When beginning your fitness journey, you may feel overwhelmed with all the gym jargon. Frequent gym-goers -whether they are into cross-fit or bodybuilding- have common words to indicate how they are going to work out! Think of this post as a gym dictionary!

  • Split: A workout split is your workout schedule. This can be whatever you choose, based on when you want to work out a part of your body, and how often. For example, you could have a 4-day split, consisting of one chest and cardio day, one biceps and triceps day, one leg day, and one back and shoulders day. You complete these four days, then repeat. That would be your split!
  • Set: A set is the number of times you are going to do a singular exercise. For example, you could do 3 sets of squats, meaning that you will do a few squats, rest, do a few more squats, rest, and then do one more set of squats. Once you are done, you can move on to your next exercise.
  • Reps: Reps are the number of times you do an exercise in a set. To understand in terms of the example above, you could do 3 sets of 8 reps. This means you do 8 squats, 3 separate times.
  • Drop Set: A drop set is when you have a certain number of sets planned, but each set you lower your number of reps. For example, you could do a drop set of 12, 10, 8, 6. This would mean you complete 4 sets, but the reps lessen by 2 each time.
  • Compound Movement: A compound movement is an exercise that works more than one muscle group at a time. A squat is a compound movement because it works your lower body (quads, hamstrings, glutes), your back, and your core.
  • Isolation Movement: An isolation movement works one muscle at a time. For example, a leg extension is an isolation movement for your quads.

These are just a few words to know as you begin your fitness journey! Feel free to comment any other terms that you might like to know.