There are a lot of debates about necessity of reaching muscle ‘failure’. This is quite a new technique; lots of athletes trained without it and achieved sufficient results. Before we decide whether we need it, let’s first find out what is it.
Failure is recognised as such muscle fatigue gained during the last set repetition when you are unable to overcome the weight with correct movement biomechanics.
There are three types of Muscle Failure: positive, negative and static.
Positive Muscle Failure arises when you are unable to lift the weight without outside assistance: for example, when performing Bench Presses you cannot lift the barbell to the required upper point.
Negative Muscle Failure arises when you are tired to such extent that you are unable to control even the process of weight lowering; the barbell is ‘pressing’ you. This failure type is also often called an ‘absolute’ one because further work with the weight is absolutely not possible in any sense.