Going to Failure

Its not necessary to go to failure to get stronger. What needs to be done is to leave a little in the tank, have a plan using percentages, and never miss a rep during your training cycle. You do not need to leave the gym feeling like crap to make strength gains. Now for hypertrophy? You can go to failure, and you will get more muscular by doing it. However, the burnout/injury rate is high when you you train that way. I have trained bodybuilders and I cycle them, a week of failure, 3 weeks of 5x12, back to a week of failure. Really, its just a different way of training and it prevents boredom. It is not vital to train that way, but it can be fun. I don't believe that there is a study out there that proves that it is better than traditional sets and reps for any type of gains. The hugest, most muscular people in the world on majority have trained in the traditional sets and reps way. For athletes? Not necessary to go to failure in the weight room. On the conditioning field, it is sometimes important to push CLOSE to failure, defined in my mind as severely fatigued where you reach a point where you haven't been before and to prove to yourself that you can go to that point.And that is just for toughness. However, the best way to condition is not to failure, it's having a well thought out plan, focusing on short term objectives and to make smart gains steadily.