Do you ever feel as if fitness enthusiasts just have their own language? You’ve made a new year’s resolution to get in shape, but every time you bring up the topic of exercise, you feel as if people start referring to concepts and controversies you struggle to follow without context.
Don’t worry—you’re not alone. A 2019 study by market researcher OnePoll found that more than half of all Americans feel intimidated at the gym. That’s not to say that “gym-timidation” is necessarily the reason so many people abandon their new year’s resolutions. But knowing what the heck people are talking about can definitely give you a slight boost toward feeling more comfortable and confident the next time you plan a workout (or even figure out your long-term fitness goals).
Here are a few of the more common fitness terms you might have questions about ®
Cardio: Short for cardiorespiratory or cardiovascular exercise, this refers to any exercise that elevates your heart rate as your body tries to deliver oxygen to all the working muscles in your body. Think running, cycling, elliptical, swimming, Zumba—you get the idea. It’s also sometimes called aerobic exercise. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans put out by the U.S. Department of Health recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week to reap the health benefits of this type of exercise.
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): This fitness trend has gained momentum over the years because of how quickly it can burn fat in a short amount of time. Exercisers doing HIIT go at their maximum intensity for short bursts (about 1 to 2 minutes) and intersperse this with periods of moderate intensity. This way of approaching a workout is extremely effective at burning calories but it can be stressful on the body and shouldn’t be done more than two or three times a week with sufficient rest periods in between.
Bulking and cutting: People trying to build muscle will often go through cycles where they bulk up with as much mass as possible (including muscle as well as fat) through a combination of strength training and nutrition, then lose (or cut) fat from their physique while maintaining muscle. Any kind of weight gain requires a dietary caloric excess, but fitness experts at the American Council on Exercise emphasize that you don’t necessarily need to gain fat in order to gain muscle. However, gaining muscle while maintaining or losing fat will be a much slower, more drawn-out process.
Toning: The National Academy of Sports Medicine differentiates between bulking (increasing muscle mass) and toning (achieving a defined look to muscles). Toned muscles mean your body looks firmer and leaner without necessarily looking bigger.
Reps and sets: Reps refers to repetitions, the number of times you do an exercise consecutively, and sets refer to a group of reps interspersed by short breaks. If you lift a weight 10 times, that’s 10 reps; after a short break, you lift 10 more times—that’s two sets of 10 reps. Lifting a heavier weight for fewer reps is ideal for building larger muscles, whereas lifting a lighter weight for a greater number of reps is good for building endurance.
Isolation exercise: An isolation exercise is one that works a single muscle, such as a biceps curl to work your biceps, a triceps rope pulldown to work your triceps, or crunches to work your abdomen. Isolation exercises are good for focusing on that one single muscle to make it stronger and larger.
Compound exercise: In contrast to isolation exercise, there’s compound exercise. A compound exercise requires more than one muscle and sometimes an entire muscle group. These exercises are often more difficult to perform because they require engagement from your entire body. Pullups, deadlifts, and squats are all compound exercises.
Circuit training: Aerobic exercise doesn’t have to be limited to activities like running and cycling. With circuit training, you undertake different exercises requiring different muscle groups in quick succession to raise your heart rate and achieve cardiovascular benefits. If you move from one strength training exercise to another so fast that you’re out of breath and breaking a sweat, that’s circuit training.
Mind-body training: Mind-body training encompasses exercises that require mental concentration in addition to your physical exertion. This practice teaches your mind to be in tune with your body. Most exercises require some level of focus—weightlifting, for example, demands proper form—but mind-body training puts as much emphasis on the mental aspect as it does on the physical. Popular mind-body workouts include yoga and Pilates.
Heartrate training: Sometimes it’s hard to know whether you’re really pushing yourself as hard as you possibly can without putting yourself at risk. That’s why some endurance athletes rely on heartrate training. With heartrate training, you look at your beats per minute as a percentage of your maximum heartrate. To find your maximum heartrate, subtract your age from 220. The next time you exercise, measure your heartrate. If your beats per minute are at about 70 to 80 percent of your maximum heartrate, you are exercising vigorously, per the advice of the American Heart Association.
