Find some of the words in popular fitness magazines like Muscle and Fitness and Shape more difficult to decode than SAT vocab? Don't worry - you're not alone. Exercise terminology can be confusing. Until you understand what certain terms mean and how to apply them, it's easy to feel illiterate in the land of dumbbells and dead-lifts.
Let's define some of these terms. We'll start with the basics and work up to the more sophisticated terms.
Weight Lifting, Strength Training, Body Building and Resistance Training
Don't be confused. Each term refers to the same thing: an exercise program that requires you to lift a given amount of weight in order to improve muscular strength and/or endurance.
Free weights
Any weight that is not attached to a machine is a free weight. Dumbbells and barbells are examples free weights. A strength training routine that utilizes free weights will accomplish the same goals as a routine using machine-based exercises. Free weights simply require more coordination because there is no machine to guide your body through the motion of the exercise.
Repetition
A repetition refers to the number of times you lift a weight. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends performing 8 to twelve repetitions of each exercise in your routine.
Set
A set refers to a group of repetitions. Once you perform 8 to twelve repetitions, you have completed one set. People commonly perform between one and three sets for each exercise, resting 90 seconds between each.
Intensity
Intensity refers to how hard you work during a given exercise. In strength training, intensity is generally explained in terms of how much weight was lifted for a particular number of repetitions.
Super-set
A super-set refers to a routine that requires you to perform two different exercises with little or no rest between sets. It can be done using exercises from opposing muscle groups (biceps curl and triceps press) or using multiple exercises for the same body part (leg press and leg extension).
Split routine
A split routine refers to any routine that requires you to exercise different body parts on different days instead of working out your entire body in one day. There is not one "right" way to set up a split routine. A common favorite is to perform upper body exercises on one day and lower body exercises on another.
Circuit weight training
Circuit weight training refers to an exercise routine in which all of the exercises in your workout are performed in a row. This is different from a typical workout because instead of doing both sets of a bicep exercise before moving on to your leg exercise, you will do a bicep exercise followed by a leg exercise, followed by a back exercise, etc.
So... now that you've got the terminology down, you can impress your friends the next time you ask them to join you for a workout. "Wanna work out? We can do a split routine and super-set the arm exercises to increase the intensity!"
Mary Kennedy is a graduate student in Nutrition Communication at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. She has a BS in Clinical Exercise Physiology from Boston University and is certified as a Health and Fitness Instructor through the American College of Sports Medicine.
