes a difference too.

[@russellhenckel2887]

40 didn’t affect me much but something changed this year at 41. Recovery is a priority now

[@JTFSIX]

@@russellhenckel2887 Yeah, your weak bro' hang it up and take some Viagra., Stay Safe

[@JTFSIX]

Just Kidding Bro' - I am 50..you are young dude...recover, and listen to this content....VALUABLE!!!!! STay Safe - Prayers

[@larrytate1657]

@@russellhenckel2887 uh oh I’m turning 41 In July lol

[@russellhenckel2887]

@@larrytate1657 Good luck bro

[@darienkinne1347]

What good is having a strong body that is always sore/broken down. I like being fit and able at any moment

[@ae746890]

This was a good reality check. Thank you! I fell down a conjugate black hole, and show up to each workout intent on training to failure with heavy loads. P.S. if I don’t de-load soon, this may be my last comment on YT😬 Update: consume MORE CALORIES and the world is yours!!!💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

[@FalseF4CZ]

Did you deload yet or are you dead?

[@ae746890]

@@FalseF4CZ 💀

[@jessemurray1757]

I used to train to failure and beyond for years. I always wondered why I never had the drive to work out more than once per week per body part or why I was sore for 3-4 days. For chest I would do 12-15 sets, every set to failure, now I do like 8 tops. I only go to failure on my last set per exercise for compounds (bench, overhead press, rows, pullups). I still pretty much always go to failure, or at least within a rep, for certain isolations though (biceps, triceps, calves) and I almost never go to failure for squats or deadlifts. The key is to only give your body as much stimulus as it needs to grow and recover, as Dr Mike always says.

[@kissenklauer7011]

I think I love you. you have the best humor 🤣 you're just dropping bombs like that and it doesn't sound forced in any way. helps in keeping the attention up for the knowledge you're providing as well. you have a real talent there 👍

[@Cammi-Cat-XIII]

13:58 “five sets of dildo rows” 😂😂😂

[@sylvesterwilliams9531]

I absolutely LOVE this KZbin channel!!!! Thank you for your posts!!!!!

[@JonnyKozoom]

Thank you for this video. Going to failure and beyond (drop sets, rest pause etc.) has been hammered into my brain for so long that I have a real hard time to keep some RIRs during my workouts, even though I know by now that it isn't optimal. Takes time to unlearn even simple things like that.

[@Tickyyyyy]

same man, i used to train like 3 dropsets almost every set and already do myself hard going to 1 or none at all and sometimes feel guilty when my arms or legs arent absolutely fried after the 3 sets.

[@carriepickett2687]

This idea of training to failure is a luxury for those whose income and family needs do not rely on the person’s body taking themselves out of giving 100% to those things. I workout 4 days a week and I definitely have experienced muscle growth and strength improvements. For myself though I have never taken it so hard that I need multiple days to recover, I have never limped out of the gym from doing legs. I have a special needs toddler that depends on me to be physically and mentally capable to cope when she has an episode. So while I enjoy videos like this, I think his real point is to be less judgmental generally of others in and out of the gym because everyone has different priorities. I consider it a luxury and treat to go lift weights as much as I do. I would never judge another person for their choices.😊

[@carriepickett2687]

I think true strength is protecting those you love and being a responsible example for them to look up to. I think training in the gym can help both these goals but it’s a tool not a goal in and of itself in my life.

[@SuperLari1234]

I tried mike mentzner’s H.I.T. for 5 months from october 2022 to february 2023. It was the most amazing progress i ever made in the gym. I made progress LITERALLY every week. I calculated after finishing that on average my lifts went up 32.96% . I’m not gonna bash on people who do volume and RPE and RIR but training extremely hard every workout gave me the best results i ever had in 5-6 years of lifting.

[@jchapman1605]

Ya I think it's a good idea for people to try different paradigms for several months. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses. A novel metabolic stimulus can create dramatic effects.

[@thunderkat5282]

Again, that progress is not that impressive. It’s really good, but not unrealistic, in my experience. But I do think ramping up intensity and repeating is better than plateauing on HIT training

[@sixstringsandthetruth3891]

Ultimately, as long as its frequent enough to be a stimulus and you are recovering, it doesn't matter what mode of training you do. 3 reps in reserve, to failure.....it factors out. What matters is progression over time.....adding reps or weight or tut week after week in whatever mode of training will yield results. Once the results slow down, change something.....more recovery, different exercises, different method.....whatever.....but the progression has to continue. Everything else is secondary.

[@matttran7161]

I love this guy so much. Awesome comedy while highly informative

[@malchir4036]

Sperg Dipchette is already foaming at the mouth.

[@CJGREEK-c8g]

Psychologically I just can't accept walking out of that gym knowing that I could have done more🤷‍♂️

[@disgusted78]

Training should be optimal...... At times it must be fierce, as the nervous system needs stimuli, in order to grow . . . this is why we cycle our training. However, there must be off loading, and even down time [deloading]. Mentzer, and Jones were really on to something when it came to H.I.T training, but even the creators of H.I.T stressed the importance of recovery. When Torque and myself trained with Mike, it was very hard, and occasionally, its need to induce hypertrophy. Don't believe the hype, listen to your body, and train. Good vid, Mike

[@demdimi9316]

Only issue is that there is not 1 single person alive who can judge RIR correctly. There are days 120kg x10 squat is a 10 RPE for me, and other days where I feel like dying on my 8th rep, but I manage to do 11-12 reps total. Going all out is the only 100% accurate way to standardize your training. Also atg always to standardize your ROM. Having said this, I agree that not reaching failure is better long term for many reasons, but it is impossible to standardize it.

[@thebearded4427]

I do a physical/psycological split: one week with more mind muscle focus, one week with pushing the limit in terms of weight with good form. My best tell is if i feel fatigue, I rest. I just really feel deep if its physical fatigue. If it's simply mental I still go train. If I feel fatigued I just rest until I'm feeling hype again. Is it the best method? Probably not, but I want to keep enjoying going to the gym, so turning it into a 9-5 with "you got to do this, then this" and so on would take all joy out of it. I try to enjoy the process. The results is a pretty sweet bonus

[@HavocGamingChannel]

Mike and Doucette have helped me so much, my main problem being way too much volume. I'm now doing half the volume I used to and now I'm seeing better progress and I don't feel nearly as fatigued

[@Simon-d8n]

Sometimes the volume can. Give the joints or old injurys a hard time. Myself I changed my. Push and pull days to hit. Style. And legs and shoulders to. High volume days. But. I leave a few in the tanks. On those days two.

[@evaverma485]

they actually have very different philosophies. Doucette doesn't believe in RIR at all. He is all about "harder than last time" and training to failure.

[@HavocGamingChannel]

@@evaverma485 That is true, but Doucette does break from his HTLT tagline and talks about fatigue and going Easier Than Last Time. I think they're mostly aligned in philosophy when it comes to not doing too much volume

[@liberationpocket7950]

I now go with the John Meadows approach to my workout where I only pick three exercises for the given muscle. The first exercise is usually the heavy compound type of lifts. Second, I pick an exercise that produces crazy stimulus for a pump. And the final exercise is reserved for elongating the muscle and gives you that crazy stretch. But every now and then, I will introduce a "challenge set" which I like to pick the most stimulating exercise and do a couple diamond or pyramid sets, depending on my fatigue at that time

[@Simon-d8n]

@@liberationpocket7950 myself. I don’t like people breaking into my home. And then putting rat 🐀 bail. Onto my tub of protein powder and. Then. Sexual abuse my. The physical therapist dog. I have. Best I am a vet. Retired military. .. hey I just saying. I. Prefer a Dorian yates. Style. These days. Myself. But if high intensity. Plus some high volume. As well. I mix it up. .. oh course. I not. Take it as seriously as Dorian did. But I like his. Style. And. He has integrity too. As I know him well. .. but hey. You do you. Thu.

[@jeremiahwilliams2090]

Good video, thank you! Honestly, there are a million ways to success! But You know I’m 40 years old… I go extremely hard 6 days a week not to mention that I work an overnight 10-12 hour manual/physical labour job that’s insane! At both places (my job & the gym) they have every rumour you can imagine about me being on steroids and or drugs and etc… I’m so committed to my workout routine that even if I fall asleep while driving to the gym after work (which has happened twice now) I still go, no matter what! I lift extremely heavy weights… basically combing old school powerlifting techniques with common bodybuilding techniques! I always do 2-3 exercises at a time, with 30 seconds of rest or less in between each set! I’m always covered in sweat and breathing so hard, it’s extremely hard to talk! I do all upper body one day, all lower the next 3/3 split! I have 4 meat head friends in the gym which are roughly 10years younger than me! 2 of them work with me overnight and can’t figure out how I do what I do!? They’re all on gear/steroids and other stupid things like pre-workouts, creatine and etc… The only thing I take is Protein Powder and eat almost 5,100 calories a day.. on my clean/healthy bulking program. I also use the lift to failure a lot, along with drop sets to push pass another failure moment on most of my weight lifting exercises! My meat head friends (along with many others) almost never break a sweat in the gym, they’re weak as fuck! Always lifting very light weights! Visually speaking they look like me.. a professional bodybuilder, strong and very athletic… however, there not strong at all and to everyone’s surprise, if we are going to continue to be so honest, there not really athletic either!? Bottomline is Going heavy and extremely hard, is my personal style! I don’t use steroids and I refuse to listen to the bullshit about working out differently because I’m 40 years old/middle aged man and I don’t listen to bull shit about over training either and I’m not just a big, insanely strong bodybuilder but I’m also very athletic! I currently weigh 225lbs with a 17% body fat and I’m 6ft tall…

[@ShawnFumo]

You should keep a 5 hour energy in your pocket and just take a sip or two if you find yourself getting sleepy. That way you stay awake but still can sleep later. Seriously, training hard is one thing but falling asleep when driving isn’t just dangerous for you but for other people. What if you black out at an intersection and plow into another car, or swerve on the highway and flip someone over into a ditch?

[@zacharyleao2526]

Question: do u have to eat back the nutrients that u throw up after a leg workout?

[@watsonkushmaster3067]

Yes

[@yakked]

I can't find that setting on the RP Diet app

[@sircefiro]

Yeah man, you gotta skull the spew bucket otherwise catabolic city

[@clazza65]

Waste not, want not.

[@ΑλεξανδροςΑμανατιδης-ι7ε]

If you throw up that there is a simple solution eat many hours before the time you have to train legs and eat foods that are easily digestable . Simple solution.

[@dlloydy5356]

Brilliant information. Thanks for doing it in a real talk way with humour

[@stephanibonner3568]

It’s so refreshing hearing psychological fatigue be acknowledged! I just thought I was someone who struggled with being consistent. “but if you unleash that dumbass in microcycle 1” guilty! 🤣

[@turkishexpress]

Great advice and information. I need to re-evaluate my own workouts moving forward. I'm having issues with volume for sure and need to make adjustments for my older age now.

[@polishedpoison]

Thanks Dr. Mike I really appreciate these videos!

[@RenaissancePeriodization]

My pleasure! - Dr. Mike

[@sn7miller]

OR...you can just do the Mentzer approach and a few warm up sets and then one hard working set to failure for each muscle group. Im actually making more gains with this approach and not wearing down my joints, tendons, etc. Less fatique too. Its working for me now. Switching routines up after a 3-4 weeks is also important imo. So next session ill do opposite of Mentzer.... Schwartneggars approach. Lol.

[@waynesnelling8259]

I can attest to the fact that if you train to failure too much with too many sets you will get tendonitis... and even though you think you can ignore it eventually you have to address it and it's really annoying.

[@NapsterRulez]

Not the case for me. I go beyond failure on almost anything. Maybe form related?

[@jchapman1605]

@@NapsterRulez you aren't coming close to failure or you don't train very often if you are using a spotter to go beyond failure on every set and you don't have tendinitis.

[@chadnelson1150]

When I train to failure for multiple sets on bigger, compound movements....my CNS gets fried...then I get sick lol. I train mostly in 1-3 RIR and use failure training to gauge my progress.

[@marcobaldini4589]

Super true, fighting tendonitis since october after almost a year of perma going balls to the wall

[@impaledface7694]

I don't want to pay for a room in snap city ever again.

[@Gimmychoooooo11]

JP’s theory might not be 100% right scientifically BUT I still follow same training style ( all sets to absolute zero RIR) because it makes most sense to me and most importantly I enjoy A LOT!

[@NicolasLarsen94]

I'm not entirely sure if you have changed your position on this, but it feels like you have shifted towards - at least slightly - lower volume. The RP training templates seem to ramp up the volume pretty quickly, and some have a lot of sets per muscle per day. are they still applicable, or is that just the proper volume you are talking about? Similar question for the RP hypertrophy training guide central hub. Most muscle groups have a listed MV, MEV, MRV, etc. Are all those still up to date ? If not, will they be updated? Also, would love an updated version of your old Hypertrophy guide videos (the ones you did for the Juggernaut channel), that would be really cool.

[@Magnus_Loov]

He gave a very wide range here of 3-10 sets per workout for a muscle group. Did he exceed 10 sets per muscle in a given workout in any of his templates? Also, there could be a discussion about what constitutes a muscle/muscle group. The back muscles is prime example of this. Should you count some isolated rows as more of a romboid/traps exercise and lat pull downs as more of a lats exercise even though both in some way may affect all the muscles involved but percentage wise not so much per isolated muscle group? Is it 10 sets per lats and 10 sets per romboids and 10 set per traps?

[@RenaissancePeriodization]

My position on volume has been the same for years: do as much as you can best progress with and recover from, but no more. Sometimes that's a little, sometimes a lot. - Dr. Mike

[@Yoni123]

Where can I read these templates?

[@khumarchauhan1231]

Not ashamed to admit that I am pretty vocal when the sets get intense. I don’t mean to be dramatic and stuff. But I feel like it just really helps me stay in the zone and get things done. I’ve caught people looking every now and then, I hope they don’t think I’m exaggerating what might essentially be nothing. But to me it’s just what is natural

[@youngillytheproffsserthegr3117]

I'm glad I subscribed to this channel helped a lot of with my understanding of my workouts. And I found myself laughing allot more than I thought I would. Great comedic timing my brother 🙏🏾💯💪🏾😂😌

[@stevewise1656]

The women at my gym work very hard, though very smart. Their form is far better than men, because they aren't ego lifting.

[@iCroniCall]

The way some of these bodybuilders train is insane. Bro-splits, like 10 exercises per muscle, to failure and beyond on every set. It's crazy how so many train suboptimally their entire lives, but get great results.

[@Enhanced-Atrophy]

Fr most jacked dudes on my gym train like that. Plus they don't even do full ROM lol

[@johnjones2369]

Have you ever thought that it might not be so sub optimal if all of the bodybuilders do it and look great for it

[@slackerm1]

@@johnjones2369 Yep, people listening to "this is my failure" Shoenfield and these other dorks that are advocacy researchers, with trash "studies" instead of looking at real world RESULTS. "suboptimal" my ass.

[@iCroniCall]

@@johnjones2369 Mike did a video on this as well. Just because someone is big, doesn't mean they really know what they're doing. Great genetics + drugs is a hell of a thing.

[@iCroniCall]

@@Enhanced-Atrophy Yeah like half cheat reps, swinging the weight like a maniac lmao

[@DeadBoyHK1]

Recovery is the most important thing to grow. Yes, the workout intensity and your diet matter. But without recovery, you won’t make much progress.

[@fate1120]

honestly once i started doing what GVS says i started seeing very very noticeable gains, even after being rather stuck and gainsless for a while. Going to failure on most exercises and beyond failure on the final set of some exercises, every week my lifts keep getting better, so maybe this works for me idk but ive never made so much progress this quickly before.

[@cimi93x]

Glad someone else is saying that instead of the RIR nonsense

[@domepiece11]

RP, GVS, Basement Bodybuilding, Alex Leonidas, etc. Great info.

[@dxfifa]

Sounds like you think "beyond failure" is what everyone else is calling failure. almost everyone who trains hard is doing what you're doing, you were just nowhere near failure before

[@fate1120]

@@dxfifa Beyond failure training is generally agreed upon to be reaching muscular failure and then doing partials or baby reps until you cant move the weight anymore

[@cimi93x]

@@dxfifa beyond failure means you do half reps when you can't do a full one anymore. This channel suggests that you shouldn't even reach technical failure, so no, not everyone is training like that, hardly anyone is.

[@Kroitk]

Man what the fuck, I have never straight up burst up laughing while watching a goddamn fitness information video 😂 Last place I expected to be fucking dying lmao

[@TheBigmarvin03]

Uh oh, the tik tok failure bros are not gonna like this one

[@Zacalov]

The funny thing is I always do this...train way too hard for two weeks and then burn out and barely train rest of the month...its time to train and track and go slow

[@TheFreakyDino]

Whats your opinion on the trend of low Volume, RIR 0 Training alot of "scientific" social media influencers preach?

[@Kayronator]

I had this in my previous program of 12 weeks. I really liked it. Regeneration was better. The change was really good. On the other side I'm not a competitor, but also not a beginner. 10+ years of hobby training :)

[@TheFreakyDino]

@@Kayronator How did you Progress your exercises then? If you go 0 RIR in one week how do you add Reps next week since you already went all out on the first one?

[@Kayronator]

@@TheFreakyDino 0 reps in reserve means a different number of reps with every weight. You can add weight to go heavier or you can slow down the movement. There are a ton of possibilities to increase mechanical tension and time under tension

[@Fohrenbach]

I think experienced lifters are more efficient at causing muscle damage and mentally going to 0-1 RIR. They also may have joint problems and wear and tear that makes high volume irritating. Medium or high volume can provide some technique enforcement and better mind muscle connection. Sometimes I hit a rep PR in the 2nd or 3rd work set too, so 1 or 2 work sets only might miss that. 0 RIR causes more fatigue than 1-3 RIR and big picture the muscle growth is similar. Try both low volume close to failure training and higher volume MMC training yourself and see how you feel

[@reiseleitercostarica]

Training 6 days per week for 30 years has taught me not to train to failure. I'm almost 50 and stronger than ever!

[@domepiece11]

That’s why I like a M/W/F schedule. I can go hard but also ensure recovery. It works well for muscle growth and allows time for cardio.

[@macoediv]

I am a heart patient. When I started lifting I had to stop when my heart would knock back and I would get a pain. I could only do a few reps for weeks. Now I am up to two sets and work out for about twenty minutes, heart feels stronger and does not knock back at me.

[@adamz7282]

I take every single set to absolute failure, been doing that for the last 2 months, I don't see anything wrong with it. And I'm honestly feeling like I'm gonna make the best gains of my life this year (I'm 100% natural)

[@madlifts1]

Same here, not going to failure doesn't feel right

[@viridionwaves]

Oh my god, i can't stop laughing, your humor is so on point this vid, bringing out the Gundam Wing reference

[@TheLockon00]

Dr. Mike, what are your thoughts on going to failure for some muscle groups and exercises but not others? For me, I can usually tell to a pretty high degree of accuracy how close I am to failure on exercises like curls, pullups, and rows, but I can often underestimate how far from failure I am on pressing and delt exercises.

[@Magnus_Loov]

When training on your own it is also hard to go all out on the pressing exercises without assistance. You can always try to cheat parts of a curl(to get the most out of it) but it isn't possible on a press without assitance, for example. You just fail on the press....

[@truthhurtts]

Guy above my comment is right. For movements where you’re not sure, if you can safely, experiment and just go to failure on one set off program to figure out truly how many RR you have. So next time, you know where your limit is and can use that peak to gauge how many reps you should be doing. I know we’re not Dr. Mike lol but this has worked for me.

[@wowandrss]

Not The Dr. but generally the smaller the muscle is, the more you can go failure because 1. You can't do as much as you can with big muscles to begin with 2. Smaller muscles generally recover faster than big muscles, like biceps, calves, rear delts etc.

[@truthhurtts]

@@wowandrss This is true for me as well for OP.

[@LiquidfirePUA]

Do pressing in a powerrack, if you fail you can let the bar drop?

[@garymurfee4290]

Systemic fatigue is a real thing. Thank you for discussing this.

[@wesleychapman9001]

I needed this one. I train to failure all the time and then burn out completely by week 3 and then I'm over the gym for two weeks until I psych myself back up to train balls to the wall again. Thanks Mike. Fuck this was funny too.

[@sgt391]

Ego lifting people always take stupid long recovery between sets and disappear after a few weeks. Usually the younger guys. The goal is to train less hard but with consistency

[@DarkMuj]

Dr Mike I’ve been watching you for 6 years. You’re so great. Sadly, I am still not ripped though, that’s on me. I like cake too much.

[@dasein0]

Those videos are so freaking fun