Gym Terminology Explained (part one)

01 Nov 2019

The gym and fitness industry is definitely a world of it’s own and we here at Westpark Fitness aim to make it an inclusive and enjoyable environment for all! One such way is with our weekly blogs which teach you a new exercise per week, give you a new recipe per week to fuel your exercise and blogs like this which work to have gym terminology explained to you in an easy to understand way! You can always approach any of our friendly fitness team too for any help or advice you may need!

gym terminology explained westpark fitness

Progressive Overload
This term mostly applies to exercises using weights and it means how one can add more weight progressively over time to overload the muscles. In essence, this means lifting heavier weights so that your muscles have to work harder. The extra effort that they have to use can help with their growth – which in turn improves the strength and increases the size of the muscles. Progressive overload is almost always recommended so that your muscles do not plateau in their ability, strength and size. In quite a lot of circumstances, you will not feel or recognise any types of ‘gains’ if you neglect to feature progressive overload as part of your workouts over time.

gym terminology explained westpark fitness

Isolation Exercises
Like the word ‘isolation’ suggests, these are exercises that focus on a single muscle at a time. As such, they comprise of very targeted exercises – like how a bicep curl places all the emphasis and focus on the bicep muscle of the arm. These are great exercises if you are looking to work on a particular area of your body at a time. They can be useful if you want to give particular attention to a body part, have identified an imbalance that needs to be addressed and worked on or even from a recovery and rehabilitation angle should your body need to repair itself after a strain, pain or injury. Isolation exercises will no doubt be used by you as part of your workouts at Westpark Fitness.

gym terminology explained westpark fitness

Compound Exercises
The opposite to isolation exercises, compound exercises work multiple muscle groups at once. Examples of these would include the likes of snatch exercises which make use of the arms, legs, back and shoulders – as well as the likes of pull-ups which recruit the muscles of the arms, shoulders and back to complete the movement. Great for adding muscle mass in multiple areas at once, compound exercises are often very functional movements that make use of most of your body at once. Popular with athletes and those who may train their body for sports and endurance, you will surely use some form of compound movements and exercises during your training at Westpark Fitness.

Gym Terminology Explained

Now you know what progressive overload, isolation exercises and compound exercises are and you can use this knowledge to empower your workouts at your gym for life. As always, you can approach our friendly fitness team at any time if you need any advice and explanations about anything to do with the gym, exercise, nutrition, workouts and more!

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