Library

Gym glossary

Words you'll meet in programs, calculators and my answers. Short, with an example, and with how the diary counts it.

e1RM (estimated one-rep max)

The weight a formula says you could lift once, worked out from a set of several reps.

A rating of how hard a set was on a 6–10 scale, where 10 is not one more rep, 9 is one left, 8 is two.

How many more reps you could have done when you ended the set. RIR 2 means you stopped two reps short of failure.

The sum of weight × reps over all working sets: how many kilograms you lifted in a workout.

A way to progress: you work in a rep range, add a rep at a time, and once you hit the top you add weight and start from the bottom again.

Two exercises back to back with no rest in between; you rest after the pair. Saves time and suits opposing muscles.

A set taken to failure, then the weight dropped by 20–30% and continued with no rest — once or several times.

A light set before your working sets: it warms up muscles and joints and rehearses the movement with less weight.

A set at your working weight, hard enough to build strength and muscle — usually with no more than 3–4 reps in reserve.

A stretch of several weeks when your strength or weight on a lift doesn't grow while you train the same way.

A week of lighter training — less weight, fewer sets or less effort — to shed accumulated fatigue.

An increase in muscle fibre size, and so in the muscle. In gym talk, putting on size.

In the diary I work out all of these numbers myself — you just log the set.