Every part of life has its lingo, and the gym is no exception.
A standard Olympic-sized barbell is 20 kilograms, or in many American gyms, 45 pounds.
(20 kilos is 44 pounds, so it doesnt really matter which is which.)
We havea guide to all of these here.
Dumbbells
Dumbbells are the smaller hand weights around the gym.
They typically come in pairs, and cannot be taken apart.
Kettlebells
These are the round weights with a handle on top.
Machines
The opposite of a free weight would be a machine.
In American gyms, the largest ones are typically 45 pounds.
you might brag about your lifts by saying how many full-sized plates are on each end of the bar.
Two hundred and twenty-five is two plates.
Three hundred and fifteen is three plates, and so on.
Compound lift
A compound lift is one that uses many muscles at the same time.
This is in contrast to an isolation lift.
Stopping at five would not have been very productive.
Isolation lift
An isolation lift is meant to isolate justonemuscle or muscle group.
This instruction assumes that you know what your maximum, or 1RM, is.
Each of those individual lifts is arepetition, or a rep for short.
You might do eight reps at a time, or 12, or five.
That was a good rep, you might say after a heavy single.
We all know what you mean.
RPE
Rating of perceived exertion, on a 1-10 scale.
A 10 means an all-out lift, you couldnt have done any more.
(If you went to failure, that’s a 10.)
Nine means you could have done one more rep, but you stopped there.
Eight means you could have done two more reps, and so on.
For compound lifts like squats, sets are often done at a seven or eight RPE.
Nobody bothers to track RPE below a six or so.
Sets
A group of reps is a set.
You might do five sets of three reps, for example.
If youre not sure, ask.
Superset
you’re able to superset two exercises by doing a set of each before resting.
This can save time in the gym.
Usually youll rest for a short time after you do both, and then do them again.
(you’ve got the option to substitute any number.
Want to find a 6RM?
Go for it.)
When somebody asks how much ya bench?
they are asking for your 1RM.
The others are rep maxes.
(Maybe you tried for a sixth and failed.)
AMRAP
As many reps as possible.
Sometimes either of these may be written AMAP (as many as possible).
EMOM
Every minute, on the minute.
The quicker you get the lifts done, the more time you have to rest.
(If you’re doing an exercise everytwominutes, that’s sometimes written E2MOM.)
Forced reps
This is another strategy to keep lifting past failure.
Spotting
Tospot somebody on a liftis to stand by, ready to assist if they fail.
On bench press, you spot by standing at the head end of the persons bench.
You keep your hands nearby (but noton) the bar.
Some lifts, like bench and squats, are commonly spotted.
Others, like deadlifts and Olympic lifts, cannot be.
Submaximal
Submaximal training is work that doesnotgo to failure.
Submaximal training can be less fatiguing than taking your lifts to failure.
