Giannino Terilli Coaching

Most people doing only 1-2 sets per exercise probably need more volume...

Why?

Because they're not training hard enough.

Can you build muscle with 1-2 sets? Absolutely.

If those sets are taken close enough to failure, and your overall volume, frequency, recovery, and exercise selection are dialled in, muscle growth can happen with surprisingly low volumes.

The problem is most people aren't training with enough intensity to make those 1-2 sets count.

A simple way to tell?

Look at your performance.

If you can keep repeating sets with little drop-off in reps, load, or ex*****on quality, chances are the muscle isn't as fatigued as you think it is.

When performance starts to decline, it tells us the muscle is becoming less capable of producing force. That's often a sign you've accumulated enough fatigue to recruit and challenge a large amount of muscle fibres.

So next time you're building a program, ask yourself:

Can you truly get everything out of 1-2 sets?

Or do you need more volume to create enough mechanical tension, the primary driver of muscle growth?

And how do you know you're creating that tension?

As a set gets harder, your reps naturally slow down. The muscle has to work harder to keep producing force, increasing the tension placed on the fibres and helping stimulate growth.

Need help with your programming?

Comment or DM me "BUILD" to find out how tailored 1-on-1 coaching can help you get better results in the gym 💪

👇 3 reasons why solely on shoulder presses probably isn't the best strategy for total shoulder growth 💪

1) Grip & arm path matter

All shoulder press variations heavily involve the anterior delts (front delts), but your arm position changes which muscles contribute more throughout the lift.

Such as a neutral grip with the elbows closer to the body will generally bias more clavicular (upper) chest in the bottom position.

Then a wider pronated grip with the arms abducted out to the sides will generally bias more medial deltoid (side delt) in the bottom position.

2) Range of motion matters

Different portions of the ROM place more tension on different muscles.

The bottom of a neutral grip press tends to place more tension on the upper chest.

The bottom of a wider, abducted press tends to place more tension on the side delts.

As the arms move above roughly 90° of elevation, all pressing variations place a large demand on the anterior delts.

This is why exercise ex*****on, ROM, and even partials can change which muscle is doing the most work.

3) Rear delts are missing

No shoulder press variation meaningfully biases the posterior deltoids (rear delts).

To train them effectively, include exercises that move the upper arm behind the body, such as rear delt rows & reverse flyes.

So while shoulder presses can train different regions of the deltoid depending on how they're performed...

You can't maximally develop all three heads of the deltoid with pressing alone.

Need help structuring your training for maximum muscle growth?

Comment or DM me "BUILD" and let's chat about 1-on-1 coaching 💪

😮‍💨 Cant breath on chest supported rows? 😮‍💨
👇Here's the two mistakes your making:

1️⃣ The pad is crushing your diaphragm

Your diaphragm is your primary breathing muscle. It sits just below your lungs and needs room to move so you can breathe properly.

If the pad is sitting too low on your ribs or upper stomach, you're compressing the very muscle responsible for helping you breathe.

Result? Every rep feels like you're fighting for air.

✅ Fix: Position the pad higher so it sits against your sternum and upper chest, not your lower ribs or abdomen.

2️⃣ You're breathing at the wrong time

The hardest part of most chest-supported rows is the stretched position at the bottom.

If you haven't taken a breath and braced before reaching that position, you'll feel unstable, lose tension, and get driven into the pad.

✅ Fix:
• Breathe in before reaching the stretch
• Brace your core
• Row the weight
• Exhale as you complete the rep

Get these two things right and you'll feel stronger, more stable, and won't feel like you're being suffocated halfway through a set.

Need help building muscle, getting stronger, or taking the guesswork out of your training?

📩 Comment or DM "BUILD" and I'll personally reach out to see how I can help.

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 💪