Giannino Terilli Coaching

10/09/2026

If your goal is to hold on to as much muscle as possible while dieting, it's actually pretty simple...

The stimulus that built the muscle is the stimulus you need to maintain.

One of the easiest ways to do that is by keeping your training variables as consistent as possible.

If you're constantly changing exercises, especially during a calorie deficit, it becomes harder to know whether strength improvements are coming from getting better at a new movement or from actually maintaining muscle.

A new machine or exercise might feel exciting, but can you be sure it's providing the same level of tension that helped build that muscle in the first place?

When calories are low, recovery is limited. The last thing you want is to swap movements and end up using loads that are too light or no longer challenge the target muscle in the same way.

Remember, muscle is built and maintained through mechanical tension. The best indicator you're creating enough tension is when reps start to slow down as you approach failure. That's what creates the forces that signal the body to keep muscle around.

Keep it simple.

Keep the movements the same.

Train hard.

Give your body a reason to keep the muscle.

Use it or lose it. 💪🏻

Need help with a program you can actually stick to?

Comment or DM me "BUILD" to learn how my tailored 1-on-1 coaching can help you build muscle, lose body fat, and get results that last. 💪🏻

09/09/2026

04/09/2026

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 💪

03/09/2026

👇 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 💪

02/09/2026

Update: Less than 2 weeks out from the WNBF Australia nbfaustralia Melbourne Show 💪

Coming off my last show, everything was going great after a much needed diet break... until I got sick.

I'm not going to lie, throwing an illness into the mix while being this lean, this deep into prep, and after already doing 3 shows back to back in less than 4 weeks has made recovery a lot tougher than expected.

What nobody tells you about getting stage lean is just how much your energy levels can drop.

It's not a coincidence.

You've got less energy coming in from food, high energy output from training, steps, posing practice, and very little body fat left to draw from. While energy has been low during previous preps (I even got sick 2 weeks before my first show), but this time around everything has hit a little harder.

The illness is gone, but some of the side effects have lingered. Headaches, sinus pressure, and slower recovery have made even everyday tasks feel like a marathon. Some days it genuinely feels like I'm walking through mud with these headaches.

That said, every prep comes with its own challenges. This time it's been recovering while also learning the new WNBF Classic Physique posing requirements.

Despite the setbacks, we're still on schedule for next weekend.

Now it's time to keep pushing, keep refining, and hopefully bring my best package to date 🤞🏼🏆

31/08/2026

😮‍💨 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.

26/08/2026

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.

25/08/2026

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?

19/08/2026

The physique is the result.

The real progress happens over time.

The hours in the gym.

The meals in the kitchen.

The focus on recovery.

The lessons from getting it wrong.

The adjustments made along the way.

It all adds up.

Years of small decisions eventually become something you can see.

It all started with wanting to get fit.

Now the question is:

How far can we take this?

The journey never ends.

It just evolves.

Still chasing better.

📸 SYDNEY FITNESS PHOTOGRAPHER