Muscle Failure
: In weight training, training
to failure is repeating an exercise (such as the bench press) to the
point of momentary muscular failure, i.e. the point where a repetition
fails due to inadequate muscular strength.
Training to failure is a concept every athlete knows well.
Whether its bench press, squats, dead lifts, push ups or running stairs, training
to failure is what sets the athlete apart from the masses. Knowing how to push your body to complete
exhaustion is a skill acquired only through rigorous training, usually reserved
for people who have been involved in sports, martial arts, or military service. In the fitness industry most of the clientele are not athletes.
In fact, most have had little to no experience with physical training at all,
and even fewer have ever been pushed to failure.
Athlete
noun ath·lete \ˈath-ˌlēt, ÷ˈa-thə-ˌlēt\
: a person who
is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical
strength, agility, or stamina
The first thing I do when I meet a new client is a fitness
assessment. I’ll put them through several basic calisthenics, endurance, and
strength movements. What I tell them I’m looking for is strength, flexibility,
and stamina thresholds. For the most part I am, but additionally I’m assessing
what type of person I’ll be dealing with. When I tell an athlete to put 135 lbs on
the bar and press to failure, that’s exactly what I’ll get. The athlete
will press reps until he/she can absolutely do no more. Once I see that, I can
move forward with a training routine tailored to whatever sport or goal they
came to me for. On the other hand, when I ask the average person to do the same, I might get 5 reps when I know they could’ve done several more. I have observed
over the years that most people have never pushed their muscles to failure, and
don’t know what their failure thresholds are. This is not to say that the
average person cannot be trained, but that I will have to set the bar lower. We
will start at the bottom and work our way up to failure.
Before I go any further, I’ll say definitively that I believe
everyone can be taught to train like an athlete. However, the less time a
person has had with physical training, the longer it will take. I use the three
rules of rhetoric (Ethos, Pathos, Logos) to build rapport to the point that the
client will trust me enough to allow me to push them to failure.
Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing
someone of the character or credibility of the persuader. I’ll spend our
first few sessions going over functional movement, teaching primary and
secondary movers, muscle groups, insertion points, concentric and eccentric contractions,
etc.…This establishes me as a credible source of knowledge based advice.
Pathos is an
appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an audience of an argument by
creating an emotional response. For someone who has never been pushed to
exhaustion, getting there can be a scary experience. Sharp Increases in heart
rate and respiration are things usually associated with anxiety or panic to the
untrained patron. With a new client, I will start easy and light, gradually
increasing the workload over time, getting closer and closer to failure each
session. This builds confidence and trust, as the client learns to push through
barriers they have never tried to break.
Logos is an appeal to logic, and is a way
of persuading an audience by reason. Once its established that complete exhaustion
isn’t a scary thing, getting there on a regular basis becomes just another part
of their training. Over time the failure threshold gets further and further
away as strength, stamina and prowess become more and more prevalent. Then one
day, without even realizing it, you’ve become an athlete.
So is it possible for everyone to develop this athletic mindset? Absolutely. Whether you're training for the Olympics or a 5k. With proper training, trust in your trainer and trust in the process, we can all learn what our bodies limitations are, how to reach them, and when to push beyond.
*Did I sound like Morpheus just then?... I was totally trying to sound like Morpheus*
So is it possible for everyone to develop this athletic mindset? Absolutely. Whether you're training for the Olympics or a 5k. With proper training, trust in your trainer and trust in the process, we can all learn what our bodies limitations are, how to reach them, and when to push beyond.
*Did I sound like Morpheus just then?... I was totally trying to sound like Morpheus*
