Originally posted by Templeton
Competitive powerlifters might max out once per month, many will only max out on the day of the meet and I think these guys know a thing or two about gaining strength. It is just too demanding and detrimental to sustained strength gains.
I don't purport to know the habits of powerlifters as I am not one. But you at least concede that they DO in fact max out. The only difference is the frequency with which they do so. This makes sense as the load they lift is much greater than what a novice or intermidiate lifter would attempt.
It's a fact that novice lifters, when they begin training, have a much quicker recovery period than more experienced lifters. This is because there is more potential for growth in their muscles and means they can afford to "max out" more often.
You can cite all the studies you want - remember, in the early 80s "stuides" showed that AAS were ineffective. You can pretty much spin a study to show whatever results you like and there are too many variables involved IMHO.
If studies and scientific data are useless then what criterion do we use to justify claims?I have no idea what AAS is but clearly it was a "study" that disproved whatever incorrect information was being circulated about it in the first place. Are we to use ancedotal information exclusively? If that's the case that I can certainly testify that doing a failure rep has certainly been more effective than not doing one.
HIT (not HIIT as you referred to it) is far from the most effective way to gain strength OR mass but some people are still stuck in 1981 it seems.
Critiques of HIT, such as the one
here by Dr. Hatfield seem to be directed at particular people and their business practices rather than what Dr. Hussman (above) and I advocate. I have not suggested, for example, that lifters do one and only one rep of a lift. As the critique indicates there are different flavors of HIT.
The bottom line is that the only argument against doing lift to failure that has any weight (pun not intended) is that there is risk of overtraining. I think this issue is addressed by allowing for an ample recovery period before working that group again. The time for recovery gets longer as you become stronger and are able to lift more.
I'd still be open to hear other opinions. But it still makes sense to me that your muscles must be fatigued in order for you to get stronger and in turn get bigger.