Training to Failure: How Close Is Close Enough? with Dr Martin Refalo

How close to failure do you need to train to build muscle?

And how accurately can you judge how many repetitions you still have in reserve?

In this episode of Stronger With Time, I speak with Dr Martin Refalo about how accurately lifters can judge repetitions in reserve, how close to failure a set needs to be, and when training to failure may be useful.

Martin is Co-Owner and Education Manager at JPS Health & Fitness. He holds a PhD in Exercise Science, has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications and has more than a decade of practical coaching experience. Proximity to failure and its relationship with hypertrophy, fatigue and discomfort have been central areas of his research.

We discuss:

Why lifters can misjudge how close they are to failure
How to develop a more accurate sense of repetitions in reserve
How close to failure Martin generally recommends training
When recording a set may help calibrate effort
How fatigue across a session can affect performance
When training to failure may be more appropriate in lower-volume programmes
Whether load and repetition range affect muscle growth
Why higher-repetition sets can be more difficult to judge
What the evidence suggests about sex differences in fatigue, recovery and hypertrophy
Whether women require fundamentally different resistance-training programmes
How Martin designs studies around practical training questions

This conversation is for coaches and serious lifters who want to prescribe effort with greater accuracy and understand how proximity-to-failure research applies in the gym.

Timestamps:

00:05 Introduction to Dr. Martin Rafalo and His Expertise

01:03 Exploring Resistance Training and Training to Failure

01:31 Practical Applications of Exercise Science

01:56 Introduction and guest introduction

02:30 Why study training to failure? The research focus

05:10 Context-dependent nature of training intensity

08:39 The strike zone: 2 reps shy of failure

09:45 Is it worth pushing to true failure? Practical tips

12:02 Perception of effort and actual proximity to failure

13:46 Muscle tension, fatigue, and hypertrophy mechanisms

18:04 Monitoring progress and fatigue through performance

20:40 Fatigue impact across sessions and exercises

25:17 Research findings on proximity to failure and growth

27:31 Programming considerations: volume, load, and recovery

30:54 Training to failure in beginners vs. advanced

33:42 Sex differences in fatigue and recovery

36:25 Applying science to coaching practice

47:04 Designing research studies in exercise science

51:05 Within-subject vs. group studies on failure

54:08 Gender responses to resistance training

58:22 Hormonal influences and muscle growth in females

01:01:27 Bridging science and coaching practice

01:05:10 Program design for different athlete goals

01:08:10 Program duration and auto-regulation

01:10:26 Where to find more about Martin Refalo

Dr Martin Refalo

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrfitness__/

JPS profile: https://www.jpshealthandfitness.com.au/team/martin-refalo/

JPS Education: https://www.instagram.com/jps_education/

JPS Health & Fitness: https://www.jpshealthandfitness.com.au/

JPS YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi6aTw95QXJHjv8ucdxnL7Q

Tony Boutagy / Stronger With Time

Website: https://tonyboutagy.com/

Explore Tony’s courses: https://tonyboutagy.com/explore-the-courses-page

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonyboutagy/

Subscribe to Stronger With Time for more evidence-informed conversations on training, health and performance.

This episode is for general educational purposes only and is not a substitute for individualised training advice.

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