The online coach & personal trainer helping the average gym goer finally look like they lift!
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?
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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.
Want to get bigger, stronger and better at a movement pattern?
Do it more often. Simple.
The more you repeat a specific movement pattern over time, the more efficient your nervous system becomes at performing that movement.
This is known as neurological efficiency.
Your brain and nervous system get better at coordinating the muscles involved, improving things like motor unit recruitment, timing and force production.
In simple terms: you become better at using the muscle you already have.
This allows you to produce more force, progress your lifts over time and create a stronger stimulus for hypertrophy by increasing the amount of muscle fibres contributing to the movement.
This is why consistently practising key movements often beats constantly changing exercises.
You don't ne
ed a new exercise every week.
You need to master the ones that work, progressively overload them, and give them enough time to produce results.
Building muscle isn't about constantly searching for the next best thing.
It's about executing the basics better than everyone else.
Need help building a program that actually progresses?
DM me BUILD to find out how 1-on-1 coaching can help you build more muscle and get stronger.
Most people don’t know this...
One of the most underrated bicep exercises is the Reeves curl.
It’s basically a curl variation where your upper arms are supported behind your torso, which increases stability and makes the biceps do more of the work.
The downside?
The setup is awkward. Getting a barbell positioned behind your body takes time, and for most people it’s not worth the hassle.
Instead, try one of these two variations:
✅ Incline curls using a preacher curl bench for arm support.
✅ Incline curls using a 45° back extension for arm support.
Both give you a stable setup without the awkward positioning.
Now I know someone will say...
“But incline curls stretch the biceps more, so they must be better.”
Not necessarily.
Research comparing preacher curls and incline curls suggests both are effective but they may bias growth differently and a recent study found incline curls produced more proximal biceps growth, while preacher curls produced more distal growth while an earlier study also found a slight overall advantage for preacher curls, so the evidence isn’t one-sided.
At the end of the day, muscle growth still comes down to training hard, taking sets close to failure, and progressively overloading over time.
These are simply stable variations that make it easier to keep the biceps as the limiting factor.
Need help choosing the right exercises for your goals?
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Most people make this mistake on hamstring curls and don’t even realize it
If you’re pointing your toes away (plantarflexing) and squeezing your calves, you’re actually making yourself weaker and making it harder for your hamstrings to do their job
Your calves (gastrocnemius) cross both the ankle and the knee, so they act as a biarticular muscle
When you point your toes, you shorten the gastroc at the ankle → which puts it in a shortened position overall
That limits its ability to contribute to knee flexion (active insufficiency), meaning less assistance in the movement
Instead, pull your toes up towards you (dorsiflex)
This lengthens the gastroc so it can contribute more effectively to knee flexion, especially in the early range (~first 15°)
More contribution at the knee = smoother reps and often more load
Don’t believe me? Try both and feel the difference
Need help with your training?
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🤔 Do you agree? 👇👇👇
Guess I can make competitive bodybuilder content now 🤷♂️😅
The brain fog in those last few days before the carb up is real 🥔🥖
These 5 hacks can instantly boost performance and neural drive which can help you increase motor unit recruitment,help you increase the load you can handle from session to session… which means more hypertrophy over time 💪
1. Caffeine pre training (PMID: 41127092)
Caffeine at ~3–6 mg/kg can increase movement velocity, power and strength by raising corticospinal excitability and lowering RPE.
How to use it: Take 3–6 mg/kg 30–60 minutes before training.
2. Fast concentrics / explosive intent (PMID: 41267790)
Trying to move the weight fast increases central drive and recruits more high-threshold motor units even with submax loads.
How to use it: Drive the concentric in 1 sec or less while keeping the eccentric controlled.
3. Carbs pre & intra workout (PMID: 29266092, 27005660)
Keeping carbs available helps maintain neuromuscular performance and reduces fatigue across the session.
How to use it: Have 40–60% of your daily carbs pre and intra workout with a meal 1–2 hours pre training and/or an intra shake with easily digestible carbs.
4. Fast-tempo music (PMID: 31860533)
Fast-tempo music can increase fatigue threshold and power output, helping you sustain higher performance.
How to use it: Put on fast, hype music to help delay neuromuscular fatigue.
5. Motivating exercises & self-talk (PMID: 41267790)
Motivational cues can increase force output and voluntary activation by boosting motor cortex activity.
How to use it: Choose exercises you enjoy and use positive self-talk to increase central drive.
But remember, none of this matters if you’re not nailing your program design, training intensity, progression and recovery.
Need help with your training?
Comment or DM me BUILD and I’ll reach out personally.
