Fitness Glossary
Training Terms Explained
Clear, no-fluff definitions for the training and nutrition terms you'll run into building a plan.
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AMRAP
AMRAP means as many repetitions or rounds as possible within a defined limit while maintaining the planned standard.
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Body Recomposition
Body recomposition refers to increasing or maintaining lean mass while reducing fat mass, with results depending on training, diet, and time.
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Caloric Deficit
Eating fewer calories than your body burns (your TDEE), forcing it to use stored body fat for energy and resulting in weight loss.
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Calorie Surplus
A calorie surplus means estimated energy intake is higher than estimated expenditure over a period, with actual change varying between people.
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Compound Exercise
A compound exercise is a multi-joint movement that recruits multiple muscle groups simultaneously, such as squats, deadlifts, and bench presses.
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Deload
A planned week of reduced training volume or intensity, used to let your body recover before fatigue accumulates into injury or a stalled plateau.
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Dietary Fiber
Dietary fiber is carbohydrate from plant foods that is not fully digested in the small intestine and supports normal dietary variety.
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DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)
Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is the temporary stiffness and aching that occurs 24 to 72 hours after unaccustomed or heavy eccentric exercise.
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Drop Set
A drop set continues an exercise after reducing the load when the planned set reaches technical fatigue.
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Ectomorph
Ectomorph is a historical somatotype label for a relatively slender build; it does not determine metabolism, muscle gain, or training needs.
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Energy Balance
Energy balance describes the relationship between energy consumed and energy used; it is a model, not a precise daily measurement.
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Hypertrophy
Hypertrophy is the increase and growth of muscle cells, driven primarily by mechanical tension, metabolic stress, and volume.
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Isolation Exercise
An exercise that targets a single muscle group through one joint, like the bicep curl or lateral raise, used to add focused volume.
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Macros (Macronutrients)
The three nutrients that provide calories: protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Tracking macros means hitting specific daily gram targets for each.
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Maintenance Calories
Maintenance calories are an estimate of energy intake that would maintain body mass over time under a given activity pattern.
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Mesocycle
A block of training, typically 4 to 8 weeks, built around a specific goal like strength or hypertrophy, usually ending in a deload.
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Minimum Effective Volume
Minimum effective volume is the smallest recurring training dose that produces a measurable improvement for a person and goal.
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Muscle Protein Synthesis
The biological process of building new muscle protein, elevated by resistance training and protein intake, and the basis of muscle growth.
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Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis describes energy used for movement outside planned exercise, such as walking, standing, and daily tasks.
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One Rep Max (1RM)
The maximum weight you can lift for a single rep with correct form. Used to calculate training percentages for strength and hypertrophy work.
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Periodization
The planned variation of training volume and intensity over time, organized into microcycles, mesocycles, and macrocycles, to manage fatigue and drive progress.
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Progressive Overload
Gradually increasing the demand placed on your muscles over time, through more weight, reps, sets, or better technique, so they keep adapting.
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Protein Intake
Protein intake is the amount of dietary protein consumed over a day, usually considered alongside total diet, training, and individual context.
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Rep Tempo
Rep tempo describes the timing of each phase of a repetition, such as lowering, pausing, and lifting.
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RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion)
A 1-10 scale for rating how hard a set felt, where 10 means you couldn't have done another rep and 7 means you had roughly three reps left.
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RPE vs RIR
RPE rates effort on a 1–10 scale; RIR estimates how many repetitions were left before failure.
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Superset
A superset pairs two exercises with little rest between them, usually to make a session more time-efficient.
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TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)
The total number of calories your body burns in a day, including resting metabolism, digestion, and all physical activity.
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Thermic Effect of Food
The thermic effect of food is the energy used to digest, absorb, and process nutrients; estimates vary by meal and person.
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Training Frequency
Training frequency is how often a muscle, movement, or training quality is practiced within a week.
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Training Intensity
Training intensity describes how demanding a set is, often expressed as load relative to maximum or effort relative to failure.
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Training to Failure
Training to failure means continuing a set until another technically acceptable repetition is not available.
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Training Volume
The total amount of work done in training, usually measured as sets × reps × weight, or simply hard sets per muscle group per week.
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Volume Load
Volume load is a workload estimate commonly calculated as sets multiplied by repetitions and external load.
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Workout Split
A workout split is a structured training schedule that divides muscle groups or movement patterns across specific days of the week.
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Yoked
Yoked is informal gym slang for looking notably muscular or powerfully built; it is a subjective description, not a measurement or body standard.