Do You Know?

A-list trainers explain training methods, terminology and how to get more out of your workout in less time.

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What’s all the talk about over at the bench press machine? Why does it seem like your fellow gym goers take weight off as they do their reps instead of adding it? Don’t be intimidated. Learn the lingo and expand your strength-training universe. 

Circuit Training
These exercises are done in a circuit one after the other, typically for a total of eight to 12 exercises in a specific sequence. The sequencing of the exercises allows you to move from one exercise station to the next with minimal rest time between exercises, generally 30 seconds or less. A common circuit is alternating upper-body exercises with lower-body exercise (e.g., bench press to leg press to overhead press, followed by leg curls, etc.). 

Superset
This is a training method in which you do two exercises successively, typically for two different body parts and without taking a break other than the time it takes you to physically move from one exercise to the next. “If you want to make your workouts shorter, add intensity and help with weight loss, this is the preferred method of training,” says celebrity trainer Ramona Braganza. “I like to do opposing body parts when I superset, such as biceps and triceps, or chest and back, or quads and hamstrings.” 

Compound Set
This training involves performing sets in succession that target the same muscle group, and is an application of the superset training approach. In a compound set, two exercises for the same muscle group are paired. That way you increase the intensity by exhausting and covering every part of the target muscle, which increases the caloric expenditure and hormonal response. 

Negative Reps
We can typically lower more weight than we can lift. Negative reps take advantage of this strength by stressing a muscle group in the down phase of a lift, or the eccentric action. The key to this system is to use a weight or resistance that is greater than your one repetition maximum (i.e. the maximum weight you can lift once). But use a spotter for the lift! 

Drop Sets
Drop sets are used to increase the training “intensity” or to extend an exercise beyond the point of muscle fatigue. Start an exercise with a high weight doing only a few reps, then immediately “strip” some weight off (e.g., 5–10 lbs per side, or about 25–40%). “If you’re doing bicep curls, for example, you then do as many reps as possible, and then strip weight off again. Keep doing this until it’s tough to do any reps with very little weight,” says Braganza. 

Take charge of your fitness by reading up on more tips and terminology definitions in the January/February 2010 issue of SOBeFiT Magazine.




      

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