Frequently Asked Questions
Off-Season 1 - 8-Week - 5-Day
- SPLIT: Full Body / Push / Pull / Legs / Endurance
- FOCUS: Hypertrophy & Strength
Off-Season 2 - 8-Week - 5-Day
- SPLIT: Upper Strength / Lower Strength / HIIT / Hypertrophy / Endurance
- FOCUS: Strength, Hypertrophy, Cardio
Spring Pre-Season - 8-Week - 5-Day
- SPLIT: 5 x Full Body
- FOCUS: Cardio & Hunt Specific
Pre-Season - 12-Week - 5-Day
- SPLIT: 5 x Full Body
- FOCUS: Cardio & Hunt Specific
In-Season - 8-Week - 4-Day
- SPLIT: 2 x Upper / Lower
- FOCUS: Maintenance
Post-Season / Phase 1 - 8-Week - 5-Day
- SPLIT: Push, Pull, Legs, Upper, Lower
- FOCUS: General Fitness & Mobility
Post-Season / Phase 2 - 8-Week - 5-Day
- SPLIT: Push, Pull, Legs, Upper, Lower
- FOCUS: General Fitness & Hypertrophy + Baseline Strength
PERIODIZATION - The specific structure of training over time.
PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD - The gradual increase of stress placed upon the body throughout the training cycle. This means increasing the overall load lifted during a workout. ie. more weight at same reps, more reps at same weight, or more reps and more weight during the span of the training cycle.
TEMPO - The speed at which the lift occurs.
ROM - Range of motion.
RPE - Rate of perceived exertion. A measure of how difficult a set was on a 1-10 scale, with 10 meaning muscular failure was achieved.
RIR - Reps in reserve, RIR 1 = 1 rep left in the tank; RIR 5 = you can complete 5 more reps.
EFFORT - How hard you are pushing the set relative to failure. Measured with RPE or %1RM.
LOAD - The weight of the external resistance.
INTENSITY - Effort and load.
VOLUME - Total amount of work performed. Usually figured as sets x reps x load.
FREQUENCY - How often you directly train a given muscle per 7 days
HYPERTROPHY - The growth of muscle tissue / muscle mass.
AMRAP - As many reps as possible (with good form). Often performed as a max strength test.
Circuit - Group of exercises to be done together without resting unless specifically stated.
Compound Set - 2 exercises that work the same muscle group to both be done before resting.
Superset - 2 exercises that work opposite muscle groups to both be done before resting.
Giant Set - 3 or more exercises to both be performed before taking a break or resting.
Drop Set - Drop = after completing the initial number of reps, lower your weight and complete the next set of reps, then lower weight after that number of reps and complete the next set number of reps, and so on.
example: 8 drop 12 drop 12
example: 8 drop fail drop fail
Set to Failure - This means you will perform each set of the movement until muscle failure.
Descending Set (12,10,10,8) - Any time you see a descending set you should aim to increase weight each set when reps decrease.
Pyramid Set (12,10,10,12) - Any time you see a pyramid set you should aim to increase weight when reps decrease and lower weight as needed when reps increase.
Straight Set - Any time you see straight sets, regardless of the number of reps, they are going to be tempo based, so increasing weight each set isn't necessary.
21's / 30's - The first 7/10 reps will only be half reps beginning at the starting position to halfway contracted, the second 7/10 reps will begin at the halfway contracted position and go to full contraction, the last 7/10 reps will be full range of motion reps.
DB - Dumbbell
BB - Barbell
KB - Kettlebell
Eccentric - “Negative” portion of rep / target muscle lengthening / stretching
Concentric - “Positive” portion of rep / target muscle shortening / contracting
Isometric - Target muscle engaged in current position without moving
Sticking Point - Transition between eccentric/concentric “bottom of the rep”
SA - Single Arm
SL - Single Leg
Alternating - Switch back and forth on which side to perform the movement at a time.
Pronated - Thumbs facing each other
Supinated - Thumbs opposing / also called reverse grip
Neutral - Thumbs parallel facing forward
Close - Inside Shoulder Width Pronated grip.
Snatch - Extra Wide Pronated grip.
Cannonball - Heels together, knees and toes angled out slightly.
Sumo - Extra wide stance with toes pointed outward, knees should be over the heels when at the bottom of the rep.
Feet Touching - The balls of the feet are together, toes facing forward knees close together or touching.
Toes Raised - Weight plate underneath toes/ball of feet to better isolate hams/glutes.
Heels Raised - Weight plate underneath heels of feet to better isolate quads.
Toes Out - For calf exercises only. Heels hip width or closer, toes pointed away from the other foot.
Toes In - For calf exercises only. Heels hip width or closer, toes pointed towards the other foot.
Toes Straight - Regular Stance For calf exercises only. Heels hip width, toes pointed parallel to the other foot.
1st number: How long the negative portion of the rep should last
2nd number: How long should pause on the stretch
3rd number: How long the positive portion of the rep should last
4th number: How long should pause on the contraction
Negative is always the stretch (muscle lengthening)
Positive is always the contraction (muscle shortening)
example: Leg Press (4:0:1:0)
4 seconds on the negative, no pause on the stretch
1 second on the positive, no pause on the contraction
example: DB Incline Fly (4:2:1:2)
4 seconds on the negative, 2 second pause on the stretch
1 second on the positive, 2 second pause on the contraction
