I’ve seen 30-10-30 training referred to as “not to failure” or NTF, especially since Dr. Darden has recommended that we pick a weight that would let us keep a couple of reps in the tank on the middle 10.
I’m not trying to be argumentative or get hung up on semantics but think it depends on how you define failure. If failure is defined as attempting to to complete a positive rep and not being able to then it is NTF. However, if you define failure as not being able to complete a positive rep IF you attempted one then from my experience 30-10-30 is definitely getting me to that point.
Yesterday I tried an experiment with dumbbell lateral raise. I did the first 30 second negative and then the middle 10. I could have definitely done a couple more on the middle 10 if I had chosen to. Then, I did the last negative. At 20 seconds in I came to a complete stop and attempted to do a positive rep with absolutely no cheating. I was able to move the weight up a little but there was no way I could complete a positive rep. I could have done it if I had cheated a bit but that would have defeated the purpose of the experiment. I had definitely inroaded my muscles to the point where another positive rep was impossible so in my mind I had reached failure.
I think Dr. Darden has discovered a way to get to deep inroad, failure (depending on your definition) and the recruitment of all of the available fibers. What I think is most important though is that this method makes it so much easier to keep perfect form, especially when we follow his latest advice about using lighter weights and focusing on recruiting muscle. It also takes away the tendency to recruit other muscles and use “whole body bracing” in order to lift the weight. If the negative is too heavy I find myself doing that but with 30-10-30 I find it’s not that difficult to do the last 30 seconds using perfect form and keeping my focus on the muscles I’m training.