| Aerobic Exercise |
Training of moderate-intensity; usually
for more than 20 minutes, that uses up oxygen at or
below the level at which the heart-lung system can replenish oxygen in the
working muscles. It literally means with oxygen, and is the only type of
exercise which burns body fat to meet its energy needs. |
| Amino |
Amino acid. The building-block of protein |
| AFWB |
American Federation of Women
Bodybuilders. Group administering women's amateur bodybuilding in America |
| Anaerobic Exercise |
High intensity exercise which uses up
oxygen more quickly than the body can replenish it in the working muscles.
Bodybuilding and hard-core training is anaerobic and it burns glycogen to
supply its energy needs |
| Back-Cycling |
Cutting back during an exercise session -
on the number of sets, the number of repetitions or the amount of weight
used session |
| Basic Exercise |
In bodybuilding this means an exercise
that work the largest muscle groups (the thighs, back and chest) where
very heavy weights can be used to build huge muscle mass |
| Beef |
The English equivalent of Freak, usually
shouted in support of a particularly outstanding competitive bodybuilder
while on stage. |
| Bitch Tits |
see gynecomastia |
| Blast |
See
Thrash,
some also use this word with the intention of implying that they
have developed a huge pump while thrashing their muscles |
| Body Toning |
The word tone simply describes the state of your muscles.
When at rest, your muscles are in a constant state of partial contraction
in order to be ready for action. The 'tone' of your muscles is
involuntary, so you can't change it by lifting weights a certain way.
However, most people think that toning means getting more definition and
firmer muscles. And how do you get more definition? By doing more reps
with lighter weight, of course! Over the years, people have taken the word
'tone' and redefined it to mean how lean we are--how defined our muscles
appear. In fact, it's even a gender specific word sometimes--women go to
the gym to 'tone up' while men go to the gym to lift weights. Know what?
Those are the exact same things! So let's accept the latter definition! |
| Buff / Buffed |
Good muscle size and definition. Looking
good as in a well-buffed finish |
| Bulking Up |
Gaining any type of body weight; muscle,
body fat or even water! |
| Burn |
The painful, burning
sensation produced by the build-up of lactic acid and other metabolic
waste products in working muscle. Can be reduced through eating bananas
(which contain inosine) and intelligent supplementation |
| Cap |
See delt.
Used more in muscle mags and the US than the UK |
| Carbohydrates |
Food constituents that are a very
effective fuel source for the body. They include sugars, starches and
fibres. |
| Cheat |
Using your momentum (usually through
swinging the body or body part) to start or move a weight after you
would have been unable to continue using proper form. Doing the exercise
in anything other than proper form. Sensible cheating at the end of a set
or an exercise is a proper way of doing an exercise, but many people cheat
all the time which is incorrect, will not properly develop the muscle and
can lead to injuries by putting stress on bones, muscles and ligaments |
| Cheesing |
Acting cheesily, by wandering around with
lats fully flexed or similar pose. More acceptable in the gym (if you’re
big enough) than outside it |
| Chinning Bar |
A bar attached high up, on which it is
possible to do a variety of movements for the upper body including chins |
| Clean |
a. To
‘clean’ is the exercise involving raising a weight or weights from the
floor to the shoulders in one smooth motion to prepare for an overhead
lift (the ‘jerk’). Properly executed, this coordinates the legs, back,
shoulders and arms. Together they are called the ‘clean and jerk’.
b. A Clean diet
is one that is rich in nutrients and low in fat, sugar and salt. c.
A Clean exercise is an exercise done to extremely good form
|
| Cool Down |
A way to give the pulse, blood pressure
and breathing a chance to slow down at the end of a fast paced workout |
| Crunches |
Sit-ups done lying on the floor with legs
on a bench and hands behind the neck. An ab isolation exercise. |
| Cut |
See ripped |
| Cycle |
a. A
length of time set aside for specific types of training, whether for
muscle growth, increasing fitness, concentrating on one particular body
part, bulking up, getting stronger, getting leaner or other specific
requirements.
b.
One or more ergogenic aids, hopefully legal, taken over a specific length
of time. For example, bodybuilders and other athletes often take
Creatine for six weeks, stop for 2-3 weeks, then start again. Cycling in
this way is generally far more effective than just staying on the same
dose all the time as the body reacts better to it
|
| Dead Lift |
A basic exercise that is also one of
three power lifting events where the weight is lifted off floor to
approximately waist height as the lifter stands erect. Excellent for
overall body strength, lower back and balance. |
| Definition |
Extreme leanness (low body fat) coupled
with superior muscle separation and sometimes vascularity |
| Delts |
Shoulder muscles (in training usually
considered in three parts: front, mid and rear delts) |
| Density |
Muscle hardness. It is possible to be
defined but still have excess intramuscular fat, which goes with a good
muscle density |
| Dips |
An exercise performed on an apparatus
resembling two parallel bars, 3 to 4 feet high, which may also be at an
angle (the dipping bars) |
| Dry |
See ripped, but also includes the quality
of apparent ‘paper thin skin’ often associated with heavily dieted
bodybuilders. This is considered a good condition to be in for a
competition. Dryness is achieved by driving as much water as possible from
between the cells into the cells – a result of careful control of food
types including intake of distilled water – but is often wrongly
believed to be the result of not drinking at all. |
| Dumbbell |
Weight used for exercising, consisting of
a small bar or rigid handle of a size that can be held in one hand, with
equal-weight metal discs on each end. |
| Dysmorphia |
See Muscle
Dysmorphia |
| Ectomorph |
One of the three major body types,
characterized by small bones and very little
muscle mass with a metabolism that appears to burn food quickly and
doesn’t put on weight easily. It is commonly believed that people with
these body types have the biggest challenge in building a muscular body |
| EFBB |
English Federation of Body Building, part
of the IFBB |
| Endomorph |
One of the three major body
types, characterized by a round physique that has a tendency to carry
extra body fat. While it is commonly believed that an endomorph will have
problems keeping their fat levels down, it is possible that endomorphs can
make such great gains with their training that their body type may appear
to have changed. |
| Essential Aminos |
The nine amino
acids that can not be manufactured by the body and must therefore be
taken in as part of the diet |
| Estrogen |
One of the two major female sex hormones,
the other of which is progesterone. In men, excess testosterone is
converted to estrogen which can often lead to the condition known as
‘bitch tits’ |
| Exercise |
A collection of sets (typically 3 – 5
sets for bodybuilders) |
| E-Z Curl Bar |
A special type of barbell bar used in
many arm exercises but particularly where the different angles of the bar
relieve strain that might result using a normal straight bar |
| Failure |
When the muscles are so tired that they
no longer work – so they fail. Also known as Temporary Muscle Failure by
sports medics, this represents a great level of achievement (success) as
one can assume that the break down of muscle tissue is maximized. |
| Fast-Twitch muscle |
White muscle fibers which contract
quickly and powerfully, but not with great endurance. These muscles are
developed by heavy, low-rep, explosive reps. Bodybuilders know that for
complete muscular development they must develop both fast-twitch and
slow-twitch muscle fibers. |
| Flat |
Muscle or physique with detail obscured
by excessive water, fat, over-training, under-training or incorrect dieting.
Generally considered unappealing; the opposite of full. |
| Flattening out |
The process of becoming flat; usually
involuntarily. An unfortunate condition whereby
previously good definition is obscured. Before a show this usually the
result of inadequate nutrients, dehydration or of drinking un-distilled
water (i.e. water contaminated with stray minerals that will change the
body’s osmotic balance) |
| Flex |
To contract a muscle |
| Flushing |
Increasing the blood flow to a muscle or
muscle group, usually by performing high rep sets |
| Forced rep |
A rep completed with the (usually
considerable) assistance of a training partner, usually because the person
exercising has gone to failure |
| Form |
The quality of each rep, throughout its
full range of motion. Failure is more likely if the weight trainer is
using good form |
| Freak |
Used more in muscle mags and the US than
in the UK to mean anyone with inhuman size or proportions, cavernous cuts
and separations, unrecognizable or exaggerated body-parts or anything that
leaves your average, run-of-the-mill big-guy whimpering by his weights.
The ultimate compliment an American bodybuilder can pay another truly
hardcore bodybuilder. |
| Free weights |
Barbells and dumbbells, any weight not
part of a pulley or Machine. Bodybuilders and hard-core weight trainers
use a combination of free weights and machines to ensure a balanced
training regime. However, free weights are usually preferred because they
ensure that the muscles are not worked in isolation. Stabilizer muscles
come into play that can not be worked through other exercises and this
leads to better overall muscular development. |
| Full |
The appearance of well rounded muscle
bellies pressing against skin. The best competitive body-builders
manage to look simultaneously full and shredded. |
| Full Rep |
A strict repetition, done to the full
range of the muscle |
| Gear |
See Juice |
| Glutes |
Buttocks |
| Glycogen |
Blood sugar; stored in the body, which
helps to fuel muscle contractions |
| Guns |
Used more in muscle mags than real life.
Biceps, alone or with Triceps |
| Gynecomastia |
Also known as ‘bitch tits’. Caused by
an excess of testosterone (usually some form of steroid) which stimulates
receptors in the nipple area leading to a swelling that commonly appears
like women’s breasts. Can require surgery for removal. |
| Half Rep |
Part of a full repetition, done because
- the person training is using a weight that is heavier than he can handle,
- because he is deliberately cheating the weight ,or
- because he doesn’t know any better
|
| Hams |
Hamstrings, back thigh muscles, also
known as leg biceps |
| Hypertrophy |
A real medical / scientific word meaning
muscle growth |
| IFBB |
International Federation of Body
Building. Founded in 1946 it is probably the most powerful bodybuilding
organization and definitely the most commercial one. |
| Inosine |
An amino acid (protein building block)
known to help prevent lactic acid build-up |
| Intensity |
The degree of effort put into a
bodybuilding workout. The more intense the workout, the more quickly it
will increase in hypertrophy. |
| Isolation exercise |
An isolation movement stresses a single
muscle group; or part of just one muscle, in relative isolation from the
rest of the body. They’re good for details, shaping and defining muscles
but not for overall muscle mass |
| Juice |
Anabolic steroids. If you plan to
take this illegal, ill-advised and unhealthy shortcut to building your
body, please look up short-sightedness, dumbbell and cheating in a normal
dictionary |
| Lactic Acid |
Commonly believed to be a metabolic waste
product produced during aerobic training, new evidence suggests that a
version of lactic acid is used by the liver to renew glycogen supplies |
| Lats |
Back muscles (split into mid lats and lats) |
| Layoff |
Most bodybuilders take a couple of weeks
off from bodybuilding from time to time. During this time no exercise
whatsoever is done. These are beneficial because they allow the body to
completely rest and heal any minor training injuries, ensuring that the
bodybuilder is healthy enough to carry on with intensive training on his
return |
| Ligament |
The tough connective tissue connecting
two or more bones or cartilage, that also limits the movement of bones and
forms joints that strengthens and supports the skeleton and muscular
action |
| Lock Out |
A partial rep, deliberately done by
pushing the weight through only its last few inches of movement. |
| Mass |
The relative size of each muscle group,
or of the whole physique. Muscle mass with good quality muscle, a
balanced, symmetrical and proportional physique and good skin quality is
every serious bodybuilder’s ambition and the criteria used in judging
shows. |
| Mega dosing |
The strange practice of taking athletic
supplements and / or drugs in dosages far beyond those needed to obtain a
desired effect. Probably due to a lack of knowledge or education of how
such supplements and/ or drugs work. |
| Mesomorph |
One of the three major body-types
characterized by a medium sized bone structure. Mesomorphs make gains much
faster than the other two body types and respond quickly and well to
planned exercise and dietary discipline. |
| Military Press |
A standing shoulder exercise where an
Olympic barbell is raised over the head. Usually done on the squat rack.
Also known as Militaries |
| Muscle break-down |
A necessary step in muscle development.
Muscle tissue grows back bigger (between training sessions) in response to
being broken down through weight training |
| Muscle Confusion |
To ensure that the body keeps growing,
the bodybuilder needs to vary his workouts, otherwise muscles will adapt
to the training demands placed upon them. |
| Muscle Dysmorphia |
A bodybuilders’ version of anorexia,
sometimes called reverse anorexia. A newly diagnosed disorder
characterized by almost constant eating, resulting in hypertrophy of the
limbs and interrupted by bodybuilding training in the gym. Sufferers live
in constant fear of being too small and see their body as too small, no
matter how much weight they can lift or how large their muscles become |
| Muscle head |
A word used by body builders for someone
who is really into heir sport. |
| NABBA |
North American Body Building Association
- a federation competing with, and with similar aims and reach to the IFBB |
| Negative rep |
A repetition where the weight is lowered
slowly, under control and to excellent form against gravity |
| NPC |
The National Physique Committee Inc which
administers amateur bodybuilding competitions in the states. NPC champions
are sent abroad to compete in IFBB
world championships |
| Obliques |
The external oblique muscles - at either
side of the abs, that rotate and flex the body trunk |
| Oestrogen |
see Estrogen |
| Olympian |
In bodybuilding this term is used only
for bodybuilders who have competed in the Mr Olympia or Ms Olympia
competitions. This has nothing to do with the Olympic Games. |
| Olympic Barbell |
A special barbell used in weight lifting
and power lifting as well as by bodybuilders in heavy basic exercises such
as squatting, bench pressing and power lifting. |
| Overload |
The amount of weight that a muscle can be
forced to use that is above that of its normal strength ability. Forces it
to increase in hypertrophy |
| Partial Rep |
Deliberately doing an
exercise without going through a complete range of motion at the beginning
or the end of a rep |
| Passive stretch |
A partner assisted stretch. It enables a
greater range of motion but is more likely to result in injury. |
| Peaking |
The results of the process of preparation
(training, dieting, sun tanning, mental conditioning and Resting etc.) to
become well defined
or shredded
for a contest or photo shoot |
| Pecs |
Chest muscles |
| Pencil Neck |
A non-body builder or non-weight trainer.
Commonly used by bodybuilders ‘muscle heads’, it is not actually as
pejorative as it sounds |
| Periodisation |
Used more in muscle mags than in the gym,
this refers to the combination of different training cycles |
| Pins |
Legs |
| Plate |
The weights that go on each end of a
barbell. In America, a Plate is the 45-pounder that goes on an Olympic
barbell. When Americans reach for smaller weights, they pick
up spare change: quarters (25s), dimes (10s), nickels (5s), for
which there is no English equivalent. In England a Plate can be any
weight. |
| Pose |
Each individual move or stance that a
bodybuilder does to highlight his or her physique |
| Pose Down |
This used to be the last round of an EFBB
competition, used to help official judges differentiate between closely
placed bodybuilders. The part of a show where the top bodybuilders in a
competition get together and… pose!
Now used for any unstructured comparisons whether in
a competition or informally done as a result of high spirits in a gym or
with a group of bodybuilders. Judges looking for the winner of a pose-down
will look for the bodybuilder who moves and shows himself or herself to
maximum advantage, aesthetic muscularity, symmetry and condition
|
| Posing Routine |
The well-choreographed series of poses;
done to music, that a bodybuilding competitor uses to present his physique
at the relevant round of a bodybuilding competition. |
| Power Rack |
A safety apparatus with two adjustable
pins on which the barbell can rest. Used to perform the heavier basic
exercises |
| Pre-exhaust |
A bodybuilding technique that makes the
weaker muscles seem temporarily stronger than normal. It involves
supersetting an isolation exercise for a particular muscle with a basic
movement for the same muscle |
| Pre-judging |
The first rounds of a competition judging
system that is separate from the evening’s public presentation |
| Protein |
General term for specific sequences of
amino
acids. The body’s primary building material and as such is vital to
bodybuilders. |
| Pumped |
The look and feeling bodybuilders
experience when their muscles engorge with blood, lactic acid and other
metabolic waste products in response to heavy and intense exercise |
| Pyramiding |
The act of increasing weight while
decreasing reps on successive sets. Sometimes also considered to be the
act of increasing weight while decreasing reps and then decreasing weight
again while increasing reps |
| Quads |
Front thigh muscles, also known as leg
triceps |
| Recovery Cycle |
What happens of relevance to a
bodybuilder or hard-core weight trainer between workouts. The body flushes
out fatigue toxins, restores glycogen, repairs itself and increases in
hypertrophy. Recovery is enhanced by good rest, sleep and nutrition. |
| Rep |
Repetition. The movement of a weight or
exercise equipment through a range of motion and then back again once |
| Rep Out |
To repeat reps until failure; ‘to rep
to failure’ |
| Ripped |
Description of the condition of
definition; low body fat coupled with clear muscle separation |
| Roids |
See Juice |
| Roid Rage |
Popular name given to the uncontrolled
anger and outbursts exhibited by steroid users. Coined by the popular
press, there is no medical proof for this and it is commonly believed by
bodybuilders that the steroids are normally an excuse rather than the true
reason for the rage |
| Sauce |
See Juice |
| Set |
A collection of reps taken without a
break (typically 8-10 reps for bodybuilders) |
| Shredded |
See ripped;
some may think of shredded as ‘even more ripped than ripped’ |
| Six-pack |
This word has moved into common use
language and refers to a rectus abdominis muscle so ripped, well-developed
and unobscured by body fat that the individual sections separated by
fibrous bands, called tendinous enscriptions look like separate muscles
under the skin. |
| Sleeve |
The hollow metal tube that fits over the
bar on most barbells and dumbbells. It makes it easier for the bar to
rotate in the hands as the full repetition of an exercise is undertaken |
| Slow-Twitch Muscles |
Red muscle fibres that contract slowly,
weakly and continually for long periods of time. They are developed by
light, high-rep workouts. Bodybuilders know that for a complete physique
it is necessary to develop both slow and fast-twitch muscle fibres |
| Smith Machine |
A machine that ensures a bar is lifted
vertically. |
| Split Routine |
A regime where the body is divide into
segments and trained more than three times a week (most beginners train
three times a week). The programme will involve at least one day of rest. |
| Spot |
To stand guard and watch while someone
performs a set. A spotter’s main responsibility is to be alert and
ready to help out, thereby preventing injury, but he or she might be
also be called upon to re-rack a weight after a heavy set, assist with
forced reps or just to provide moral support. |
| Squatting |
As it sounds – with an Olympic barbell
and loads of weight on your shoulders. Commonly considered the best leg
exercise and the best all round exercise for blood flow. |
| Stack |
The
plates loaded on an exercise machine,
Any
group or collection of supplements, usually configured to heighten the
efficacy of one or more elements
|
| Straps |
See training
straps |
| Striated |
See ripped. This is when the striations
(grooves and ridges in the muscle detail) are particularly clear and can
be used for a particular body part as well as the overall condition of a
body builder |
| Stripping |
The act of taking weights off a barbell
or machine. |
| Superset |
Alternating sets of two or three
exercises, typically involving flexor and extensor muscles (such as the
biceps and triceps, chest and upper back). Often also used to
describe any two or three exercises performed in alternating fashion with
no rest in between |
| Symmetry |
The overall shape or general outline of a
person's body, as when seen in silhouette. |
| Tendon |
A band or cord of strong, fibrous tissue
that connects muscles to bone |
| Thrash |
The process of working out a muscle or
muscle group really heavily - usually to failure and beyond,
repeatedly, over the course of a training session. What a hard-core weight
trainer does to his body during a high-intensity workout |
| Training Straps |
Straps wrapped around wrists, then under
and over a bar held by clenched hands to aid in certain lifts where a
weight trainer might lose their grip before working the muscle to
encourage optimal hypertrophy |
| Traps |
Trapezius Muscles |
| Vascularity |
The size and number of observable veins.
It used to be highly desirable in bodybuilding and is now less so. |
| Washboard |
See Six-pack
, also referred to as washboard abs |
| Wheels |
Usually only used by those who want to
demonstrate they’ve trained in the USA. The musculature of the legs:
the quads, primarily, but also the whole legs, hamstrings and even the
calves on occasion. |