Doing More Than You Can Do

A friend of mine told me that by doing sets close to your max. And doing reps as many as you can do with and with out help will make u put up 10 more lb in a week? true? possible? I heard you should keep doing the weight where you can finish by ur self. This was toward the bench but wil it work ( if it does) with any other exercises like squat? Advance thanks to your answers.

Anything works for a while. Possible? Yes every week NO.