Failure training involves doing an exercise until the muscles no longer respond. Jeff Willardson from Eastern Illinois University discussed the pluses and minuses of failure training methods. Many studies have examined the optimal number of sets in a program, but few have looked at the effects of failure training on muscle size and strength. Failure training allows advanced lifters to break training plateaus and move to the next level. These highly intense workouts must be incorporated into short-term cycles to avoid over-training. Failure training is effective, because it recruits more motor units (muscle fibers and their nerve supply) and stimulates the secretion of anabolic hormones such as growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor and testosterone, and increases insulin sensitivity (insulin is a powerful anabolic hormone), increases in strength require high-intensity overload, so gym rats should not only rely on high rep burn programs for making progress. Serious weight trainers must push the big iron if they want to get strong and big. Excessive failure training leads to injury, overtraining and loss of motivation. Failure training can move you to the next level, but don’t overdo it. (Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 21: 628-631, 2007)