Gaining knowledge of common fitness terms and acronyms will give you more confidence during your workouts. In this blog post, we will explain some of them!
As a beginner to the gym, it can be daunting. Acronyms like EMOM or AMRAP might seem unfamiliar and leave you baffled as to their meaning.
Intervals
Intervals are essential components of musical structures and therefore play a central role in music theory and ear training. An interval is defined as the distance in pitch between two notes in music – either harmonically or melodically, and may feature either perfect or diminished quality; they can even be classified by size and quality.
Perfect intervals are steps or conjunct motions while skipped intervals are leaps, or disjunct movements. Their size can be determined by counting steps on a scale between bottom and top note; their quality by asking whether their top note belongs to its major scale equivalent; if so, then that interval qualifies as perfect while otherwise it will remain minor.
Change the quality of an interval by manipulating its top note with accidentals. One common way of creating diminished intervals is lowering the top note while simultaneously raising the bottom note, turning a perfect interval into minor with no loss in generic size.
Interval training is a popular form of high-intensity workouts that consists of short periods of intense work followed by rest or recovery periods, such as sprinting, hill climbing or fartlek training (the Swedish term for speed play).
Supersets
Newcomers to the gym may find workout terminology daunting, but once you understand its meaning it will help you meet your fitness goals faster. One such term is supersets – which refer to exercises which target opposing muscle groups at the same time to maximize total work time – for instance bicep curls followed by tricep press downs can form part of a superset routine. Supersets provide an efficient solution for people with limited time as it reduces overall workout duration by shortening rest times between sets.
Supersets come in various forms, but their basic structure remains consistent: performing two exercises back-to-back that target opposite muscle groups to increase total muscle mass and decrease workout time. For instance, performing a set of pull-ups and push-ups targets both the upper body pulling muscles (back/biceps/triceps) as well as chest/triceps.
There are also pre-exhaust supersets, in which an isolation exercise precedes a compound exercise to extend muscle under tension for greater hypertrophy. Cluster sets, on the other hand, involve performing multiple exercises using one movement pattern targeting one muscle group at once – another great way of increasing intensity and volume while also working specific muscle groups more intensively – but be sure to obtain permission from your coach prior to starting this form of training.
Rest periods
Rest periods refer to the length of time between sets during a workout, and can differ depending on your training goals, such as muscle hypertrophy or endurance. An effective rest period will help meet those objectives while increasing EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) for fat burning.
Rest period duration depends on your experience level and body’s recovery capacity from exercise. When starting out, inexperienced clients typically require longer rest periods; as you gain familiarity with movements and how to perform them more easily, your rest times should gradually decrease over time.
Shorter rest periods are ideal for exercises that require less than moderate intensity, as they will increase your heart rate while simultaneously stimulating muscle burn while raising metabolic stress levels to optimize fat-burning results.
For more rigorous exercises, it is necessary to take longer rest periods after each set to allow your body to fully recover and replenish its glycogen stores while relieving muscle fatigue. But these extended rest periods must not compromise the quality of the exercise or hinder completion. An optimal rest period would range between 60-90 seconds for large compound exercises and 30-60 seconds for accessory movements – this way your body is prepared to hit each set with full intent!
Weights
No matter if you are new to fitness or returning after an absence, understanding fitness terminology can be daunting. But knowing this jargon can help maximize the value of your workouts and make more informed decisions regarding supplements to use.
Weights in fitness refers to anything from the number of reps performed during a set to the total weight lifted in an exercise, or even individual movements (e.g. bicep curls performed).
Heavy workouts are defined as those where the intensity required for completion exceeds your current capacity, forcing yourself to push past what seems possible in order to complete all prescribed reps. Striking a balance between intensity and performance over time by including heavy sets in your regimen can help increase intensity while improving results over time.
Personal records (PRs), or best achievements with exercises, such as highest rep count or fastest run time are an exciting part of fitness journeys and should be celebrated! Reaching a PR can motivate and keep improving strength, endurance and overall health as you train towards it while serving as a great way to celebrate successes!
Reps
New gym goers may feel intimidated by all the technical jargon fitness professionals and other members use. It can seem like another language altogether if English isn’t your primary one, but decoding workout terminology doesn’t need to be too difficult a process; by learning key terms such as reps and sets you can soon be on your way to becoming a fitness pro!
Reps refers to the number of repetitions performed for one exercise during a workout session. For instance, if instructed to perform three sets of ten reps on bench press, that means performing three sets of ten repetitions before resting and performing another set of ten reps and so on.
Performing sets until failure (when your muscles have become so fatigued that strict form is no longer possible) is often known as performing “the next one until failure”. This form of training is popularly employed in high-intensity interval training as well as bodyweight exercises and HIIT workouts.
Pyramiding, supersets and other advanced techniques were common during Arnold’s Golden Era of strength training, helping him break through muscle plateaus. No matter your current fitness level or focus, learning these advanced strategies is key to progressing and improving workouts – before heading out the gym, read this guide and decode workout terminology rep after rep.
RPE
RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion and allows you to customize the intensity of your workout based on how your body responds, such as heart rate increases, faster breathing rates and sweat production – according to Katie Fogelson of MIRROR training and Lululemon ambassador fame. Furthermore, rep counts can help provide insight into whether muscles have reached fatigued state.
Tracking progress and avoiding overtraining are both key components to staying on the right path, but also an invaluable way of breaking through strength or cardio plateaus by adapting your workout accordingly. This metric offers valuable guidance when tracking fitness progress.
Bakoulis asserts that using RPE as an indicator can be more precise than tracking heart rate or reps until failure, given all the variables which could influence one’s fitness level on any given day – from weather, food intake, menstrual cycles and sleep patterns, etc.
One such difference could be between a two-mile run that leaves you relaxed and refreshed for dinner and one that requires panting every few steps. RPE may be subjective; that is what makes it such an effective tool; however, combined with a recovery monitor it can become even more impactful.
