Same gains, less grind

Does training closer to failure actually lead to better results?

I'm a strong advocate for driving intensity in training. But when your training includes running or another sport, training to a very high intensity in the gym can leave you feeling fatigued, sore, and can compromise the technical training in your sport.

But what if you didn't have to train so hard that your soul leaves your body every session, and still get the same results?

One study looked at the effect on muscular adaptations when training to a very high intensity of 1 RIR versus a medium-high intensity of 1-4 RIR.

RIR stands for Reps in Reserve, and is a measure of intensity. 1 RIR feels like you have 1 rep left in the tank, 2 RIR feels like you have 2 reps left, and so on.

Both groups completed 10 weeks of training. One group trained to 1 RIR the entire time, and the other group trained to an intensity between 1-4 RIR, with only 25% of the training completed at 1 RIR.

The results showed there wasn't a difference in the increase of muscle size or strength between the two groups, so both groups had similar muscular adaptations. However, the 1-4 RIR group reported significantly less fatigue.

This study indicates that training to a very high intensity all the time doesn't give you greater muscular adaptations, but can leave you with more fatigue.

There are some caveats, the major one being that your training still needs to be challenging. This study doesn't suggest that your training should be easy. Reaching a 4 RIR should still feel difficult, but you might not need to train within 1 rep of failure all the time.

You don't need to thrash yourself every week in the gym. Training a few reps away from failure will help you enjoy training more, leave you less fatigued, and give you more energy to work on other things like your technical sport training or conditioning.

This is what good coaching should be: knowing what is enough to get you the improvements you need, without compromising other areas of your training and sport.

References:

Martikainen, O., Niiranen, H., Rytkönen, T. et al. Influence of Varying Proximity-to-Failure on Muscular Adaptations and Repetitions-in-Reserve Estimation Accuracy in Resistance-Trained Individuals. J. of SCI. IN SPORT AND EXERCISE (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42978-025-00338-8

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