For those of you who have already flipped through the July 2010 issue of Muscle & Fitness Magazine, you've likely seen the photos of me taking TNA wrestler, Rob Terry through a few high-intensity training techniques in my article Epic Fail. The training techniques that I cover in this article include Drop Sets, Extended Sets, Forced Reps, Negative Reps, Partial Reps, and Rest-Pause. All of these methods are designed with one goal in mind - to take sets past muscle failure.

Whether you've read the article or not, when was the last time that you have not only taken sets to full muscle failure, but worked to take sets past muscle failure? If it's been a while, then it's definitely time to move out of your comfort zone and utilize a few of the techniques I cover in Epic Fail. You'll be pleasantly surprised with the results that they provide.

Maybe you do consistently take your sets to muscle failure and beyond. But if so, I'll bet you use the same ol' tired techniques to reach this goal. There are so many ways to take a set past muscle failure and push your muscle growth forward. When was the last time that you tried Extended Sets? How about Partial Reps? My guess is never. Yet it's these never-used techniques that can provide a simple change to your workout that delivers impressive results.

Haven't seen any new muscle growth in a while? Even if you are pushing your sets past muscle failure, if you've been using the same techniques to do so, then it's no wonder that you've hit a plateau. Muscles do not respond to the same stimulus day after day, week after week, month after month. They are designed to adapt quickly and maintain their size and strength. The ONLY way that muscles will be encouraged to grow bigger and stronger is to give them a stimulus that they are unaccustomed to. You can do this easily by employing some of the techniques that I cover in Epic Fail.

And don't worry if you need a little more instruction on how to put these techniques to proper use in the gym. You can watch me demonstrate some of them in the following M&F Raw! videos: M&F Raw! #36 - Forced Reps, M&F Raw! #37 - Negative Rep Training, M&F Raw! #42 - Extended Set Training, and M&F Raw! #44 - Drop Sets.

So what are you waiting for? Start planning now by deciding what techniques you are going to use in your upcoming workouts to take your sets past muscle failure and take your muscle gains to new heights. You can thank me later.