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Strength Training Glossary

Plain definitions of 64 terms used in powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting and strongman, from effort and programming to meet scoring and the implements.

Where a term is something Ægir Iron measures, the definition says how the app treats it, and it is the same wording you see when you tap the term inside the app. Each entry links to a guide or a calculator that goes further.

Effort and intensity

1RM

Your one-rep max, the most weight you can lift for a single rep. Percentage programming and strength standards are measured against it.

ACWR

Acute to Chronic Workload Ratio, your recent training volume compared to your longer-term average. This app treats it as a descriptive picture of your loading, not a prediction of injury.

AMRAP

As Many Reps As Possible. A set where you do every clean rep you can rather than a fixed number. The app uses AMRAP reps to gauge readiness and drive auto-progression.

e1RM

An estimated one-rep max, calculated from a set you actually did. This app uses an RPE-aware estimate (reps and RPE map to a percentage of 1RM), so your strength trend does not require a true max attempt.

EWMA training load

An exponentially weighted moving average of training load, which counts recent sessions more heavily than older ones. It is a smoother companion to the rolling averages behind ACWR.

make rate

The share of your working sets that were made rather than missed, overall and at heavy loads. It comes from the sets you tag as a miss.

relative intensity

How heavy a set was as a percentage of your 1RM, grouped into zones (under 70, 70 to 80, 80 to 90, 90 plus). It shows where your training time is actually being spent.

relative strength

Strength in relation to bodyweight, often written as a multiple (a 2x bodyweight squat). Absolute strength is the weight lifted, whatever the lifter weighs.

RIR (reps in reserve)

How many more clean reps you could have done when you ended a set. Two reps in reserve is roughly RPE 8, so the two scales describe the same thing from opposite ends.

RPE

Rate of Perceived Exertion, a 1 to 10 rating of how hard a set felt. RPE 8 means about 2 reps left in the tank. It is used to prescribe and log effort without always needing a percentage.

top set and back-off sets

The top set is the heaviest set of the day for a lift. Back-off sets follow it at a lower weight, adding volume without repeating the heaviest load.

training max

The working max your percentage program is priced from, usually a bit below your true 1RM. Auto-progression advances it over a cycle so the loads climb.

training to failure

Ending a set because the next rep cannot be completed with good form. Most strength programs keep their heaviest work a rep or more short of it.

velocity-based training

Using the speed of the bar, measured by a device, to judge effort and choose the load. A rep that moves slower than usual at a given weight usually means you are closer to your limit.

volume

The total work done, usually sets times reps times weight (tonnage). Warm-ups and missed reps are left out so the number reflects real working effort.

warm-up set

A lighter set that builds up to the working weight. It prepares you for the heavy sets and is usually left out of volume totals.

working set

A set done at the planned load and effort, as opposed to a warm-up. Volume and most training statistics count working sets only.

Programming and periodization

accessory exercise

A movement that supports the main lifts by training a muscle or position they depend on, such as rows for the bench press or hamstring work for the deadlift.

Accumulation

The mesocycle phase that builds a base of work with higher volume at moderate intensity. It is usually the first block of a cycle.

block periodization

Training in consecutive blocks that each focus on one quality, for example accumulation, then intensification, then realization.

cluster set

A set broken into small groups of reps with short rests inside it (for example 6 reps as 2 plus 2 plus 2). The app scores it as the straight set it is, so it is a note about how you did the reps.

compound and isolation exercises

A compound exercise moves several joints at once (squat, press, row). An isolation exercise moves one (curl, leg extension).

daily undulating periodization (DUP)

Changing the rep range and load from one session to the next within the same week, for example heavy triples on Monday and lighter sets of eight on Friday.

deload

A planned week or so of lighter training, with less volume, less intensity or both, to shed fatigue before the next block.

EMOM

Every minute on the minute: you start one set at the top of each interval, and the time left in it is your rest (for example 10 sets of 2 as one set of 2 every minute). The app scores the sets as normal sets; the Log page has a clock that counts the rounds.

GPP (general physical preparedness)

Broad conditioning and work capacity, such as sled drags, carries and circuits, built alongside the specific strength work of a sport.

hypertrophy

Growth in muscle size. Hypertrophy training usually means moderate loads for more reps and more weekly sets than pure strength work.

Intensification

The phase that raises the loads and trims volume, shifting the work toward heavier, more specific lifting.

linear progression

Adding a fixed amount of weight every session or every week for as long as you keep making the reps. It is the usual way beginners start, as in 5x5 programs.

mesocycle

A block of a few weeks of training aimed at one goal (building volume, then intensity, then a peak). Programs are labelled by mesocycle phase.

Peak

The final phase before a meet or test, cutting volume sharply so you arrive fresh and strong on the day.

percent of 1RM

A load written as a percentage of your max (for example 80 percent). The app resolves it to an actual weight from your maxes table when you view the session.

periodization

Planning training in phases over weeks and months, changing volume and intensity on purpose so you are at your strongest when it matters.

plateau

A stretch of training in which a lift stops improving despite consistent work.

powerbuilding

Training that combines heavy powerlifting-style work on the main lifts with bodybuilding-style volume for muscle size.

principle of specificity

You get better at what you train. The closer training is to the task (the lift, the rep range, the speed), the more directly it carries over.

progressive overload

Raising the demand of training over time (more weight, more reps or more sets) so the body keeps having a reason to adapt.

Realization

The phase where the work of the earlier blocks turns into expressed strength, with heavier singles and less fatigue.

Competition and scoring

attempts and opener

Each lift in a meet gets three attempts. The opener is the first one, normally a weight you are confident of making even on a bad day.

DOTS

A powerlifting score that adjusts a total for bodyweight so lifters of different sizes can be compared. Ægir Iron uses the 2019 coefficients.

IPF GL points

The International Powerlifting Federation's official score for comparing lifters across bodyweights, used for its best-lifter rankings.

A Personal Record, your best result for a lift at a given rep count (or best time, distance, or rep count for bodyweight work). The app awards them automatically as you log.

raw and equipped

Raw (called classic in some federations) allows a belt, knee sleeves and wrist wraps. Equipped lifting adds supportive suits and shirts and is ranked separately.

Sinclair score

Weightlifting's bodyweight adjustment. It converts a snatch and clean and jerk total into what a lifter at the heaviest reference bodyweight would be expected to lift, and its coefficients are revised every Olympic cycle.

strength standards

Tables that grade a lift from beginner to elite as a multiple of bodyweight, separately for men and women.

total

The sum of a lifter's best successful squat, bench press and deadlift in a powerlifting meet, or best snatch and clean and jerk in weightlifting. Placings are decided on it.

weight class

The bodyweight category a lifter competes in, confirmed at a weigh-in before the meet. Lifters are ranked against others in the same class.

Wilks score

An older bodyweight-adjusted powerlifting score, revised as Wilks-2 in 2020. The IPF replaced it with its own formula.

The lifts

clean and jerk

An Olympic lift: pull the bar to the shoulders (the clean), then drive it overhead (the jerk). Logged as one lift with a combined result.

competition lifts

The lifts a sport is contested in: squat, bench press and deadlift in powerlifting, and snatch and clean and jerk in weightlifting.

conventional vs sumo

The two main deadlift stances. Conventional has the hands outside the legs, sumo has a wide stance with the hands inside. The app tracks each style separately.

hang position

Starting a clean or snatch with the bar off the floor, usually just above or below the knee, to train the top of the pull.

low-bar vs high-bar

Where the bar sits on your back in a squat. Low-bar rides lower on the shoulders and favours the hips, high-bar sits higher and stays more upright.

paused squat

A squat with a deliberate stop in the bottom position, which removes the bounce and builds strength out of the hole.

power clean

A clean caught above parallel, without dropping into a full squat. It is a common training variation and a staple of many strength programs.

snatch

An Olympic lift taking the bar from the floor to overhead in one continuous move, caught in a deep squat.

split jerk

The most common jerk style: the lifter drives the bar overhead and catches it with one foot forward and one foot back.

Strongman

atlas stones

Round concrete stones lifted from the ground and loaded onto a platform or over a bar.

axle

A thick bar about 2 inches (5 cm) across that does not spin, used for deadlifts and overhead presses. The thickness makes it much harder to grip.

farmer's carry

Walking for distance or time with a heavy implement in each hand. It trains grip, the trunk and the upper back.

log press

An overhead press with a thick log that has neutral handles set inside it. The log is cleaned to the chest, often in more than one move, before it is pressed.

yoke

A heavy frame loaded across the shoulders and carried for distance or time.

Equipment

knee sleeves: Neoprene sleeves that keep the knee warm and give light support. Raw (classic) competition allows them, unlike knee wraps.
lifting belt: A stiff belt worn around the waist that gives the trunk something to brace against on heavy squats and deadlifts.

The numbers behind these terms, and the published research each one rests on, are listed on the research page.

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