• Aerobic: Using oxygen. Aerobic exercise requires your heart and lungs to work harder to maintain a sufficient amount of oxygen for you muscles to use.

    Anaerobic: Using more oxygen that can be supplied. Anaerobic exercise is typically a "stop and go" motion. It requires many short bursts of energy that often exceed the amount that is available. The stop movements are rest periods in which one regains energy.

    Body Composition: Fat versus Muscle and Bone, a proportion of what your body is made up of.

    Body Type: There are three body types. Each person is a mixture of at least two of the body types, unless they are at an extreme body type.

    • Endomorph: Pear or apple shaped body. A slow metabolism. Little definition to the body. Strong bones. Prone to obesity and heart disease.
    • Ectomorph: Stick shaped figure. High metabolism. Lean build. Prone to having brittle bones and osteoporosis.
    • Mesomorph: Muscular build. Definition to muscles. Metabolism can be hi or low. Strong bones and little body fat.

    Calisthenics: Exercises which rely on one’s own body weight and gravity for resistance.
    Example ~ Doing push-ups.

    Circuit Training: A series of different exercises in which you vary the exercises in intervals. One of the most time-efficient workouts because you accomplish more activities within less time.

    Contractions: Two types:

    • Concentric Contractions: The movement that shortens the muscle; the "positive" work done in an exercise where you lift against gravity.
      Example ~ The up movement on the bicep curl.
    • Eccentric Contractions: The movement that lengthens your muscles; the "negative" work done in an exercise where you resist the pull of gravity and try to prolong the down movement for as long as possible.
      Example ~ The down movement on a tricep dip.

       

    Count: The number of seconds one full movement should take.

    Flexibility: How much you can move your joint through its full range of motion. The elasticity of the muscle. Two types:

    • Static: Stretching and holding the stretch. (recommended type of stretch for most people)
    • Ballistic or Dynamic: Stretching with the bouncing.

    Flexing: Tensing the muscle so that it is not relaxed and it is hard.

    Hi-Lo: Hi-Lo workouts work your heart and body to the point of exhaustion during the high part and allow for recovery during the Low part.

    Hitting the Wall: An extreme fatigue that occurs when one’s body is depleted of its main energy source glycogen, the simplest form of carbohydrates.

    Hyperextending: Extending beyond the normal full range of motion in a movement.

    Intensity: The level of how hard one works. Three basic types: Beginner, Moderate, and Intermediate.
    Example ~ Moderate for those of us who can handle the exercise but would like to make the exercise harder because the exercise has become too easy at the he beginner level.

    Interval Training: Just what it said. You vary the number, pace or distance intervals depending on what type of a workout one would prefer.

    Isometric Exercises: Exercise in which you work against an immovable resistance.
    Example ~ Pushing your palms against each other.

    Isotonic Exercises: Exercise with a repeated movement and constant application of stress.
    Example ~ Doing bench presses.

    Metabolic Rate (Metabolism): The rate at which your body burns calories.

    Muscle Fibers: We are born with two types of fibers. The amount of each type of fiber one has is genetically predetermined. By exercising one type of fiber you can increase the size of that fiber over the other:

    • Slow Twitch Fibers: The more slow-twitch fibers one has the better of an aerobic endurance they have for long endurance activities, like cross country running.
    • Fast Twitch Fibers: The more fast-twitch fibers one has, the better one is at explosive activities which need bursts of energy, like basketball.

    Muscular Endurance: Two types -

    • Dynamic: The number of times an exercise can be performed within the allotted time.
      Example ~ Benching a forty pound barbell fifty times within one minute.

       

    • Static: Using muscular force to remain in a stationary position. The time it takes for the person to become exhausted from the exercise.
      Example ~ You can remain in a half squat position for forty seconds.

       

    Muscular Strength: Ability to lift at your maximum force at one try.
    Example ~ You can lift a one hundred and fifty pound barbell.

    Pulsing: Repeating the movement except it is in a smaller range of motion and at a faster pace.

    Overload Principle: Using more than the normal amount to gain improvement.
    Example ~ Working at a higher intensity to increase your ability to do an activity.

    Progression: Increasing overload at just the right rate to result in fitness.
    Example ~ adding another five pounds to your dumbbells because just lifting two pounds is easy for you now.

    Repetitions: The number of times one repeats a movement during a set or exercise session.

    Specificity: Your exercise program is designed to meet specific goals. Specificity is done by overloading a certain body part in order to improve or develop it.
    Example ~ Lots of running workouts because you want to increase lung capacity and endurance.

    Spotter: A person who helps the weight lifter. Spotters encourage the weight lifter, give moral support, help the lifter lift a weight to starting position, prevent any injuries the lifter may cause to him or herself or others.

    Weight Training: Working with resistance to develop muscular strength and endurance.