The world of workouts can be a confusing place, linguistically. Whether you’re strength training or learning the ropes of CrossFit, learning the ins and outs of the workout clock can help you exercise more efficiently.
What’s a rep and what’s a set? What is HIIT and who on earth is DOMS? The workout clock can baffle the best of us. There are abbreviations and jargon we hear shouted throughout classes that leave us scratching our heads, often merely copying the moves of people around us.
Learning the terms is easier than you think. Follow our workout clock dictionary to perform classes and exercises to maximum efficiency, reaching your target goals without overdoing it.
READY? SET? LET THE WORKOUT CLOCK DICTIONARY BEGIN…
AMRAP: This one has a double meaning: AMRAP is one of the most popular CrossFit terms, which can either mean ‘As Many Reps As Possible’ or ‘As Many Rounds As Possible’. It’s great for muscle conditioning and strength in a short period of time, since the aim is to perform as many reps or rounds as possible in the given minutes allocated.
Couplet: Otherwise known as rounds, this is the term used in Crossfit, which blends together a combination of two moves.
EMOM: Meaning ‘Every Minute on The Minute’, this term is often used in high-intensity interval training. You start the exercise at the beginning of each minute, then follow the recommended reps and rests for the entirety of that minute.
DOMS: We all know that heavy aching feeling after an intense strenuous workout. The actual term for this is ‘Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness’, abbreviated to DOMS. It might be an indicator that you’re overworking your body.
GPP: ‘General Physical Preparedness’ is the readiness to perform a variety of different moves. It’s that feeling at the gym after you’ve stretched and prepared yourself for the forthcoming session.
HIIT: This abbreviation is heard far and wide, including at Raw Gyms clubs. The abbreviation means ‘High Intensity Interval Training’ and involves short periods of exercise working at 110% followed by short periods of either low-intensity exercise or rest.
Reps: You’ll hear this in workout instructions a lot: it’s the word used to describe how many times an exercise or move should be carried out.
Sets: A set is the sequence of reps that should be carried out. For instance, five sets of four reps means performing the exercise four times, having a short rest and continuing to do another set of four reps, until you’ve repeated the exercise five times in total.
Tabata: One of the most popular forms of high-intensity interval training techniques, Tabata is an exercise where you perform eight rounds of activity to your best ability for 20 seconds, then take 10 seconds to rest. This is all done in a four-minute timescale. For the mathematicians out there, Tabata equates to 20/10 x 8 = 4.
Hopefully this workout clock dictionary will make life easier next time your Raw Gyms instructor tells you to perform a certain amount of reps or sets in a specific way. Of course, we’re always on hand to help you understand your body and exercise at Raw.
