Is it necessary to train until muscle failure?

A motor unit is trained in direct proportion to its recruitment. A motor unit consists of a nerve and the muscle fiber that this nerve activates. The activation of motor units depends on size: the nervous system activates small motor units to release minimal force and larger motor units to release more force. We have different types of motor units that are activated according to the force and speed requirements. For maximum hypertrophy, it is necessary that we overload as many different types of muscle fibers and motor units as possible. Training to muscle failure may be the best way to achieve this.

A literature review conducted by Brazilian scientists concluded that the benefits of training to muscle failure depend on the strength training experience of the exerciser. For untrained people, high-intensity training with weights to muscle failure is not necessary to maximize muscle size and strength. However, these people will benefit from low-intensity training to muscle failure. Trained athletes increase their strength best with high-intensity resistance training to muscle failure, but they do not benefit as much from low-intensity training to muscle failure.

Boosters such as GodMode or The Evil Narcotica can be used to increase strength.

(Frontiers in Physiology, published online on January 29, 2016)