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I noticed that in the spotter thread the individual talks about going to failure being the best for strength gains. Personally, I have heard both sides of the story.

The way I see it, (by all means this is just an opinion) is that there are 3 different situations.

1. Strength training: I believe that most strength training, with low reps and big compound exercises should be only completed to failure of whole rep completion. This means that if you are going for 4-6 reps and you get 5 but would need a spotter to get 6, then the you should not be attempting the 6th. In strength training, more important that hypertrophy and muscle gain is improving neurological connection between your central nervous system and muscles. Just because you are exerting a ton of effort to get that 6th rep doesn't mean it is that beneficial. I also find that in doing so, and going to assisted failure depletes your muscle glycogen and hence muscle energy and recovery quicker.

2. Mass building: I believe that when you are focusing on mass building, it is smart to go to personal failure, and have the spotter help you on ONE, and the last rep. In doing so, you not only conserve energy but you allow for better muscle hypertrophy; the expansion in size of the muscle cells in this case (not the other type in which new
cells are created).

3. Shock routines: Once in a while I do believe that going to complete failure, when the spotter is doing near 80% of the work by the end is beneficial to shock your body into new growth. Otherwise, I see it as an utter waste of energy and puts your muscles beyond the point of recovering satisfactorily between sets.

I will try to find some articles on both sides, from reputable authors to post underneath.

Cheers.