Resources
Training glossary
Plain definitions for the terms in your plan and around the app. Training Lab keeps most of this jargon out of beginners' plans and uses it once your experience level makes it expected. This page is for when you want to know what something means.
26 terms
#
1RM (One-Rep Max)
The most weight you can lift for a single rep of an exercise with good form. Training Lab never asks for yours or estimates it. Load guidance is always relative, like a level of effort or "find a weight that's challenging for this rep range", and never a number tied to your 1RM.
A
AMRAP
"As Many Reps (or Rounds) As Possible": a set or finisher where you do as many as you can with good form instead of a fixed number.
Arnold split
Chest and back together, then shoulders and arms, then legs. It takes its name from Arnold Schwarzenegger, who trained this way. Runs on 3 or 6 gym days a week.
B
Bodyweight
Exercises that use only your own body as resistance. One of the gear-type options for gym days, and the default for home days when you haven't listed any equipment.
Bro split
One major muscle group per session, usually chest, back, shoulders, arms and legs. Runs on 5 gym days a week.
C
Contrast sets
A heavy strength movement followed straight away by an explosive movement for the same muscles, like a heavy squat followed by a jump squat. One of the type-of-sets options in the setup.
D
Deload week
A planned week of lower volume or intensity that lets your body recover and adapt before you push harder again. It's part of the program, planned in advance.
DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)
Muscle soreness that shows up 24-72 hours after a workout, especially after new or unusually hard training. It's normal and it passes. Sharp or worsening pain is something else, and a reason to stop.
E
Eccentric / Concentric
The two phases of a rep. Concentric is the lifting phase, where the muscle shortens (standing up from a squat). Eccentric is the lowering phase, where it lengthens (sitting down into the squat). Both count as work.
Exercise complexity
A setup preference (beginner, intermediate, advanced) that caps how technically demanding your exercises can be. It's a hard ceiling: nothing in your plan goes above the levels you picked.
F
Free weights
Equipment that moves freely instead of along a machine's fixed path: barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells. One of the gear-type options for gym days.
Full body
Training the whole body in every session. Works on 1 to 4 gym days a week and is the usual starting point for newer lifters.
G
Gear type
A gym-day preference (bodyweight, free weights, machine) that tells the plan what kind of equipment to use. For home days, see "Home equipment".
Gym split
How your gym days divide the body across the week, such as full body, upper/lower or push/pull/legs. With a few years of training you can pick one in the setup; otherwise Training Lab chooses. One or two gym days left over after the split become mobility, conditioning or core sessions.
H
HIIT
High-Intensity Interval Training: short bursts of hard effort alternated with brief recovery. In Training Lab it's a training style with no location of its own, so its equipment follows the other activity you picked (gym or home).
Home equipment
A preference for home days (and HIIT days without a gym) listing the equipment you own, like dumbbells, bands or a pull-up bar. Wall bars count as a pull-up bar. Leave it empty and your plan sticks to bodyweight exercises.
Hypertrophy
Muscle growth in size, usually the main goal behind moderate-to-high rep ranges and training close to muscular fatigue.
M
Machine
Equipment that guides your movement along a fixed path, like a leg press, cable stack or seated row machine. One of the gear-type options for gym days.
P
Progressive overload
Gradually increasing the demand on your body (more weight, reps or sets, or better form) so it keeps adapting instead of stalling.
Push/pull/legs (PPL)
A push day (chest, shoulders, triceps), a pull day (back, biceps) and a leg day. Runs on 3 or 6 gym days a week.
R
Rest between sets / Rest between exercises
Rest between sets is the pause after each set, or after each round when exercises are grouped in a superset. Rest between exercises is the pause before you move on to the next exercise or group. Both are setup preferences that pace your session.
RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion)
A 1-10 scale for how hard a set felt, where 10 is an all-out effort. It works as a flexible alternative to a fixed weight, because it adjusts to how you feel that day.
S
Superset
Two or more exercises done back to back with little or no rest, repeated for rounds and rested as one unit. In Training Lab a group holds up to five exercises. One of the type-of-sets options, usually used to save time or add intensity.
T
Tempo
The speed of each phase of a rep, sometimes written as a code like "3-1-3": seconds lowering, pausing and lifting. A slower tempo increases time under tension.
U
Upper/lower
Alternating upper-body days and lower-body days. Runs on 2 or 4 gym days a week. Combined with push/pull/legs, it becomes a 5-day hybrid: upper, lower, push, pull, legs.
W
Warm-up
Short, low-fatigue movement before the main workout that raises your body temperature and wakes up the muscles you're about to use. Dynamic movement like marching or arm circles works better here. Save static stretching for after.
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