Protein Synthesis and Training to Failure
Protein Synthesis and Training to Failure – is this a concept you’ve given much thought to? If not, you should! Many lifters train hard, but not always as productive as they could be. Especially for the natural lifter, muscle growth is dependent on stimulating protein synthesis, hitting the three triggers of muscle growth (mechanical tension, muscle damage, and the pump), your nutrition/supplementation, and recovering properly. In this article, we will break all this down and learn how to make the most of our workouts. Let’s get started!
What Is Protein Synthesis (or Muscle Protein Synthesis)?
First, let’s define protein synthesis (also called MPS or Muscle Protein Synthesis) in simple terms. Muscle protein synthesis is the process your body uses to repair and build muscle tissue after your training sessions. From a non-training perspective, protein synthesis can be defined as a fundamental biological process by which individual cells build their specific proteins. When this occurs because of your intense workouts (and correct nutrition/supplementation of course), it’s a major stimulator of muscle growth. (1)
Net Protein Balance / How Much Protein
Protein synthesis happens if you have consumed more protein than what’s required to cover the basic functions of the body on a daily basis. This is how you maintain a positive protein balance. Protein, broken down to amino acids, is needed to perform the hundreds of processes the body requires to keep you alive and functioning normally.
As noted, this means that your body demands protein every single day. Despite ingesting protein daily, after your basic needs are met you might have enough left over for muscle growth. Therefore, bodybuilders and athletes need to ingest more than is typically suggested by mainstream sources. Look, there’s a big difference in just sitting on the couch all day and getting out there and demanding hard work from your muscles. Most authorities, myself included, recommend at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day.
Here’s another reason to think carefully about your daily protein intake. If the body needs more protein than it has available from dietary sources, it will break down muscle tissue to compensate. This is known as muscle protein breakdown. Protein breakdown and protein synthesis occur simultaneously throughout the day. When you wake up each day, your body is in a fasted state because you have not eaten anything for 6-9 hours (at least), so the rate of protein breakdown has increased.
That’s why it’s important to drink a fast-digesting protein source like whey protein first thing in the morning. You can also consume a slow-digesting casein protein shake before bed. As many of you know, if the rate of protein breakdown exceeds the rate of protein synthesis, you lose muscle. This catabolic state is also known as being in a state of negative protein balance. Your body fluctuates between these catabolic and anabolic states based on when as well as how much quality protein you ingest during the day. (2, 3)
Protein Timing
I suggest, and many authorities also suggest, spacing your protein intake evenly throughout the day. It also makes sense to drink a post-workout shake. Not because of some “anabolic window” but because most lifters are typically drained and hungry after training hard. I know I am. Why wait? Get the shake in, and once you get home, have a meal. I suggest eating your meal 1 ½ to 2 hours after your shake.
Training To Failure: What It Really Means
Training to failure simply means performing an exercise until you can’t complete another rep with good form. It’s typically seen as the ultimate intensity technique, and quite a few bodybuilders have embraced it over the years. And yes, going to failure can recruit more muscle fibers, especially the fast-twitch fibers which have the greatest growth potential. (4)
Many researchers define it as momentary muscular failure—the point where you can’t complete a rep even with maximal effort. (5)
You can also train “close to failure,” stopping one or two reps short, which still heavily recruits the major fibers without excessive fatigue. And of course, you can push past failure using extended-set techniques.
One point to be made is that going to failure may mean using lighter weights. However, you can push to and past failure using heavy weights and a technique like rest-pause. In contrast, with heavy loads (70–85% of max), stopping a rep or two short of failure produces similar growth while sparing your joints and nervous system. That’s important when you get older, and I can definitely vouch for that. Still, I personally like to go to failure, and maybe once a week I like to go past failure on 1-2 sets.
Does Training to Failure Boost Protein Synthesis?
It depends on the weight used, your volume, and how well you recover. Studies show that both failure and non-failure training stimulate protein synthesis effectively when volume is equal. Going to absolute failure may boost short-term MPS, but it also creates more muscle damage and fatigue—sometimes enough to blunt overall recovery. What is “absolute failure”? It’s the point where you can no longer lift the weight, even if your form is not perfect. (6, 7)
The Smart Way To Use Failure
Jumping off the last point, the best way to use failure is strategically. Here’s how.
Save It For Machine Movements
While I don’t have a problem going to failure on compound lifts under certain conditions, doing so using machines is safer and easier to recover from. What are the conditions I apply to compound lifts? First, it’s only going to work on a few exercises. Second, the key is safety. For example, bench inside a rack with the lower pins set high enough to keep the bar from crushing you when you fail. No rack? Then you better have a couple of willing spotters. No spotters? Then use machines.
Use It Sparingly.
For example:
- Go to failure on your last working set of each exercise. If, like me, you have a low set total, this works. What if your set total is high? Then go to failure on the last set of one exercise per muscle group.
- If recovery is an issue, only use it every other workout. Or, turn every 4th week into a “recovery week” where you stop 1-2 reps short of failure on every working set. But to be honest, making sure you are able to recover allows you to train harder. Of course, your lifestyle needs to be recovery-friendly.
This approach gives you the best of both worlds—strong muscle activation without compromising recovery.
General Training Suggestions
We now know that resistance exercise increases protein synthesis, and we know the key is that you have to consistently train hard enough to stimulate growth. To this end,your rep performance has a lot to do with how effective your workouts are. (1, 8)
I don’t advocate rushing through your reps like a F1 race car driver. Instead, here’s how your rep performance should look, using the bench press as an example:
- Lower the weight on the concentric phase using a 4-5 second count. Flex hard during this phase of the rep.
- Explode the weight back to the start position.
- On your last rep, do the following: at the point where your muscles are fully stretched, hold the stretch for 4 seconds. In the case of the bench press, it’s just before you hit the bottom of the rep.
- In general, I suggest 6-8 reps per working set, and I suggest using this technique for one set per bodypart per workout. Ideally, you would do this on your “to failure” sets.
Supplement Suggestions
We’ve already looked at your protein intake. In terms of supplements, I suggest whey protein powder and essential amino acids (EAAs). They work well thanks to their high leucine content, which stimulates protein synthesis. I suggest Hi-Tech Precision Protein because it specifically targets protein synthesis by releasing leucine in its initial stages.
I also suggest NutraBio EAA Pure. I like to use this as an intra-workout, and that includes while I do cardio. For example, I will walk an ⅛ mile walking track at the gym before I have a post-workout shake. I will do roughly 12-14 times around the track after I’ve worked out, and I’ll sip EAA Pure as I walk. This helps me stay in an anabolic state.
I also suggest creatine monohydrate, such as AllMax Nutrition Creatine, because it supports protein synthesis indirectly by enhancing training performance and improving the availability of cellular energy (ATP).
Common Mistakes
Going To Failure Too Often
If you train too hard all the time, it can lead to chronic fatigue, especially if you don’t allow enough time to recover. Consistently insufficient recovery will suppress protein synthesis over time. This means there’s no place in an intelligent training program for 7 days a week marathon workouts with zero days off.
Neglecting Nutrition, Specifically Protein
We’ve already talked about how important protein is. Now it’s up to you to meet your daily protein goal every day.
Summary
As we have seen, training to failure can amplify muscle growth when used wisely. Follow the training, nutrition, and supplementation tips in this article, and you will accomplish what you’ve set out to do. Don’t forget to stop by illpumpyouup.com and stock up!
References:
- Phillips, S. M., Tipton, K. D., Aarsland, A., Wolf, S. E., & Wolfe, R. R. (1997). Mixed muscle protein synthesis and breakdown after resistance exercise in humans. American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism, 273(1), E99–E107. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.1997.273.1.E99
- Tipton, K. D., & Wolfe, R. R. (2001, March). Exercise, protein metabolism, and muscle growth. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11255140
- Chesley, A., MacDougall, J. D., Tarnopolsky, M. A., Atkinson, S. A., & Smith, K. (1992). Changes in human muscle protein synthesis after resistance exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology, 73(4), 1383–1388. https://doi.org/10.1152/jappl.1992.73.4.1383
- Lasevicius, T., Schoenfeld, B. J., Grgic, J., Laurentino, G., Tavares, L. D., & Aihara, A. Y. (2022). Muscle failure promotes greater muscle hypertrophy in low-load but not in high-load resistance training. European Journal of Sport Science, 22(8), 1206–1214. https://doi.org/10.1080/17461391.2020.1866085
- Fisher, J. P., Steele, J., & Smith, D. (2022). Intensity of effort and momentary failure in resistance training: Are we asking a binary question for a continuous variable?. Journal of sport and health science, 11(6), 644–647. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2022.03.002
- Grgic, J., Schoenfeld, B. J., Orazem, J., & Sabol, F. (2021). Effects of resistance training performed to repetition failure or non-failure on muscular strength and hypertrophy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 10(5), 636–644. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2020.12.002
- Schoenfeld, B. J., Grgic, J., Krieger, J. W., Contreras, B., & Tinsley, G. M. (2022). Influence of resistance training proximity-to-failure on skeletal muscle hypertrophy: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 52(12), 2981–2994. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-022-01788-5
- Cheng, J., & Du, J. (2007). Mechanical stretch simulates proliferation of venous smooth muscle cells through activation of the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor. Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology, 27(8), 1744–1751.