Training terms, in plain words

This glossary defines the training words used across this site. Each entry gives the definition first, then a sentence on how the site uses the term, then a link to the article that covers it in full. Every term has its own address, so you can link straight to one: /learn/glossary/#rir goes to reps in reserve.

Looking for a plan instead? The free workout plans are sorted by days and equipment.

A

Active recovery

Light movement on a day off, done on purpose: a walk, an easy bike ride or swim, some mobility work. The World Health Organization describes light-intensity activity as about a 2 to 4 on a 0 to 10 effort scale.¹ On this site it's one of the two kinds of rest day; if you're breathing hard, it isn't recovery anymore. What a rest day looks like.

B

Body recomposition

Building muscle while losing body fat over the same stretch of time, so the scale may barely move while your lifts go up. The site tracks it with strength, a waist measurement, photos and a weekly weight average rather than a single weigh-in. Can you do both at once?

Bodyweight training

Training with your own body as the resistance: squats, glute bridges, push-ups, doorframe rows and planks. On this site it's the no-equipment option, progressed by harder versions instead of more weight. A bodyweight workout.

Bracing

Taking a big breath and tightening your midsection before a rep, as if about to be poked in the stomach, so your trunk stays stiff under the load. The site's squat, deadlift and goblet squat pages all build it into the setup. The squat setup, step by step.

C

Cable machine

A machine that moves a weight stack through a cable and a pulley, so you can pull or press from almost any angle: lat pulldowns, cable rows, cable crunches. The site uses them as gym options on the back, shoulder and core pages. A back workout with machines and cables.

Calories

The energy in food and drink. This glossary is about training, so calories get a pointer, not numbers: calories and protein has the site's general guidance on both.

Compound exercise

An exercise that moves more than one joint and works several muscles at once, like a squat, a deadlift, a bench press, a row or a pulldown. Every plan on this site is built on them, with isolation exercises added after. Compound exercises, explained.

Consistency

Training on your planned days week after week, whether or not you feel like it. The site treats it as a system problem, not a willpower one: set days and times, a smaller workout for bad days, and never missing twice in a row. Consistency vs motivation.

Cool-down

Easy, low- to moderate-intensity exercise done within about an hour after training. A 2018 review found an active cool-down largely ineffective for performance later the same day and the next day.² On this site it's optional: keep it short and easy if you like one. Do you need a cool-down?

D

Deload

A planned lighter week: the same days and exercises, with fewer sets, lighter weights or sets stopped further from failure. Coaches interviewed for a 2022 study typically programmed one every four to six weeks,³ but that's practice, not proof: coaches in a 2023 panel agreed that scientific studies on deloading are limited.⁴ How to deload.

DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness)

The dull ache in a muscle that shows up after exercise it isn't used to. It typically appears 12 to 24 hours after, peaks between one and three days, and is gone within five to seven.⁵ On this site, soreness is treated as a poor scorecard for a workout, and sharp pain as something else entirely. Muscle soreness, explained.

Drop set

A set taken to failure, then continued straight away with a lighter weight, usually for one to three drops. A 2023 meta-analysis found drop sets and regular sets built similar muscle, with some drop-set versions taking a half to a third of the time.⁶ The site's advice: use them on single-joint exercises, not on heavy free-weight lifts such as the squat. Drop sets.

E

Eccentric and concentric

The two halves of a rep. The concentric part is the lifting, when the muscle shortens; the eccentric part is the lowering, when it lengthens under the load. The site uses slow eccentrics, or negatives, as one way into a first pull-up. Negatives and the pull-up.

F

Flexibility

How far the muscles, tendons and other soft tissues around a joint let it move: one trainable part of its range of motion.⁷ On this site, flexibility is kept separate from mobility, which adds the control to use that range in a lift. Mobility vs flexibility.

Form

The way a rep is done: your setup, the path the weight takes, the depth and the control. On this site, good form means each lift's checkpoints, repeated every rep, not one perfect position for everyone. Squat form, deadlift form and bench press form.

Free weights and machines

Free weights are barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells you move and balance yourself; machines guide the weight along a fixed path. A 2023 meta-analysis of 13 studies found no difference between the two on strength or muscle size when compared directly, though strength gains were specific to the equipment people trained on.⁸ The site's rule: use whichever you have and will keep doing. Machines vs free weights.

Frequency

How often you train: sessions a week, or how many times a week each muscle is worked. On this site, the days you can repeat come first, and the sets in them matter more than the layout. How often to train.

Full body

A split where every session trains the whole body, usually with a squat, a hinge, a push and a pull. It's the site's default for two or three days a week, and most of its plans use it. Full body and the other splits.

G

Goblet squat

A squat holding one dumbbell or kettlebell against your chest. The site treats it as the beginner's squat: no rack, no bar on your back, and a weight in front to sit down against. The goblet squat.

H

Hinge

A movement that bends mainly at the hips, with the knees only slightly bent and the back straight: the pattern behind deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, hip thrusts and back extensions. Every full-body plan on this site has one, alongside a squat, a push and a pull. Learn the hinge.

Hypertrophy

Muscle growth: an increase in the size of a muscle. The site's reading of the research is that there's no single hypertrophy rep range; a wide range of reps works when the sets are hard. How many reps to build muscle.

I

Isolation exercise

An exercise that moves one joint and targets one muscle or group, like a biceps curl, a lateral raise or a leg extension. The site adds them after the compound lifts, for muscles you want more work for. Compound vs isolation.

M

Maintenance

In training, doing enough to keep the strength and muscle you have, through a busy stretch or a trip. One review found that strength and muscle size could be kept with as little as one strength session a week and one set per exercise, at least in younger people, as long as the load stayed heavy.⁹ Here the word is used in its training sense only. Keeping a travel week on track.

Mobility

As lifters use the word, the range of motion you can reach and control in a lift, not just reach. On this site, lifting through a full range already counts, and a ten-minute routine is the add-on for more range. A mobility routine for lifters.

O

One-rep max (1RM)

The most weight you can lift once, with good form, on a given exercise. Studies use it to set loads as a percentage, but the site's method doesn't need one: choose the reps first, then a weight that leaves a few in reserve. How much weight to lift.

P

Plateau

A stretch where a lift stops going up. The site treats a stall as information, not failure, and checks sleep and food, effort, volume and the rep range before changing exercises. When you stall.

Progressive overload

Gradually asking your muscles to do a little more over time, with more weight, more reps or more sets. The American College of Sports Medicine's 2009 position stand recommends adding 2 to 10% to the weight once you can do one or two reps more than your target.¹⁰ Every plan on this site moves forward this way, one logged session at a time. Progressive overload, explained.

Protein

One of the parts of food your body uses to build and repair muscle. Like calories, it gets a pointer here rather than numbers: calories and protein covers it.

Push/pull/legs

A split with three kinds of session: push (chest, shoulders and triceps), pull (back and biceps) and legs. The site suggests it for five or six days a week; on three days, each muscle is trained only once a week. Which split for your days.

R

Range of motion

How far a joint moves during a rep, from the bottom position to the top. A 2021 meta-analysis of 16 studies found that a full range of motion built more strength and more lower-body muscle than partial reps.¹¹ So the site's squat pages give a depth target rather than a partial rep. How deep to squat.

Rep

Short for repetition: one complete lift, down and up. A rep range, like 8 to 12, tells you how many to aim for in a set, and on this site the range only means something when the set is hard. How many reps.

Reps in reserve (RIR)

How many more good reps you could have done before failure. For most working sets, the site aims for about 1 to 3 reps in reserve.^12,13 New lifters start further from failure, with three or four left. Reps in reserve, explained.

Rest between sets

The time you rest after one set before the next. A 2024 meta-analysis found a small benefit for muscle growth from resting more than 60 seconds and no clear gain past 90.¹⁴ The site gives heavy compound lifts two to five minutes and smaller exercises one to two. How long to rest.

Rest day

A day with no training planned, either fully off or with light active recovery. On this site, a day between hard sessions for the same muscles matters more than the total number of rest days. How many rest days you need.

Romanian deadlift (RDL)

A deadlift that starts standing and lowers the bar down your thighs with the knees slightly bent, only as far as your hamstrings allow, before you stand back up. It's the hamstring version of the deadlift, and the site uses it as the hinge in its leg and back days. The RDL, step by step.

RPE (rating of perceived exertion)

A 1 to 10 rating of how hard a set was. For lifting, it's built on reps in reserve: RPE 10 means nothing left, RPE 9 one rep left, RPE 8 two. So RPE is 10 minus your reps in reserve, and the site's 1 to 3 RIR target is RPE 7 to 9. RIR and RPE.

S

Set

A group of reps done in a row before a rest. On this site, the sets that count toward your week are the hard ones, ending with only a few good reps left; warm-up sets and easy sets don't. What counts as a set.

Split

The plan for which muscles or movements each session trains across your week: full body, upper/lower or push/pull/legs. A 2024 meta-analysis of 14 studies found split and full-body routines built similar strength and muscle when weekly volume was matched.¹⁵ The site's rule: count your days first, then pick the split that fits them. Which workout split.

Squat pattern

A movement that bends the hips, knees and ankles together: back squats, goblet squats, leg presses and split squats. It's one of the four patterns every full-body plan on this site starts with, alongside the hinge, the push and the pull. Squat form.

Strength

How much force you can produce, usually measured by how much you can lift for a set number of reps. On this site, heavier sets of about 1 to 6 reps are the strength end of the range, though moderate reps get most people most of the way. How many reps for strength.

Superset

Two exercises done back to back, then a rest. A 2025 meta-analysis found supersets kept about the same reps and total load as regular sets in sessions about 37% shorter, though they felt harder.¹⁶ The site pairs different muscles and keeps heavy free-weight lifts out of them. Supersets, explained.

T

Tempo

How fast you move through each part of a rep, especially the lowering. The site doesn't prescribe tempos; it asks for a controlled lowering and less momentum, and lists better reps as one way to progress. Five ways to progress.

Training to failure

Ending a set when you can't complete another rep with decent form. The American College of Sports Medicine's 2026 position stand found that taking sets to failure didn't add to gains in strength, muscle size or power.¹² So the site's sets stop a few reps short. Should you train to failure?

U

Upper/lower

A split that alternates upper-body sessions (chest, back, shoulders, arms) with lower-body sessions (quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves). The site suggests it for four days a week, two of each, so every muscle is trained twice a week. Which split for your days.

V

Volume

How much training a muscle gets, counted on this site as hard sets per muscle per week. The American College of Sports Medicine's 2026 position stand found that 10 or more sets per muscle group a week enhanced muscle growth.¹² New lifters start lower and add a set or two when progress stalls. How many sets per week.

W

Warm-up

What you do before your working sets: a few minutes of easy movement, then warm-up sets of your first lift, climbing from about half your working weight to about 80% of it. Later exercises for the same muscles need one light set or none. How to warm up before lifting.

Working set

A set at the weight and effort the plan calls for, after the warm-ups. These are the sets you log and count toward your weekly volume, and they should end with a few good reps left. How to log them.

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