30 Gym Slang Terms Explained

March 14, 2022
9 min read

GYM Slangs

              The gym can be a very confusing and exciting place to be in, for a new beginner. It’s a different world, with its own cultures and a different language that is commonly used. This can be challenging and scary to a person who wants to start going to the gym. That is why people back out from going to the gym even before they begin. It doesn’t have to be hard, that is why we have created this gym slang term that has been explained in a way you will feel familiar with terms regularly used at the gym without even going there.

Bodybuilder #1 Gym Slang

              A bodybuilder is anyone who is in the gym to train primarily for their body looks or aesthetics. They are people who train to appear muscular and big for purposes of competition in some kind of physic contest.

Upper Body Free Weight Workout Routine

Powerlifters

            Powerlifters are people who pay very little attention to the way they look, trying to sculpt their six-pack and aesthetics. They mostly train for strength purposes; they perform in athletes or to compete in some kind of way. A power lifter’s main aim is to have more strength, be able to lift heavier weights or throw things further.

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Vascular

             This is having visible veins due to continuous exercise and low body fat. The skin appears to be very thin such that you can see through it.

Newbie

             Newbie is a very popular term in other settings, like a work newbie which is usually referred to as a person who has been recently employed. A gym newbie is also used in a more similar way to those other settings. A gym newbie is a person who is new to the gym and is unfamiliar with how things are done at the gym.

Stacking

            Adding more plates of weight to your workout to set your personal best, increase muscle mass and build your strength. Bodybuilders use stacking to achieve a particular result faster.

Boulders

            These are shoulders that are solid as a rock due to high-intensity workout exercise that strengthens your muscles and does overtime on your back.

Bulking

            It’s the process of adding muscle mass to your body through training and eating more calories than you need to gain more weight. Bulking involves training regularly and eating more food than usual to gain more muscle mass in your body.

Cheap Reps

             After exercising for some time muscle fatigue sets in and the weights become too heavy, some lifters employ an improper form to make a lift by using a muscle group to assist in the movement.

HIIT

         High-intensity interval training is exercises that alternate between high-intensity period and low-intensity recovery period. This is putting in or exercising using every strength you got and slowing it down to half the speed you were using or even lower.

Plates

         They are round weights made of high-density rubber which are placed on the end of the bars or adjustable dumbbells to continually add weight. Most palates are 1, 2, 2.5, 5, 10, 17, 20 or 25 kilograms.

V-taper

           The term v-taper is used to describe a bodybuilder look which requires them to have a wide shoulder, small mid-section, and a big back. When one can achieve this look at the outlines of the torso it forms the shape of the letter ‘v’ hence the name v-taper.

Cutting

         Reducing body fat with training and nutrition while still retaining your maximum masculinity. Cutting mainly involves working out to reduce your body fat and at the same time remain muscular.

Forces reps

             When you are already tired and unable to do more rep on your own, the spotter or your partner will help you do an additional repetition of an exercise by helping you pick on the necessary slack allowing you to complete the set.

Freak

            A bodybuilder w an incredible size and shape, who has unreal muscle development. These people look so unreal and perfect that they tend to get stares from other people like they are a rare specimen.

Gains

          People say that where there is no pain there is no gain. Gains in a gym setting are referred to as training hard and dieting to give you all kinds of gain or benefits. To gain in a gym, you have to push yourself and let go of certain pleasures, such as eating healthy food and not junk food which can be challenging to some people.

Maxing Out

            Lifting many plates with heavy weights for one rep. This is going big and pushing yourself to the limit of your capabilities by lifting as many heavyweights as you can for one rep.

Gym Rat

            Anyone who you will constantly find at the gym is a gym rat. These people spend most of their time at the gym and you will always find them when you go there, it’s like they live there.

Personal Trainer

            These are professionals at the gym who help their clients to get in the shape of their desire, whether a client wants to lose or gain weight. Personal trainers guide their clients by helping them through their dieting, workouts, nutrition, and how they deal with things relating to their health and weight. They act more like gym teachers.

Must Read:: Your Guide to Become A Successful Personal Trainer

Lifting

         Weight lifting movements, using weight plates, dumbbells, or, barbells so that you can add more strength and gain muscles. This is lifting different weights so that you can gain muscles.

Cardio

            Any working out condition where you challenge your performance and endurance of your heart and lungs likes swimming, running, treadmill, stair climber, etc.

Must Read:: Best Cardio And Weight Exercises To Lose Weight

Maintenance

          Maintaining calories, eating at maintenance is eating just enough food, not more or less than you need to be able to maintain the weight that you are at. It is eating the same number of calories your body can burn in a typical day because you don’t want to gain or lose weight, keeping your overall weight the same.

Pre-workout

             A pre-workout is a drink a bodybuilder, lifter or anyone takes before going to the gym for improved performance and energy purposes. The drink usually has a lot of caffeine’s in them and other different compounds that are supposed to help you lift more weight, experience improved recovery, and help reduce fatigue making you work long hours without getting tired.

Chalk

          While using metal machines your hand can get sweaty hence become slippery. Bodybuilders and lifters use powdered chalk to be able to have a better grip on heavy lifts. The chalk prevents your hands to be watery hence you can lift your weights at ease.

Rest

             After performing a set of exercises, one pauses for a while by taking some predetermined amount of time to rest for about two to three minutes depending on what type of style of training you were performing. It is common to rest in between sets on a big compound movement.

Warm-up

            Before getting to the main activity at the gym one starts with some easy exercises to warm up. Most lifters before lifting heavy weights will warm up by performing lifting exercises with small and lighter weights.

Work in

            This is when a person requests you to use the same machines or free weights as you are using. When you take your rest time the other person will take his turn to lift and exercise with the weights and vice versa. Work in is exercising together using the same machines at alternating times.

Full Range of Motions (ROM)

          Full range of motion is when a bodybuilder or a lifter extends the exercise to the furthest beneficial point. Lifters and bodybuilders usually get more excited and load up heavyweights more than they can be able to handle. They lie to themselves of contracting the entire muscle and in the end, they are only able to move the heavyweight’s minimal distances.

Supersets

          When you do more exercises than one without resting is referred to as supersets. This is when you exercise without taking rest periods in between the exercise. It is continuously working with no break.

Incline

           Any workout exercise that you perform in which the equipment or the bench is placed in a manner such that your upper body is now in an inclined position.

Weekend Warrior

            People who usually go to work on weekdays don’t have time to visit the gym as they are always busy, but they crush the gym every Saturday and Sunday hence they are the weekend warriors.

Conclusion

           The gym should be a place where we all feel safe, we all have different insecurities, and going to the gym should not add any more. Feeling like you belong to a place enables you to work and exercise without having to look over your shoulders, and not worrying what other people think of you. The above gym slang educates you and helps you to be more familiar with different terms used at the gym.