I'm including this as a sort of glossary to the terms that I'll be commonly using in future posts. This is some basic terminology to show how weight training is measured, along with some mechanical aspects of it. I'm also going to include a couple of nutrition terms, but I don't think there's much that needs to be defined there since I'll discuss specific diets, foods, and supplements individually later on.
If you get stuck reading some gibberish that I've written in a post a few months from now, try referring back to this post and maybe it will make a little more sense. Or maybe not.
Training Terminology
Rep: Repetition. A single movement through an exercise's range of motion.
Set: A group of consecutive repetitions.
1rm: One-repetition maximum. This is the greatest weight that can be lifted for one rep in a given exercise.
Volume: A function of weight lifted, sets, and reps over time. Essentially, the total amount of training "work" performed in a given period of time.
Intensity: The percentage of your 1rm. If your squat 1rm is 200, then 150 is 75% intensity.
Perceived Intensity: How "difficult" a set feels. This is a subjective measurement. A high degree of PI is often accomplished through "intensity techniques" such as drop sets, rest-pause, etc.
Frequency: How often training occurs. Frequency can be measured for how often one is training in general, for how often a specific movement is performed, or how often a certain body part is worked.
Periodization: Dividing training into progressive phases, each with a specific focus. Adjusting Volume, Frequency, Intensity, and Perceived intensity based on the phase being trained are important parts of periodization. For example, a powerlifter may divide his training into a low-intensity recovery period immediately after a meet. After this, he may decide to focus on muscle mass gain through increased volume and moderate intensities. Then he may lower the volume per session but increase frequency and intensity to build strength.
Use it in a sentence: Dmitry is not impressed with your low training volume.
Intensity: The percentage of your 1rm. If your squat 1rm is 200, then 150 is 75% intensity.
Perceived Intensity: How "difficult" a set feels. This is a subjective measurement. A high degree of PI is often accomplished through "intensity techniques" such as drop sets, rest-pause, etc.
Frequency: How often training occurs. Frequency can be measured for how often one is training in general, for how often a specific movement is performed, or how often a certain body part is worked.
Periodization: Dividing training into progressive phases, each with a specific focus. Adjusting Volume, Frequency, Intensity, and Perceived intensity based on the phase being trained are important parts of periodization. For example, a powerlifter may divide his training into a low-intensity recovery period immediately after a meet. After this, he may decide to focus on muscle mass gain through increased volume and moderate intensities. Then he may lower the volume per session but increase frequency and intensity to build strength.
Compound movement: An exercise that utilizes movement of two or more joints, requiring synergistic operation of multiple muscles. Any good weight training routine is made primarily of compound movements.
Isolation movement: An exercise that utilizes movement of one joint. No muscle can operate in complete isolation, but the goal of an isolation exercise is to get as close to that as possible. While compound movements should be the staple, isolations have their place as well.
Prime Mover: The muscle that produces the majority of force for a given movement. For a squat, for example, the prime mover is the quads.
Eccentric: The part of a repetition where the force of gravity on the weight overcomes the force produced by the muscles, which causes the prime movers to lengthen. This is essentially the "lowering" portion of the lift.
Concentric: The part of a repetition where the force of muscle on the weight overcomes the force of gravity, which causes the prime movers to contract. This is the "lifting" portion of the lift.
Isometric: Stabilization against resistance with the muscle remaining at a constant length. There is an isometric action between any eccentric and concentric action, such as when you touch your chest briefly at the bottom of a bench press.
Strength: The ability to produce maximal force (accelerating as quickly as possible the greatest amount of mass possible). Think of a maximal bench press here, which may take several seconds to complete.
Power: The ability to produces maximal force over a minimal period of time. Power is more dependent on speed of motion than strength is. Think of a maximal power clean, which must be performed explosively and will never take more than a second or two to complete.
Mobility: The ability to put a joint through a full range of motion.
S.A.I.D. Principle: Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. This means exactly what it sounds like: that the body will adapt to the demands placed on it. So if you want to achieve maximum strength, train with heavy weights for low reps.
Specificity: How specific a training protocol is to the goal that one wants to achieve. For example, if you are training for maximal bench press strength, a barbell bench press has more specificity than an incline bench press.
CAT: Compensatory Acceleration Training. This method involves putting maximal force into moving a submaximal weight. As one's leverages improve throughout the range of motion of a lift, The weight accelerates to an increased speed, allowing muscular forces to come closer to their maximum. After you come out of the bottom of a squat, your leverages improve as you come closer to standing up. By the top of the movement, you should be moving the bar fast enough that it could almost pop off of your back (but don't actually let it pop off of your back... that would be stupid). CAT is very effective for building strength. After the term was coined by Dr. Frederick Hatfield, the first man ever to squat 1000 lbs, strong mofos like Sam Byrd and Paul Carter have utilized the method to great success.
Hypertrophy: Enlargement of muscle fibers in response to overcoming force from high volumes of tension. If you're training for hypertrophy, you're training to gain muscle.
Nutrition Terminology
Not much to say here, as I'll go into defining the specifics of diets in later posts.
Calories (cal): In nutrition, a term used to measure the amount of energy provided by a food. The "Calories" (uppercase C) you see on the back of a nutrition label are actually kilocalories (1 kilocalorie = 1000 calories, lowercase C), but are usually called Calories for simplicity's sake. I may not always capitalize "Calories" in future posts for simplicity's sake, but when I use the word I will always be referring to Calories with a capital C, which are equal to kilocalories. So if I say to eat a 3000 calorie diet, please don't eat 3kcal a day, because you'll get hungry and die.
Calories are by far the most important aspect of nutrition. You have to eat more calories than you burn to gain weight, and less calories than you burn to lose weight.
More Calories = Happy Dmitry
"Macros": Macronutrients. The three macronutrients are protein, carbohydrates and fat. All 3 are necessary for proper biological function. Macros are measured in grams (g). 1g protein yields 4 calories, 1g carbs yields 4 calories, and 1g fat yields 9 calories. Alcohol, while not a necessary nutrient by any means, is the only other potential source of calories. 1g alcohol yields 7 calories.
References:
Carter, Paul. Base Building. N.p.: Lift-Run-Bang, n.d. PDF.
Clark, Micheal, Brian Sutton Lucett, and Scott C. Lucett. NASM Essentials of Personal Fitness Training. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2014. Print.
