Plain-English definitions of the terms that come up across personal training, strength work, muscle building and weight loss, so you understand what each session is doing for your body and why progress is built the way it is.
Also known as: 1-2-1 PT, In-person coaching.
One-to-one coaching delivered in person, where the trainer designs and supervises every session in real time. The trainer watches your movement, adjusts load and intensity to the day, and gives immediate feedback. It is the highest-touch coaching format, and the right one when technique, accountability, and steady progress all matter. It is the one service offered here: see 1-2-1 personal training in Soho.
Also known as: Resistance training, Weight training.
Training that uses resistance: barbells, dumbbells, machines, or bodyweight, to build the force your muscles can produce. Strength sits under almost every other goal: more usable strength makes building muscle, losing fat, and staying capable with age all easier.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The gradual, deliberate increase in the demand placed on the body over time, through load, reps, sets, range, or tempo, to drive continued adaptation. It is the single most important principle in strength and muscle work, but only effective when paired with enough recovery between sessions. It is the mechanism behind every strength training programme run here.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: Weekly sets, Workload.
The total amount of work done in a session or a week, usually counted as hard sets per muscle group, or as sets multiplied by reps and load. Volume is the main lever for building muscle: enough of it drives growth, and too much of it outruns what you can recover from.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: Multi-joint exercise, Big lifts.
A multi-joint exercise that recruits several large muscle groups at once: the squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, and row are the classic examples. Compound lifts deliver the most training stimulus per unit of time and form the backbone of most well-built strength and muscle programmes.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Smaller, more isolated exercises that support the main compound lifts by addressing weak points, asymmetries, or muscle groups the big lifts under-stimulate. Examples include split squats, single-arm rows, and rear-delt raises. Accessory work is where most imbalances quietly get resolved over time.
Also known as: Muscle growth.
The growth of muscle tissue in response to resistance training. Driven by mechanical tension, sufficient training volume, and adequate protein and recovery. Most muscle-building programmes are built around hypertrophy principles; gaining quality muscle is a patient process measured over months, not weeks. It is the specific aim of the muscle building programme.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: 1RM, Max lift.
The heaviest load you can lift for a single repetition of a given exercise with sound technique. It is the standard reference point for strength, and most programmes prescribe working weights as a percentage of it. It is usually estimated from a heavy set of several reps rather than tested directly.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: Periodization, Phase-based training.
The planned organisation of training into phases with different focus and intensity across weeks or months. It lets training progress, peak, and recover deliberately: training in blocks (build, develop, consolidate) rather than chasing the same hard workout every session, which is how progress keeps coming for years.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: RPE.
A 1–10 self-reported scale describing how hard a set felt: RPE 10 means no further reps were possible; RPE 7 means roughly three reps were left in the tank. It lets a trainer prescribe intensity that auto-regulates to how your body actually performs on the day, not how it performed last week.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The dull, diffuse muscle ache that peaks 24–72 hours after unfamiliar or hard exercise, caused by micro-damage and repair. Mild DOMS is a normal training response and not a measure of a good session; persistent or severe DOMS suggests load, volume, or recovery is mismatched to your current capacity.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The relative proportions of fat mass, lean tissue, bone, and water in the body: a far more meaningful health and performance marker than scale weight alone. Two people at the same weight can carry very different proportions of muscle and fat. It is best tracked over weeks rather than day to day. It is what a body transformation block is judged on, rather than scale weight alone.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: Calorie deficit.
Taking in less energy than your body uses over a sustained period, which is the condition required to lose body fat. A modest deficit paired with strength training and enough protein loses mostly fat; an aggressive one tends to strip muscle alongside it and is much harder to hold. It is the nutrition side of weight loss coaching, set to be liveable rather than severe.
Source: www.nhs.uk
Reducing body-fat mass while preserving as much muscle as possible: best achieved through a modest, sustainable energy deficit alongside strength training and enough protein. It differs from simple weight loss, which can strip muscle too; the goal is to change how the body is composed, not just what it weighs.
Source: www.nhs.uk
A macronutrient made of amino acids that the body uses to repair and build tissue, including muscle. Adequate daily protein is one of the biggest levers for building or keeping muscle and for managing appetite during fat loss, which is why nutrition guidance sits alongside the training, not after it.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The processes: sleep, tissue repair, refuelling, and stress management, that let the body adapt to the last training stimulus. Recovery is where the adaptation actually happens, so it is not optional. Sleep quality, nutrition, stress load, and sensible training volume are the inputs that decide how much progress you keep.
Source: www.nhs.uk
Also known as: Maximal oxygen uptake, Aerobic capacity.
The maximum rate at which the body can take in, transport, and use oxygen during intense exercise. It is one of the strongest predictors of cardiovascular health and long-term capacity, and it can be improved at any age with structured training, which is why conditioning has a place even in a strength-led plan.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: BMR, Resting metabolic rate.
The energy your body uses at complete rest in a day, to keep you breathing, circulating blood and holding body temperature. It is the largest part of daily energy use for most people and the starting point for working out a calorie target. The calorie calculator estimates it with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: TDEE, Maintenance calories.
Your basal metabolic rate plus everything else you burn in a day: walking, working, training and digesting food. Eating below it over weeks is what creates an energy deficit, and eating at it holds your weight steady. The calorie calculator works it out from your activity level.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: Body recomp.
Losing body fat and building muscle over the same period, so your shape changes more than your weight does. It is most realistic for people new to strength training or returning after a break, and it relies on enough protein and progressive strength work. It is the aim of most body transformation programmes.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: HYROX.
A fitness race that combines 8 kilometres of running with 8 workout stations, such as sled pushes, rowing and wall balls, done in a fixed order with a 1 kilometre run before each station. Training for it mixes running, strength and conditioning. The race readiness calculator projects your running time from a recent 5k.
Source: en.wikipedia.org