Training glossary

18 terms

1RM (one-rep max)

The 1RM is the heaviest load a person can lift once in a given exercise with correct technique. It can be measured directly with a test or estimated from a submaximal set, using formulas such as Epley or Brzycki that relate the weight lifted to the reps achieved. It is the reference the percentage loads of a program are calculated from.

AMRAP

AMRAP stands for as many reps (or rounds) as possible: doing as many repetitions or rounds as you can, either within a fixed time or until technical failure on a set. In strength training it is usually a final set to failure; in conditioning, a time block with a repeating circuit.

Assisted progression

Assisted progression is load progression where the software writes the weights and reps of upcoming sessions from the sets, reps and RIR the client logged, while the coach keeps the decisions: the routine does not reach the client until they send it, any week they edit drops out of the calculation permanently, and automatic progression switches on and off globally and client by client.

Autoregulation

Autoregulation means adjusting a session's load or volume based on how the person responds that day, instead of following a number set weeks earlier. It leans on effort scales such as RIR or RPE: if the prescribed set came out at RIR 4 instead of RIR 1, the weight goes up; if it went to failure, it comes down.

Circuit

A circuit is a sequence of three or more exercises performed one after another with little or no rest, repeating the full round several times. Unlike a superset, which is two exercises, a circuit chains one station after another and usually mixes different movement patterns.

Deload

A deload is a planned period, almost always a week, in which volume or intensity comes down so the body can finish absorbing the accumulated work. It is not a break: training continues, with fewer sets, less load or both, keeping the movement patterns in place.

Dropset

A dropset is a set that, on reaching close to failure, immediately continues with a lighter weight and no rest, until approaching failure again. It extends a single set past the point where it would normally end, adding total work without adding rest time.

EMOM

EMOM stands for every minute on the minute: at the top of each minute you perform a fixed number of reps, and whatever time is left over is the rest. The faster the work gets done, the longer the rest, so the format regulates density on its own.

Macrocycle

A macrocycle is the long planning horizon, typically six months to a year, grouping every mesocycle that leads to a larger goal. It defines the order of the phases — accumulation, intensification, realization — and where deloads and peaks land within the season.

Mesocycle

A mesocycle is a training block of roughly three to six weeks with one dominant goal, such as accumulating volume or expressing strength. It groups several microcycles and usually ends with a deload week. It is the unit a coach thinks in when deciding what a client will do next month.

Microcycle

A microcycle is the smallest planning unit, almost always one week. It defines which sessions happen, in what order and at what relative load, so hard and light work end up distributed instead of stacking two demanding days in a row on the same muscle group.

Periodization

Periodization is organizing training into blocks with different goals and loads over time, so an athlete arrives at a given moment in the best possible state and stops stalling. It structures how volume and intensity vary week to week and month to month, instead of repeating the same stimulus indefinitely.

Progressive overload

Progressive overload is the gradual increase of training demand over time so the body keeps having a reason to adapt. It can be applied by adding weight, adding reps or sets, shortening rest, improving range of motion or increasing weekly frequency. Load is simply the most visible of those variables.

RIR (reps in reserve)

RIR is how many repetitions someone could still have completed at the end of a set before reaching technical failure. RIR 2 means two reps were left in the tank. It is an effort scale reported set by set, and it lets a coach prescribe intensity without depending on a fixed percentage of 1RM.

RPE (rate of perceived exertion)

RPE is a 1-to-10 scale on which someone rates how hard an effort felt. In strength training the reps-in-reserve version is the one used: RPE 10 is technical failure, RPE 9 leaves one rep, RPE 8 leaves two. It is the same information as RIR, expressed the other way around.

Superset

A superset is two exercises performed back to back with no rest between them, resting only after the pair is finished. When the exercises work opposing muscles it is an antagonist superset; when they work the same muscle, fatigue accumulates far faster and the load on the second exercise drops.

Training density

Training density is how much work gets done per unit of time. Raising it means doing the same volume in less time — shortening rest, chaining supersets or circuits — instead of adding sets. It is a route to progressive overload that touches neither the load nor the set count.

Training volume

Training volume is the total amount of work done in a period. For hypertrophy it is usually counted as effective sets per muscle group per week; it can also be expressed as tonnage, multiplying sets by reps by load. It is the variable most often manipulated when a program stops producing change.