Matt Collins Coaching

Preacher curls feeling awkward? You’re not alone.

Most people struggle because: the handle is a fixed position due to this the Elbows flare out, which then your joint is aligned with the direction of force

3 fixes:

1️⃣ Reduce range of motion
Don’t force the bottom position if it’s uncomfortable

2️⃣ Single arm variation
Allows natural elbow tracking

3️⃣ Pick a different exercise
Plenty of ways to train biceps

Bottom line: If you can progress it consistently without pain, your biceps will grow.

Stop forcing exercises that. Work with what feels right.

A calorie deficit is a calorie deficit however you package it 👍

stop changing your plan when you’re not even sticking to it

“i want a more aggressive approach because i’m not seeing results”

If you’ve hit your steps 2 days out of 7 your nutrition is all over the place and you’ve done half your cardio sessions

you’re basically saying “this ladder isn’t working” while standing at the bottom not climbing it then asking for a bigger ladder

the plan you’re not following is already aggressive enough you just haven’t experienced it yet because you’ve never actually done it

You’ve no idea what your response rate is if you’ve never followed anything consistently enough to find out

do what’s already there for 4 weeks straight assess your response, if then a more adjustment if you have the data to back that up

Daily weighing gets a bad rep but the research is clear, it works for most people.

Here’s why coaches get this completely wrong and why throwing your scales away might be sabotaging your progress.

The key isn’t avoiding the scale, it’s understanding what the numbers actually mean.

Track trends, not daily fluctuations. That’s the difference between staying consistent and making panic decisions that derail your progress.

What’s your take, daily weighing or weekly?

Your first fat loss phase isn’t your final form.

A lot of people worry about getting too skinny in their first proper cut. Truth is, you probably will look smaller than you want.

Unless you’ve been training progressively for years, your first fat loss phase is gonna show you have less muscle than you think.

First time I stepped on stage I was a lot smaller than I thought, had way more body fat to pull off than expected.

But despite what most people say, getting lean before your first proper build is the best approach:

1. You can see what you’re working with
2. You’re gonna be able to run a building phase for a long period because you’re starting from a lean position
3. You’re gonna utilise the food a lot more effectively

This is the best you will have ever looked, but it’s not the best you’re ever going to look.

My elbows used to feel like s**t all the time and this was down to my exercise selection. One being skull crushers.

Are you still doing skull crushers? A lot of people experience elbow pain but continue doing them because they’re married to the exercise, like I was.

Here’s the problem with skull crushers. As long as gravity’s working, the direction of force is straight down through the contact point of your hands on the bar.

To align that better, you’d need to tuck your elbows in. But most people can’t, I can’t. because the wrist angle would have to change ( it’s a fixed bar so you can’t) or the elbows flare out. So now they’re working in a diagonal direction, opposing the direction of force at the elbow joint.

I’m not saying it’ll give you elbow cancer instantly, but if you’re experiencing pain, don’t sleep with an exercise just cause you feel like you need to do it.

Better exercises that line up with the direction of force: single arm tricep extension, long rope tricep extension, cable crossovers. There’s loads of options.

It’s just elbow extension. If you can do that comfortably with a movement that feels good and continually progress it, you’re gonna get big triceps.

I’m not a science based lifter, I’m just a logic based coach.

Guy number one (Dr Mike) is getting proper range of motion. Guy number two is getting minimal knee flexion and calling it a leg press.

The difference is the set up

Dr Mike has his seat declined. This means he doesn’t hit maximum hip flexion quickly, so he can actually get proper knee flexion without his hips lifting off the pad.

Guy number two has his seat more upright. He hits maximum hip flexion straight away, which means his hips start lifting and he can’t get any real knee flexion.

Your setup matters more than how many plates you stack on there.

If you want to target quads properly, you need knee flexion. That means setting the seat so you can actually move through a range instead of just ego lifting .

Might bruise your ego when you realise you can’t lift as much with proper form, but your quads will actually grow.

Logic beats ego every time.