Glossary

Every term the answers use, defined in one line.

26 terms

AMRAP As many reps as possible: a set taken to the point where another rep would fail. BMR Basal metabolic rate: the calories you would burn lying still all day. Body recomposition Losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time, usually eating at or slightly below maintenance with plenty of protein. Compound exercise A movement that works several joints and muscle groups at once, such as a squat, deadlift, bench press or row. Concentric The lifting half of a rep, where the muscle shortens under load. Deload A planned lighter week, with less volume or load, to clear accumulated fatigue before training hard again. DOMS Delayed onset muscle soreness: the ache that peaks one to two days after unfamiliar training. Eccentric The lowering half of a lift, where the muscle lengthens under load. Energy deficit Eating fewer calories than you burn, which is the only way fat loss happens. Hypertrophy Growth in the size of muscle fibres, which is what people mean by building muscle. Isolation exercise A movement that works one joint and mainly one muscle, such as a biceps curl, leg extension or lateral raise. Lean body mass Everything you weigh that is not fat: muscle, bone, organs and water. Leucine The amino acid that triggers muscle protein synthesis, which is why protein quality is judged by it. MET One MET is the energy you burn sitting still, so a 10 MET effort costs ten times that. One-rep max The heaviest weight you can lift once with acceptable technique, written 1RM. Phosphocreatine The muscle’s fastest energy store, good for roughly ten seconds of maximal effort. RIR Reps in reserve: how many more reps you could have done before failing. RPE Rate of perceived exertion, scored 1 to 10, where 8 means you had two reps left. Strides Short, relaxed accelerations of 15 to 30 seconds at a quick but not flat-out pace, with full recovery, added to the end of an easy run. Superset Two exercises done back to back with the rest taken only after the second, usually pairing opposing muscles such as a press and a row. Taper Cutting training volume over the last one to three weeks before a race while keeping the intensity, so you start rested but sharp. TDEE Total daily energy expenditure: everything you burn in a day, resting and moving combined. Threshold pace The fastest pace you could hold for about an hour in a race, used as the effort for comfortably hard training runs. Training volume How much work you do, usually counted as hard sets per muscle per week. VDOT A single number that summarises running fitness, derived from a race result rather than a lab test. VO₂max The most oxygen your body can use per minute, the ceiling on your endurance.