Gym Jargon: Gym Language 101

GYM Language

You went to the gym and heard people saying different statements “Bro, is that guy on gear?” or “Man, from next week on, I am going to deload.” And you wonder, are they speaking English?

They are speaking the gym language, which you did not know until now. Today, you will learn all the popular gym jargon that will elevate you to the next level. From a normal gym goer, you will get elevated to the ultimate status of “The Gym Bro.”

Most popular Gym Jargon and what they means

There is a lot of gym jargon that you will eventually come to know. However, here we are defining the most common ones everyone hears regularly in the gym.

Rep

Rep is the short form of repetition, which refers to how many times you have performed a particular exercise in a single go.

Suppose you are performing the dumbbell curl and curling the dumbbell 12 times at once and then taking a rest, which means you performed 12 reps of dumbbell curl.

Sets

Sets are a group breakdown of reps.

Suppose you planned to perform 30 squats; without performing 30 reps at once, you decide to do 10 reps each time. In that case, you need to perform squats in 3 groups (3×10), which means you need to perform 3 sets of squats.

Isolate Exercise

Isolate exercises are those in which you train a specific muscle only. Suppose you are doing leg extension; then it will only train your quad muscles.

Popular isolate exercises are lateral raises, Calf raises, preacher curls, etc.

Compound Exercise

Compound exercises are the opposite of isolate exercises.

In compound exercises, you train multiple muscles at once. One primary muscle gets the most benefit, and the other muscles acts as a supporting factor. Popular compound exercises are squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, bench presses, etc.

Cutting

Cutting refers to the weight loss phase.

An individual in the cutting phase is in a caloric deficit state, in which that individual is eating fewer calories or burning more calories to lose some body fat.

Bulking

Bulking refers to the weight gain phase.

An individual in the bulking phase is in a caloric surplus state, in which that individual is eating more calories or burning fewer calories to gain some muscle.

Cheating/Cheat Reps

Cheating in exercises refers to taking assistance from other muscles to gain momentum to perform a certain exercise. Suppose you are doing dumbbell curls, and to lift more weight, you are not maintaining proper form and lifting the weight by taking momentum from your glutes. That will be considered cheating.

Cheat reps are usually referred to as the last one or two reps in which you do not have enough strength to maintain proper form, and you take the assistance of momentum or other muscles to complete those reps.

ROM

ROM is the short form of the range of motion.

ROM means the ability to lengthen or shorten your muscle from a fixed position. 

Concentric Phase

The concentric phase is where your muscles get shortened or squeezed.

The top position of the bench press, where you fully extend your hand will be the concentric part of the exercise as your muscles get shortened there. In the bicep curl, the top position where you squeeze your bicep is the concentric part.

Eccentric Phase

The eccentric phase is the opposite of the concentric phase. The position where your muscle gets stretched or lengthened is the eccentric part of any exercise.

In bench press, it will be the part where you lower the barbell to your chest level. On pull-up, it will be on the part where you lower your body or in the hanging position.

As per research, the eccentric phase provides the greatest stimuli for the muscle to grow.

Isometric Phase

The isometric phase is the one in which your muscles do not shorten or lengthen. Rather, they are in a static position. It is usually done to build strength for a particular muscle.

One of the most popular isometric exercises is a plank, which trains your core muscles.

Warmup

It’s one of the most common gym terms.

Warmup means to prepare the muscles and joints by doing light exercises before starting the working set. 

An example of this will be bodyweight push-ups before doing bench presses.

Working Sets

Working sets are those that are challenging enough or put enough pressure on your muscles to generate growth stimulus.

Doing an exercise with an appropriate weight for at least 5 to 12 reps will be considered a working set.

Supersets

Performing two back-to-back exercises for the same or different muscle groups is considered supersets.

Suppose you are doing bicep curls, after completing one set you instantly start doing triceps pushdowns without resting. These two sets will be considered 1 superset.

After each superset, you can take a rest. Supersets are used to utilize time.

Drop sets

Drop set is one of the most popular techniques for reaching muscular failure. 

In a drop set, you perform an exercise to failure, and then without taking any rest, you lower the weight by 20% to 30% and do an additional 5 to 10 reps or more to reach total muscular failure.

Giant sets

Giant sets are those in which you do three or more exercises back to back for the same muscle group.

For example, you did one set of bicep curls and then did hammer curls and forearm curls back to back. It will be considered as a giant set. It is not very popular, and people usually prefer supersets.

NEAT

Neat is the short form of non-exercise activity thermogenesis.

It is the non-exercise activities that an individual does every day that burns calories. Examples would be walking to the gym or office, taking stairs, playing physical sports, etc.

Gear

Gear is the most popular buzzword in the gym community.

Gear refers to taking steroids or doing something unnatural to build muscles.

Hypertrophy

Training for hypertrophy means training to put on muscle mass.

Hypertrophy training usually focuses on pushing muscles to near failure so that your body provides enough stimuli for that muscle to grow.

Training Cycle

The training cycle refers to how you design your training program.

It is considered the blueprint of training. On which day, which body parts will you train, how many sets and reps will you perform, and how will you progress over time? Based on these questions, training programs get designed.

Mesocycle

One of the most popular training cycles is the mesocycle.

A mesocycle is designed over some weeks, usually between 4 and 7 weeks. The early weeks are comparatively easy, but it becomes difficult at the end of the cycle as you need to train harder each week.

Progressive Overload

Progressive overload is progress in exercises you perform by adding more weights to those exercises, increasing the sets or reps, or making the exercise harder in any other way.

Usually, progressive overload is measured weekly.

Deload

Deload is exercising by using lower weights than what you usually use.

Deload weeks are usually taken to recover from fatigue generated over time. People returning from injury also take deloads so that they do not get any further injury.

Jacked/Buffed

It refers to individuals with more muscle mass than average and who look bigger than others.

Ripped/Shredded

It refers to individuals with a low body fat percentage and good muscular visibility.

Usually, individuals who are below 15% body fat are considered shredded.

PR

PR is the short form of personal record.

The maximum weight you lift for a particular exercise is your PR.

One Repetition Max

It is the maximum weight you can lift for an exercise in one repetition.

One rep max is very popular in deadlifts and squats.

Volume

Volume is the cumulative number of sets and reps you perform in a particular training session for a muscle group.

For example, if you perform 20 sets for your chest muscles weekly, your weekly chest volume will be 20.

HIIT

HIIT is short for high-intensity interval training.

It is a type of cardio training that will increase your heart rate immensely. It is done for a short time, as HIIT training is quite fatiguing. It is one type of aerobic training.

Zone 2 cardio

It is the opposite of HIIT.

Zone 2 cardio exercises are low-intensity exercises that you can do for a longer time. They are joint-friendly. Popular examples will be walking, slow-paced jogging, etc.

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