Giannino Terilli Coaching

Maturing in the gym is realising you’ll probably get better results from 2 exercises done with enough intent and progression… than 6 exercises done half-assed.

Reality check: doing MORE doesn’t automatically mean better results.

At some point with exercise selection, you have to ask yourself:
“Why am I even doing this exercise in my routine?”

If you’re training with enough intensity to actually stimulate growth, progressively overloading the movement, and understanding that all fibres of a muscle will still contribute during an exercise (with certain regions being biased more depending on the movement)…

Then why is more automatically better?

Yes, research shows higher training volume can improve hypertrophy.
But the harder you train, the less volume you generally need.

Once a set starts involuntarily slowing down as you approach failure, that’s when the muscle building stimulus really starts to happen.

The problem is:
More hard sets taken close to failure also create more fatigue.

More fatigue = harder recovery, reduced performance later in the session, and often worse quality output overall.

People forget the goal of training isn’t to destroy the muscle.
It’s to stimulate it, recover, and repeat with enough nutrition and progression to grow.

That’s where a higher frequency approach can work really well.
Training a muscle 2 to 3 times per week gives you more opportunities to stimulate growth without burying yourself in fatigue in one session.

And no, this isn’t a “volume is bad” debate.

Even 2 exercises performed with enough intent, progression, volme and quality effort can outperform 5+ exercises done with mediocre ex*****on.

Most people overcomplicate training and think they need to throw everything plus the kitchen sink at a muscle to make it grow.

But sometimes progressing with less not only improves recovery…

it also makes progression way easier to track long term.

Need help with your training and nutrition?

Comment or DM me BUILD to find out how tailored coaching can help you see results 💪

It’s happening.

After years of people asking me…

I’ve decided to do my first ever bodybuilding show.

If you know me, my family, and my history… you know this is a big deal..

Over the next few months I’ll be documenting the entire journey on YouTube.

Not just the workouts… but the real behind the scenes of what it takes: training, nutrition, recovery, lifestyle, mindset, and everything leading into stepping on stage for the first time.

You’ll still get the educational content I’m known for… but now you’ll also see the process in real time.

Make sure to hit the link in my bio, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and get ready for what’s coming next 👊

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Generally speaking… if we’re talking about hypertrophy, the more experienced you become and the better you get at training close to failure with accuracy, the less need there is for super high rep sets.

But with that being said, it still depends on the person, their reasoning behind using higher reps, and their conditioning levels too.

Higher rep sets can come with more junk volume, more fatigue from metabolite buildup, cardiovascular limitations, and other fatigue mechanisms that can make it harder to truly train close to failure and progressively overload over time.

At the same time though, some people can build a tolerance to those fatigue mechanisms depending on their recoverability.

And for other lifters, doing more reps can actually help them perform better within a set.

Not necessarily through post-activation potentiation, but more through neurological efficiency, more practice, and learning to own each rep.

This can work really well for newer lifters, people managing injuries, or even when learning a new exercise that needs more technical practice.

And “high reps” is relative too.

For one person that might be 8-10 reps. For another it could be 10-12+ depending on the exercise, loading potential, and the individual.

So while I personally don’t prefer very high reps most of the time, understanding there’s a time and place for them can make programming more effective depending on the person and the goal.

Need help with your programming?
DM me or comment “BUILD” to learn how Giannino Terilli Coaching can help you get better results in the gym 💪

Why would anybody do the Jefferson squat?

To simply put it…it’s basically a wider stance squat variation.

That wider stance changes the bias of what gets challenged more at the bottom of the lift.

Combine that with pointing your toes out more, and the adductors will generally be biased more compared to the quads and glutes because they have to lengthen further to open the legs and help bring them back in.

Meanwhile, the quads are still primarily straightening the knee, and the glutes are extending the hips (just not as much as a traditional squat due to less bend in the knees and hips at the bottom of the movement).

But should you actually do Jefferson squats to bias the adductors more within your training?

Probably not.

This variation requires a lot to get right, is awkward for most people to load properly, and you can still bias the adductors pretty effectively with more conventional squat variations without sacrificing too much quad stimulus.

Even something as simple as slightly pointing your toes out more during a squat can increase adductor involvement while still hitting other muscles in the squat.

Using a slightly wider stance can also place the adductors under a bigger stretch at the bottom but may minimize how much other muscles contribute.

Or just use the adductor machine and train them directly.

You really can’t go wrong there.

Need help with your exercise selection and programming?

Comment or DM me “BUILD” to find out how Giannino Terilli Coaching can help you get better results through better programming and guidance.

hypertrophytraining

True story: the first video was taken at my father’s house while he was putting me through posing practice in the kitchen… with my grandmother and wife casually watching in the background 😅

This was around 2019-2020, before the world went into lockdown for the “spicy cough” 🤧

Back then I was smaller, carrying more body fat, and honestly didn’t take bodybuilding or body composition too seriously outside of powerlifting, powerbuilding, and getting lean for summer.

Since then I’ve spent years learning how to build muscle naturally through better training, better ex*****on, and improving my posing little by little along the way. Still plenty to improve, but it’s cool seeing the difference side by side.

Sometimes my body dysmorphia makes it hard to appreciate progress… but videos like this help put things into perspective.

Most people overcomplicate quad training.
It really only comes down to 2 things:

1) Training the quads through different knee positions:

If your goal is full development, you want to load the quads at both:
• Deep knee flexion (lengthened position)
• Knee extension (shortened position)
At the end of the day, the quads work by bending and straightening the knee. Everything else is just exercise variation and preference.

2) Biasing the re**us femoris:

The re**us femoris is the only quad muscle that crosses both the hip and the knee.

Because of that, its length and tension changes depending on hip position.

In most squat and leg press patterns, the hip and knee move together, so it doesnt recive stimulus in these movements.

But in movements where the hip is fixed and the knee extends, like leg extensions or sissy squats, you can place a stronger bias on the re**us femoris and that “quad separation” look.

So realistically, for full quad development you only need:

One deep knee flexion movement
(hack squat, pendulum squat, heel elevated squat, or 'knee over toe' style leg presses)

One knee extension movement
(leg extensions or sissy squats)

Simple. Effective. Hard to beat.

Need help structuring your training for maximum muscle growth?

Comment or DM “BUILD” to learn how tailored coaching can get you results.

**usfemoris

Why did do his lateral raises prone on an incline bench? 👀

Probably for 2 big reasons:

1) The added stability makes it harder to cheat the movement with momentum, allowing the side delts to do more of the work.

2) Leaning forward changes the torso angle, which can reduce how much the upper traps try to take over the movement. Not eliminate them… but reduce their dominance.

Combine that with the intent of moving the arms OUT instead of UP, and you can create a much more delt focused lateral raise.

Now before the gym nerds attack in the comments…
The traps will ALWAYS be involved in lateral raises to some degree.

But changing body position, stability and movement intent can absolutely make the exercise feel very different for some people.

Also…

If you do these properly, your ego is probably going to take a hit 😅

Need help with your training and programming?

Comment or DM me “BUILD” to learn how my 1 on 1 coaching can help you build muscle, get leaner and train smarter 💪