Giannino Terilli Coaching

When performance drops early in a cut it usually means the muscle isn’t recruiting enough high threshold motor units which decreases muscle stimulation and effective reps.

If fewer muscle fibers are being stimulated, the muscle has no reason to maintain the adaptation you built in a surplus.

Now higher calories can mask bad programming and junk volume feels productive when food is high because you have enough energy to survive it.

But every rep costs energy, more volume = more total energy demand.

Short rest periods = more glycolytic demand.

Intensifiers, supersets, and high reps = even greater carbohydrate demand.

Carbohydrates are your primary fuel source for high intensity resistance training.

Cut calories too aggressively or run a high volume junk program in a deficit and your performance tanks (especially if you’re leaner, stronger, and carrying more muscle mass the less room you have to mess this up).

For 90% of people, strength shouldn’t drop just because calories did unless you’re extremely lean or deep into contest prep... well that’s a different story.

And dont get me wrong, your leverages may change as your weight drops making certain lifts (compound lifts like deadlifts and squats) 'weaker' but if the same muscles are maintaining or gaining strength in isolation movements thats a sign that you may not be losing muscle but your 'bigger stomach' may be helping with bigger lifts 😅

This is where slightly lower volume, controlled intensity, and intelligent programming matter most.

Performance should stay stable or even improve slightly through most of a deficit, that’s a good sign you may preserve muscle.

If your strength is crashing thats a sign your nutrition doesn’t match your training.

If performance starts tanking right after dropping calories, reduce the junk volume, prioritize your top sets and/or slightly increase calories while staying below maintenance so you still look like you lift when you’re lean.

Simple.

Need help with your programming?
Comment or DM me “BUILD” and I’ll personally reach out to help you with tailored 1:1 coaching.

She thought we were having a cute gym date.

I thought we were training legs.

Two very different expectations.

If you've never questioned your life choices halfway through a leg press set, did you even train legs?

let's me explain: this is called 'redundant exercise selection'...

Both the barbell back squat and hack squat are hardest at the bottom of the movement, meaning they both challenge the quads in the lengthened position. The only real difference is that the back squat brings in a bit more glute (depending on heel elevation and femur length) while the hack squat offers more stability and a stronger quadriceps bias.

So when you stack these two in the same session, you’re just doubling up on the same resistance profile, challenging the muscle at the same range of motion. This leads the second movement to produce fewer stimulating reps for muscle growth because you’ve already fatigued that end of the range.

Instead, stick to one squat movement and get the most out of it, then choose an exercise that hits the quads in a different position, like a leg extension for the shortened range where the muscle can produce more force compared to an already fatigued end of the range.

Remember, your brain recruits motor units to contract and produce force. As you get closer to failure, those fibers fatigue, force output drops, and fewer fibers get recruited as the workout continues. If you’re already fatigued from one lengthened movement, the second one becomes redundant, produces less stimulus for muscle growth, makes you weaker and requires more recovery.

If you love both, split them across different days so you can perform better, recover better, and stimulate the muscles more frequently for growth across the week.

Back squats followed by hack squats might look hardcore, but from a programming standpoint, it’s just redundant.

Remember fatigue doesn't build muscle ❌️ High levels of mechanical tension builds muscle 💪

All fun and games until this happens.



Has this ever happened to you?

😅 This might sound silly, but hear me out... 👇
When you’re standing for exercises like overhead presses, lateral raises, bicep curls and overhead tricep extensions, your body has to create stability and coordinate the movement through more of the body.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But when your goal is hypertrophy, you want the target muscle to be the limiting factor as much as possible.

The harder you train, especially with heavier loads and sets close to failure, the more important stability and control can become.

If your legs, core or other muscles are working hard just to keep you balanced and control your position, they can become part of what limits the exercise.

By taking some of that stability demand away and performing the exercise seated, you can make the movement more stable and reduce the amount of coordination required.

That doesn’t automatically mean the target muscle will grow more, but it can make it easier to focus on the muscle you actually want to train and push it closer to failure without balance or stability being the limiting factor.

So if a standing variation feels awkward or you struggle to make the target muscle the limiting factor, try the seated version.

Sometimes, less movement = more focus.

Need help with your training and programming? Comment or DM 'BUILD' to find out how 1 on 1 online coaching can get you better results in the gym.

1.Powerlifting vs hypertrophy
Powerlifters arch to lift the most weight possible. A big lumbar arch changes your torso position and can shorten the bar path, meaning the bar travels less distance.
When ROM is reduced, you may spend less time loading the pecs at longer muscle lengths, while the triceps and front delts can contribute more.
Some lifters can still grow their chest with a large arch depending on their anatomy, technique and accessory work.
But if your goal is chest hypertrophy rather than moving the most weight, you generally want a setup that gives you meaningful ROM while keeping the pecs as a major contributor.

2.“More arch = more stretch” is a myth
A larger lumbar arch does NOT automatically put the pecs at a longer muscle length.
Changing your ribcage and torso position changes the mechanics of the press, but it doesn’t necessarily create more useful pec stretch or tension where the pecs can actually produce force.

3.More ROM ≠ “max stretch”
Research suggests training muscles at longer muscle lengths can benefit hypertrophy, but you still need to consider where the target muscle can produce force effectively.
Going excessively deep can shift the limiting factor toward the shoulders or passive tissues rather than giving the pecs a better stimulus.
In pressing movements, you want enough depth to train the pecs without forcing an extreme range that lets the shoulders take over.

How to set up for better chest growth:
• Use a moderate upper back arch and stable shoulder position.
• Keep your torso and ribcage consistent (with a tight core) rather than aggressively cranking into lumbar extension as you move your arms back.
• Control the eccentric and use a depth where you can feel the pecs loaded without your shoulders becoming the limiting factor.

The goal isn’t the flattest bench or the biggest arch. It’s finding the ROM and setup that lets YOU train the pecs hard, progressively and consistently.

Need help with technique or programming?
Comment or DM me “BUILD” to learn how my coaching can help you maximise your results in the gym.

Every time you train a muscle, muscle protein synthesis (MPS), particularly myofibrillar protein synthesis (MyoPS), increases and can remain elevated for roughly 24–72 hours depending on training status, volume and how hard you train.

The problem with training a muscle once per week is you’re waiting a full 7 days before training it again.

That’s only 52 training exposures across an entire year.

Train it 2x per week and that becomes 104.

3x per week? 156.

So should you train every muscle 3x per week? Not necessarily.

3x the frequency doesn’t mean 3x the muscle growth.

Research shows diminishing returns as frequency increases, particularly when weekly volume is already matched.

The goal isn’t to train a muscle as often as possible.

It’s to distribute your volume across the week so you can keep your sets high quality, recover and continue progressing.

You don’t need to smash 20 sets for chest on Monday and then wait 7 days to train it again.

Spreading that volume across the week can allow you to recover better and maintain performance, while also reducing how much volume you need to do in a single session.

But there’s no magic number.

The amount of volume and frequency YOU need comes down to what you can recover from while continuing to progress.

Start on the lower end.

Try 2x per week with 2–3 hard sets per session, monitor your performance and recovery, then adjust from there.

Remember, more doesn’t automatically mean more results.

Sometimes it just means more fatigue to recover from.

Train smarter, not just harder.

👉 Need help programming your training? DM me “READY” and I’ll personally reach out to see how I can help.