Beginner glossary guide
Start here if you or your clients are new to structured training. These terms cover the language of progressive programs, recovery and basic nutrition.
20 terms
Bodyweight
Bodyweight training uses your own body as resistance. No equipment, anywhere, scalable to any level.
Calories
Calories measure the energy provided by food. Understanding your caloric needs is the foundation of every fitness goal.
Compound exercise
A compound exercise trains several joints and muscle groups at once (squat, hinge, press, pull) — high return for strength and hypertrophy.
Cool-down
A cool-down is light activity after hard work to gradually lower intensity; useful for feel and transition, not magic recovery.
Deload
Deload is an active recovery week where you intentionally reduce volume and intensity to allow your body to fully recover and come back stronger.
Exercise selection
Exercise selection is choosing movements that fit the goal, equipment, anatomy and skill — the foundation of a good program.
Full Body
A full body program trains all major muscle groups in each session, 2-4 times per week. Ideal for beginners and strength training.
Hypertrophy
Muscle hypertrophy is the increase in muscle fiber size. It's the primary mechanism behind muscle growth from resistance training.
Isolation exercise
An isolation exercise targets mainly one joint and one muscle group (curl, lateral raise, leg extension) to add local volume or correct imbalances.
Mobility
Mobility is the ability to actively control range of motion. Find out how to improve your mobility to optimize your performance.
Progressive overload
Progressive overload is the foundational principle of training: gradually increasing the demand on your muscles to keep gaining strength and size.
Protein
Protein is the essential macronutrient for building and repairing muscle. Discover your needs, the best sources and the optimal timing.
Repetitions (Reps)
A rep is one complete execution of an exercise. The rep range determines whether you primarily develop strength, hypertrophy, or muscular endurance.
Rest day
A rest day is planned time off hard training so adaptation can occur; it can be full rest or very light activity.
RIR
RIR (Reps in Reserve) measures how many reps you have left before failure. Modern, intuitive tool to manage intensity.
RPE
RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) is a 1-10 scale to measure subjective effort. Essential tool for managing intensity.
Series (Sets)
A series (or set) is a group of consecutive reps without rest. The basic unit of training programming.
Sleep
Sleep is the most underrated training variable. It's during sleep that recovery, muscle building, and hormonal regulation happen.
Strength Training
Strength training aims to develop maximal strength using heavy loads (80-95% of 1RM) with few repetitions (1-6 reps).
Warm-up
A warm-up raises temperature, primes the nervous system and rehearses the session patterns before hard sets.
+10,000 coaches use Ekklo daily
The app for fitness coachespoweredbyClaude
Claude
Manage your clients, payments, and programs from one single platform. Spend less time managing and more time coaching.
No commitment, no credit card required