Is it good or bad to burn out a muscle group at the end of a workout?

Question

For example instead of just finishing biceps with a set of 8 reps with your normal weight, is it more beneficial to curl that weight until muscle failure,drop 5 pounds and immediately curl until muscle failure again, and continue dropping weight until its at 0 and your arms are ready to fall off? Ive heard its a great way to get the most from that muscle group, but ive also heard that its overworking the muscles. Any fitness guru's got some advice on this?

Answer 1

The burn is due to lactic acid buildup. As long as you give your body enough off days to rest, this can provide some significant benefits.

The lactic acid buildup creates a stimulus for the body to adapt over time by increasing the mitochondrial concentration in the muscle. This increase in mitochondria consumes extra calories 24 hours per day and will increase your resting metabolic rate.

It will increase your VO2 max as well as your anaerobic endurance with great benefit to your athletic performance. This is why the military loves to use this type of training (pushups, pullups, situps, etc.).

Here is an interesting link with more info.

Answer 2

Burn out sets are good if you are going for muscle definition more so than size. I use a pyramid type workout when working arms and chest. Start low and work my way up and then back down to a cool down set. You really wont overwork the muscle unless you are going right back in there the next day and doing it again...you need to allow your muscle to recoup for at least 24-48 hours before reworking it. When you lift weights you actually make microscopic tears in the muscle that eventually repair themselves...which actually is how your muscle grows. So you have to give your body the time to heal in between workouts.

Answer 3

i'd say it's too much and unsafe