Originally Posted by
cyclintom
"The reason one must lift to failure is specifically to cause full fiber recruitment." -> Also, physical therapists are educated in the way muscles work and they disagree with you. They use rather light weights and multiple repetitions.
And neither do pro's who train powerlifting competition winners like boris sheiko:
I don't remember exactly where it is but he says his competitors never do more than 85%-90% of their max in training. The only time they go above that is for competitions, or in order to qualify for the competition, but in regular training he avoids lifters going to their max. Advanced training also involves "periodized" training where you cycle through different percentages of your max.
The "must lift to failure" idea is a myth...it's about as true as "red bikes are faster". ;-)