Gym Lingo - What does it all mean?

The Gym can be a confusing place, especially when it comes to lingo and jargon that you'll hear in many gyms up and down the country. You will no doubt come across some of these terms here at the Gym Directory.

Acronyms like AMRAP, DOMS and words like superset may be unfamiliar at first. So let's delve into some of the more common terms and lingo with our guide below:

General Gym Jargon

Rep: Short for repetition, one complete motion of an exercise
Set: A group of consecutive reps
PR: Personal Record
1RM: One Rep Maximum
PB: Personal Best
Superset: Doing two exercises back-to-back with no rest in between
Drop Set: A technique where you perform a set of an exercise until failure, then drop the weight and continue for more reps.
AMRAP: As many reps as possible
HIIT: High-Intensity Interval Training
DOMS: Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
Bulking: A period where the primary goal is to build muscle in a calorie surplus.
Cutting: A period of eating in a calorie deficit to lose fat
Spotter: Someone who watches over a person performing an exercise for safety reasons.
WOD: Workout of the Day
BMI: Body Mass Index
BMR: Basal Metabolic Rate
TDEE: Total Daily Energy Expenditure

Training Techniques

Progressive Overload: Gradually increasing the weight, reps or difficulty over time so the body keeps having to adapt.
Compound Exercise: A movement that works several muscle groups across more than one joint, such as a squat or a deadlift.
Isolation Exercise: A movement that targets a single muscle group across one joint, such as a bicep curl.
Failure: The point in a set where you can no longer complete another rep with good form.
Rest-Pause: Taking a very short rest partway through a set, then continuing, to push past failure.
Pyramid Set: Working up or down in weight across successive sets, usually with the reps moving the other way.
Circuit Training: Moving through a series of exercises in turn with little or no rest between them.
Tempo: How long each phase of a rep takes, often written as four digits such as 3-1-1-0.
Eccentric: The lowering phase of a lift, where the muscle lengthens under load.
Concentric: The lifting phase of a rep, where the muscle shortens under load.
Deload: A planned lighter week that gives the body a chance to recover before training hard again.
RPE: Rate of Perceived Exertion - a 1 to 10 scale describing how hard a set felt.
Working Set: A set performed at your target weight, as opposed to a lighter warm-up set.
Time Under Tension: How long a muscle is working during a set, rather than simply how many reps were done.

Nutrition and Supplements

Macros: Protein, carbohydrate and fat - the three nutrients counted in grams when tracking a diet.
Calorie Deficit: Eating fewer calories than you burn over time.
Calorie Surplus: Eating more calories than you burn over time.
Maintenance Calories: The daily intake at which body weight stays roughly the same.
Creatine: One of the most researched supplements, taken to support strength and power output.
Pre-Workout: A supplement taken before training, usually containing caffeine among other ingredients.
Whey: A fast-digesting protein powder made from a by-product of cheese making.
IIFYM: If It Fits Your Macros - an approach that tracks totals rather than restricting foods.
Refeed: A planned day of higher calories during a period of dieting.

Choosing a Gym

Day Pass: A one-off ticket to use a gym without joining - useful when travelling or trying somewhere new.
Induction: A short introductory session covering the equipment and how to use it safely.
Off-Peak: A cheaper membership limited to quieter hours, usually excluding weekday evenings.
Joining Fee: A one-off charge on top of the membership price when you sign up.
Rolling Contract: A membership that continues month to month and can be cancelled with notice.
Free Weights: Barbells, dumbbells and plates that are not attached to a machine.
Functional Training Area: An open space for kit like sleds, ropes and rigs rather than fixed machines.
Boutique Gym: A smaller studio built around one style of training, such as spin, reformer Pilates or boxing.
24-Hour Gym: A gym you can access around the clock, usually by keyfob or app outside staffed hours.

Gym Culture and Etiquette

Gains: The muscle or strength built through training.
Newbie Gains: The unusually quick progress many people see in their first few months of training.
Leg Day: A session given over to the lower body.
Ego Lifting: Loading more weight than you can control, usually at the cost of form.
Working In: Sharing a piece of equipment by alternating sets with whoever is already using it.
Re-rack: Putting weights back where they belong once you have finished with them.
Bro Science: Training or nutrition advice passed around gyms that is not backed by evidence.
Chalk: Magnesium carbonate used to dry the hands and improve grip. Not every gym allows it.