Whether you are training for strength or endurance, you won’t get the best results unless you push your body to the limit.

Failure training means that you take your muscle to the point where it physically cannot perform another rep–the point where your arms are visibly shaking as you desperately try to squeeze out your last push-up.

I love training body weight exercises like dips and Australian pull-ups to failure. You might only be able to do a few at first, but with consistent practice, you’ll be surprised how quickly you can build up to double digits and beyond with these exercises.

If you are more concerned with sheer strength over endurance, you’ll probably want to train with weights–heavy ones, which will bring you to muscular failure in fewer reps.

However, don’t feel confined to the weight room if you want to get strong. There are many body-weight challenges, like dead hang pull-ups and muscle-ups, that can help build tremendous amounts of strength and power.

No matter how you choose to train, the important thing is to push yourself as hard as you can. While recovery time between workouts is a key part of the process, that rest is most beneficial after you’ve pushed yourself to muscular failure.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and fail!

Check out the video below to see my going to failure on a set of push-ups: