Training terms explained
Fitness Glossary
Short, plain-English definitions of the training and nutrition terms used in our workout plans, exercise guides and blog. Each term links to the page that explains it in full.
Written by the GymStreak coaching teamUpdated
- Body recomposition
Body recomposition (“recomp”) means losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time. It relies on resistance training, enough protein and a small calorie deficit or maintenance calories.
- Compound exercise
A compound exercise moves more than one joint and works several muscle groups at once, such as a squat, deadlift, bench press, row or pull-up.
- Deload
A deload is a planned period of lighter training, often a week with fewer sets or lighter weights, to let fatigue come down so you can keep progressing afterwards.
- Double progression
Double progression is a simple way to progress: keep the same weight and add reps until you reach the top of a rep range on every set, then add a small amount of weight and build the reps back up.
- Isolation exercise
An isolation exercise moves one joint to target one main muscle, such as a bicep curl, leg extension or lateral raise.
- Mind-muscle connection
The mind-muscle connection means deliberately focusing on the muscle you are training during each rep, instead of just moving the weight.
- One-rep max (1RM)
Your one-rep max is the heaviest weight you can lift for a single rep with good form. It is often estimated from a heavier set of a few reps rather than tested directly.
- Overreaching
Overreaching is a short-term drop in performance caused by a build-up of training stress. Functional overreaching recovers within days to weeks; if hard training continues without enough recovery it can become non-functional overreaching and, eventually, overtraining syndrome.
- Progressive overload
Progressive overload is gradually increasing the demand on your muscles over time (more weight, more reps, more sets or a harder variation) so your body keeps having a reason to adapt.
- Protein shake
A protein shake is a drink made by mixing protein powder (such as whey, casein, soy or pea protein) with water or milk, or bought ready to drink. It is a convenient way to add protein, not something you need to build muscle.
- Reps in reserve (RIR)
Reps in reserve (RIR) is the number of extra good reps you could have done when you ended a set. 0 RIR means you reached failure; 2 RIR means you stopped with about two reps left.
- RPE (rating of perceived exertion)
RPE (rating of perceived exertion) is a score for how hard an effort feels. In strength training it is a 1–10 scale where 10 means you couldn’t have done another rep, and each point below 10 is roughly one more rep you had left, so RPE 8 means about 2 reps in reserve.
- Spot reduction
Spot reduction is the idea that exercising one body part (for example, doing crunches) burns the fat over that part. Most studies find it doesn’t work in a meaningful way: fat loss comes from an overall energy deficit and happens across the whole body.
- Superset
A superset is two exercises done back to back with little or no rest in between, then rest after both. It saves time, especially when the two exercises work different muscles.
- Training to failure
Training to failure means ending a set only when you can’t complete another rep with good form (0 reps in reserve). Research suggests stopping 1–3 reps short gives similar results for most people with less fatigue.
- Workout split
A workout split is how you divide your training across the week: full body every session, upper and lower body on different days, push/pull/legs, or one body part per day.
Put the terms to work in our free workout plans, or look up any exercise in the exercise library.