Sometimes I use jargon that is totally familiar to me (since I’m a gym rat) that is a foreign language to most people. So today, in no particular order, I’m going to give you simple definitions for some of the most common terms in fitness:

Rep – Short for “Repetition.”  This is one execution of an exercise.  One pushup is one rep, five squats is five reps.  Easy.

Set – A collection of reps.  We write the number of sets x the number of reps.  So “Bodyweight Jump Squats 4 x12″ would be four sets of twelve reps.

Homeostasis – Internal equilibrium of the body.  This means that all your body’s processes are maintaining a balance.

Metabolism – The sum of the chemical processes that occur in the body.  When you have a high metabolism you have a greater number of chemical reactions in your body, and burn more calories to power these reactions.  To raise your metabolism you must disrupt your homeostasis and your body will burn calories as it works to return to balance.

Concentric – A shortening of your muscles.  Curling a weight to your shoulder is a concentric action of your biceps.

Eccentric – A lengthening of your muscles.  Lowering your body towards the floor during a pushup is an eccentric contraction of your chest, shoulder, and arm muscles.

Tempo – The speed at which you do your reps.  This includes a prescription for both the eccentric and concentric phases of a rep, with occasionally a pause in between.  An example of a tempo prescription would be taking five seconds to lower yourself into a squat, pausing for ten seconds, then explosively jumping upwards.

Negatives – Lowering a weight (or yourself) as slowly as possible.  An exercise I use with my athletes to build upper body strength is to jump up into a pullup and then take as long as possible to lower themselves down.

Steady State – Used for aerobic exercise, this is maintaining a constant pace for a length of time.  Jogging on a treadmill for 45 minutes at 70% of your maximum heart rate is an example of steady state exercise.

Interval Training – Sets of high intensity work followed by periods of either rest or very low intensity work.  Jumping rope as fast as possible for thirty seconds followed by 30 seconds of walking in place is an example of interval training.  Work to rest ratios depend on many factors.  This type of training has been shown to be more effective at burning fat and improving athletic performance than steady state training.

Superset – Pairing two exercises together to achieve a greater training efficiency.  (I’ll be writing MUCH more about training efficiency in the near future)

Circuit – Three or more exercises performed in a row.  One of my favorite circuit plans is to do a set of upper body, a set of lower body, then a set of core, and then take a rest before going through the circuit again.  This disrupts your body’s homeostasis and has been shown to raise your metabolism for at least 39 hours after your workout.

Tabata Protocol – An exercise protocol where you perform 20 seconds of work with 10 seconds of rest, repeated 6 to 8 times.  If done properly, this will be the hardest you have ever worked in your life.  (Meaning, if you can talk during a “tabata set,” you aren’t working hard enough to get the benefits)  This protocol is famous because if you repeat it several times a week, you will receive more benefits in only minutes than you would in HOUR of traditional training.

Timed Set – Instead of ending a set at a predetermined number of reps, you finish in a certain amount of time.  This is one of my favorite ways to design fat loss training programs.

Kettlebell – A ball-shaped weight with a looped handle attached.  These are a very versatile training tool that have become popular over the last few years.

Medicine Ball – A weighted ball used to add extra load to an exercise.

Swiss Ball – An inflated ball used to add instability to an exercise.

Crocs – A type of shoe that will get thrown out of my weight room.

There are lots more definitions to come!  The next part of this series will focus on the terms used for aerobic training and get deeper into definitions and examples!