Been taking a high intensity approach to lifting after years of moderate intensity

The first few months were great. Test through the roof, feel strong af, etc. I was hard on myself wondering why I wasn't going all out for all these years.

So what's the issue?

Like any other addiction, you feel the need to reach a new level of "high" all the time. "Lift to failure", "give it 110%", etc.

What would've otherwise been a really great workout doesn't feel good because last week's was better. This forces you to do more than your body should and result in micro injuries.

I still haven't recovered from my leg workout from 5 days ago. My sleep has been absolute dog chit from the soreness. And it's not the good kind of soreness, it's the soreness like you caught covid.

So where should we draw the line in "lifting to failure?" The goal is to reach peak quality of life.

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I've noticed the same thing. You burn out eventually. It should probably only be done for short periods with a surplus of calories. Then follow up with periods of active rest or maintenance.

training to failure is overhyped af

You can take days off you know.

cycle your intensity and volume

you will burn out and feel like chit if you go 110% all the time.

It's more mental than physical.

I train like this, I get burned out and it fuks my CNS up after a while

You gotta get adequate rest in between and know when to take it down a notch a little

also i just go HARD on one or two exercise but then train other exercises in a higher rep range, that way not everything is being trained intensely, just one/two movements

You are correct OP, your sleep was also crap because you have heavily impacted your CNS (you don't always have to go to failure and you will progress better if you don't)

- Lighter days, speed work, higher reps, higher volume, not to failure training
- Cardio only days
- You gotta stretch and foam roll 2-3x per week minimum
- Get all proper macros/minerals and if you aren't supplementing with minerals you're doing it very wrong
- Get "In tune" with your body and feel when you need to go light and know when you're recovered enough to go heavy

All of the above will allow your body/CNS to recover optimally, yes you cannot go heavy every time especially when you become advanced (this mainly means heavy + to failure, you can go heavy more if you don't hit failure)

You still always must have heavy days to get the best results AND you don't have to go to failure (intensity)

When I became more advanced going to failure on big movements was a 1x per 1-2 weeks MAX, the rest was not to failure volume training with progressive overload

Volume, frequency and intensity are the 3 main factors when it comes to proper programming, if one is high you must have the others lower to ensure no burnout so you can milk da gainzzz

You and only you need to figure out how much rest you need and workload can be build up over time if you once again you stop going to failure all the time (you're only cheating yourself)

I do. I only workout 3-4 days/wk nowya I plan on doing that nowYea that's pretty much what I did in hs/college. Hit bench hard af and then chill with pec deck, machine chest press, etc

I'm starting to respect programming more as I get older. Miss those days in HS/College where every workout session was basically a PR session

Days off, deload weeks, proper nutrition, proper sleep....


You shouldn't/can't be training like this consistently without having all of the above dialed in otherwise yeah, it will catch up with you.

I train at a high intensity but you need to auto regulate. I push myself as hard as I can on my good days to the point of throwing up. But cant do that every single day, just not sustainable. I go into the gym with an open mind. An example would be a deadlift, I generally warm up to 585 and decide what my workout is going to be depending on how 585 moves.

If it moves fast and feels good, I'll push it and do a max effort day, go for like a 670 triple or something. If I don't feel like I have good pop off the floor, I'll back off the weight and do some light speed work or do an 8 rep set or something that isn't to failure. Something that stimulates the muscle and does cause some fatigue, but isn't going to wreck me and allow me to recover by the next week. I do the same with bench and squat for the most part.

I train all my isolations to failure every workout though. Just gotta be smart with the heavy compounds in order to be able to recover and grow.

Also, I can only train 4 days a week this way. 1 bench/push, 1 deadlift and back, 1 leg and biceps, 1 upper body push/pull.

I also let my main compounds drive my progressive overload. Not everything always has to be getting stronger. I don't care if my incline db bench is stalled if my bench is consistently going up 5 pounds a month.