Training

Progressive overload is the principle of gradually increasing the demands on your muscles over time — usually by adding weight, reps, or sets — so they keep adapting and growing.

Hypertrophy is the increase in muscle size that results from resistance training, sufficient protein, and progressive overload over time.

Strength is the maximum amount of force a muscle or group of muscles can produce against resistance.

A one-rep max (1RM) is the maximum amount of weight you can lift for a single repetition of an exercise with proper form.

RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) is a 1–10 scale used to rate how hard a set felt, helping you gauge and regulate training intensity.

RIR (Reps in Reserve) is the number of additional repetitions you could have performed at the end of a set before reaching failure.

Training volume is the total amount of work performed, commonly measured as sets times reps times weight, or simply hard sets per muscle per week.

Training frequency is how often you train a given muscle group or movement, usually measured in sessions per week.

Periodization is the structured planning of training into phases over time, varying volume and intensity to maximize progress and avoid plateaus.

A deload is a planned period of reduced training intensity or volume, used to let the body recover, dissipate fatigue, and come back stronger.

A compound exercise is a movement that works multiple joints and muscle groups at once, such as the squat, deadlift, or bench press.

An isolation exercise is a movement that targets a single muscle group around one joint, such as a bicep curl or leg extension.

Range of motion (ROM) is how far a joint or muscle moves through an exercise, from a full stretch to a full contraction.

Time under tension (TUT) is the total time a muscle is under load during a set, determined by how many reps you do and how fast you do them.

Eccentric training emphasizes the lowering phase of a lift, where the muscle lengthens under load, to drive strength and muscle growth.

Muscle failure is the point during a set where you can no longer complete another repetition with proper form.

The mind-muscle connection is the practice of consciously focusing on contracting the target muscle during an exercise to improve its activation.

A superset is performing two exercises back-to-back with little or no rest between them, often to save time or increase training density.

A drop set is an intensity technique where you reach near failure, then immediately reduce the weight and continue repping to extend the set.

A warm-up is light preparatory activity done before training to raise body temperature, prime the muscles and joints, and improve performance while reducing injury risk.

A repetition (rep) is one complete cycle of an exercise, moving the weight through the full lifting and lowering phases once.

A set is a group of consecutive repetitions performed without resting, after which you rest before the next set.

A rest interval is the recovery time taken between sets, which affects performance, fatigue, and the training adaptation.

The concentric contraction is the lifting phase of a rep, where the muscle shortens as it produces force to move the weight.

Push/pull/legs (PPL) is a training split that divides workouts into pushing muscles, pulling muscles, and legs, typically across three or six days.

An upper/lower split divides training into upper-body days and lower-body days, commonly run four times per week.

A full-body workout trains all the major muscle groups in a single session, usually performed two to four times per week.

A training split is how you divide muscle groups and workouts across your training week, such as full-body, upper/lower, or push/pull/legs.

Rest-pause training extends a set by taking it near failure, resting briefly (10–20 seconds), then continuing for more reps with the same weight.

An isometric exercise involves holding a static position under tension, where the muscle produces force without changing length or moving the joint.

Plyometrics are explosive jump-based exercises that train the muscles to produce maximum force quickly, developing power and athleticism.

Unilateral training works one limb at a time, such as single-leg or single-arm exercises, to address imbalances and build stability.

Core stability is the ability of the muscles around your trunk to resist unwanted movement and transfer force between the upper and lower body.

Grip strength is the force your hands and forearms can produce, and it often limits how much you can pull or hold in exercises.

A sticking point is the hardest part of a lift's range of motion, where the bar tends to slow down or stall as you approach your limit.

An accessory exercise is a secondary movement done to support the main lifts, build weak points, and add targeted volume.