New to the gym? Here’s a great guide to help you get to know it

Anyone who is new to the gym environment can find the whole experience a bit overwhelming and intimidating. This can be made even worse with all the different things that you often here people talking about. In this next article we will look at helping you brush up on your gym terminology so you can feel more at ease and better understand what is being said and step out into that gym full of confidence.

REPS

Short for repetitions. This basically means one complete movement of a particular exercise. An example of this would be the bench press. The rep would begin at the top with the arms locked out and would be completed when the barhas been brought down to the chest and pressed out to the start position.The user will decide how many reps they will aim to complete before they rest and this will often be dependent on the type of training they are doing.

SETS

This refers to how many times a number of repetitions will be performed. For example someone may decide to do 12 reps on the bench press before resting. They repeat this 3 times which will mean the user has completed 3 sets of 12 reps.

REST PERIOD

This is the amount of time that a person will rest between each of the sets they perform. This again will depend on their individual goals and will be anything from seconds to minutes.

DROP SET

A drop set is when the user finishes the reps on a particular set and then immediately reduces the weight and continues to exhaust the muscle until they are cant carry on or the weight is reduced further.

SUPERSET

This is generally two exercises performed one after another without rest. They can be different exercises for the same muscle group or they can be opposing muscle groups for example chest and back.

GIANT SETS

Giant sets are usually three or four exercises performed one after another generally hitting different areas of the same muscle group. They are hard sets to perform and tend to only be used by experienced althletes and trainers.

FORCED REPS

Forced reps are ones that are carried out after your own strength has started to diminish and you struggle to complete any more. A training partner is needed to offer the slightest assistance with the exercise to help carry out one or two more reps. The aim is to push your body beyond its limits and encourage growth.

REST PAUSE TRAINING

This type of training is not for the novice or the fainthearted. RP training is done by completing a set to muscular failure then resting momenterally before trying to grind out a few more reps. This can be repeated again after resting a few more seconds.This technique is a good way of pushing past plateaus in your training.

SPOTTER

A spotter is someone who will assist another during an exercise to ensure they are safe but also to offer encouragement and in some cases assist with forced reps. Finding the right spotter can be a real challenge if you dont have a regular training partner. Not everyone fully understands what the role of a spotter is and having a bad one can be almost as bad as not having one at all. If you do use one make sure they understand what is expected of them and tell them exactly what you are hoping to achieve. If you are in any doubt as to the capabilities of your spotter then DONT ask them!!!

SMITH MACHINE

This is a barbell that is attached to a track on either side. It moves in a fixed motion up and down and allows the user to rack the barbell back on if they get into difficuly when performing an exercise.This can be a good option for those who don’t have a spotter available.

PLATES

No not the things we eat off this refers to the weights which go onto a barbell or smith machine. The weights usually vary from 0.5kg all the way up to 25kg.

COLLARS

These are normally metal type springs that are placed on the barbell after the weights to secure them in place and avoid them sliding off.

PUMP

The ‘Pump’ is generally achieved when training with weights and is when the muscle being trained is filled with blood causing it to swell and become bigger than normal. The term ‘Pumping Up’ is what bodybuilders do before going on stage to give the muscles the maximum visual impact.

GETTING RIPPED

This is a must for any bodybuilder but can be something that anyone can strive to achieve. It is the ability to reduce ones bodyfat to very low levels to allow the muscles to become more visible.

HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING (H.I.I.T)

This is as the name suggests high intensity training in which the individual uses periods of maximal or near maximal exersion followed by bouts of low intensity. These can are generally done during cardio exercise and are done using time or distance.

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