Gym Lingo

Well, forget French classes. The gym has a language of its own! Here are some of the common terms used in the gym, and also the names of the various exercises and body parts. Now that I have taught you this, you owe me a coffee!

Rep
Its basically an abbreviation of the word 'repetition'. For example, when you do bicep curls, you pick up a dumbell and curl it up 6 times, that means you did 6 reps.

Set
The 6 reps you did earlier is considered 1 Set. So if you are doing 4 sets of 6 reps, you are picking up the barbell, doing 6 reps and putting it down on 4 occasions.

Eccentric and Concentric
The Eccentric portion of an exercise is when the muscle doing the work is stretching. Concentric portion is when the muscle is flexing. (eg bicep curls, barbell going upwards is the concentric portion, and barbell going back downwards is called the eccentric portion)

Plate
In a gym, the 20kg or 44 lbs plate is usually referred to as "One plate". Might sound like a stupid explanation, but keep in mind, there are 1.25kg, 5kg, 10kg, 15kg and 20kg plates. So when a guy says he can bench 2 plates, he means he can bench press a bar with 2 plates of 20kg on each side.

The Easy Bar
The barbell which is twisted, with a sort of "M" shape in the middle.

Range of Motion (ROM)

The distance between the starting point and the ending point of an exercise.

Supersets
Performing 2 sets of the same exercise, or different exercises consecutively without rest.

(eg, 1 set 10kg bicep curls + 1 set 8kg bicep curls or 1 set cable crossovers + 1 set push ups)

Trisets

Performing 3 sets of the same exercise, or different exercises consecutively without rest.

Giant Sets

Performing 4 sets of the same exercise, or different exercises consecutively without rest.

Drop Sets

Performing 2 or more sets of the same exercise but with descending weights. Technically a drop set is a superset, triset or giant set but specifically of a single exercise.

(eg, 1 set 10kg bicep curls + 1 set 8kg bicep curls + 1 set 6kg bicep curls)

Forced Reps

Doing a few more reps with a spotters assist immediately after doing a set to failure.

Partial Reps

Doing a few more reps without the complete range of motion immediately after doing a set to failure.

(Don't get confused, partial reps are an incorrect way to do any sets. They should only be used immediately after a set when you reach exhaustion to squeeze in a few extra reps. I see too many people doing partial reps with excessive weights for all their sets these days. Partial reps will lead to imbalances within muscle fibers and chronic pain in the long run.)

Cheating Reps

Using momentum to "swing" or "jerk" the weights for a few more reps immediately after doing a set to exhaustion.

(Again, just like partial reps, this is an incorrect way to train and should only be used after doing a set to failure.)

The Names of the Muscle Groups

People normally use generic terms like chest, thighs, shoulders etc to describe the muscles they intend to train. If you want to build and sculpt your physique, it will be very helpful to know the specific names of the different muscle groups. When you know the names, it will help greatly when you are trying to improve a specific part of your body, doing research, or when you experience an injury.

Here is a basic, superficial guide. Basic, because these are only the main names of the superficial muscles. If you look at an anatomy chart, it gets a lot more detailed, and there are many more muscles under the superficial ones. For example, the deltoids are split into 3 parts, the anterior deltoid, medial deltoid and posterior deltoid. There are also deeper muscles around and under them that won't be visible from the surface, like the rotator cuffs, supraspinatus and infraspinatus. This basic guide should suffice for a beginner to understand the muscle groups and their functions better.

(Will add more stuff here when it comes to mind :p)