Glossary

It is felt most strongly 24 to 72 hours after the exercise. A 2003 review says it is most common after a break from training or when an activity is new, and that lowering work brings it on most.

Lifters call it the negative; the lifting half is the concentric. The ACSM's 2009 position stand names concentric, eccentric and holding-still muscle actions. In tempo notation the eccentric is the first number.

Elbows straight at the top of a press, knees and hips straight at the top of a squat or deadlift. Powerlifting rules require it: the bench presser waits "with straight arms elbows locked", and a deadlift ends with "the knees locked in a straight position".

A full rep uses all of it; a partial rep uses part. A 2021 meta-analysis of 16 studies found full range of motion gave greater gains in strength and in lower-limb muscle size than partial range.

Reps are counted inside a set: you do them one after another without resting. A movement that covers only part of the way is a partial rep, not a full one.

"3 sets of 8" means 8 reps, rest, 8 reps, rest, 8 reps. In the app each set is one row you log, with a weight and a rep count.

Here the weight comes down 15%: 85 kg after a top set of 100 kg. The reps stay at 5, so the sets add work at a weight you can handle again.

The short rests let a heavy weight be lifted for more total reps. The groups are planned and stop short of failure. A 2021 meta-analysis of 29 studies found cluster sets and ordinary sets equally effective for strength and muscle size.

The faster you finish the set, the longer you rest. It comes from circuit-style training, like the timed sense of AMRAP.

A superset is the same idea with two exercises, as a 2025 review defines it. Three exercises in a row is also called a tri-set.

A reverse pyramid starts heavy and gets lighter. In a 12-week study of 32 well-trained men, pyramid sets, drop sets and ordinary sets gave similar gains in muscle size and strength when total volume was equal.

You lift to failure, rest a few seconds, lift again for what you can, and repeat. A drop set takes weight off the bar instead; rest-pause keeps it. A 6-week study of 18 trained people found similar strength gains from rest-pause sets and ordinary sets.

You finish every set of the exercise before moving to the next one. It is the plain way to train, and the one research compares supersets, drop sets and pyramids against, under the name "traditional" sets.

The lighter sets that follow it are back-off sets. The app's coach works from your best set of the session, the one with the highest estimated one-rep max.

It follows from tempo. The ACSM's 2026 position stand lists time under tension among the variables that did not consistently affect results. A 2015 meta-analysis found similar muscle growth with reps lasting from 0.5 to 8 seconds.

Lifters call it a bro split. The app has a ready-made one: one area a day, chest, back, shoulders, legs and arms. A 2016 meta-analysis found training a muscle twice a week gave more growth than once at equal volume.

Renaissance Periodization calls it "the range where you make your best gains" and describes it as a range, not one number. The Masheen app draws it as a single mark between the other two volume landmarks: 16 sets a week for the chest.

A microcycle is about a week; a macrocycle is the whole plan. One coaching guide shows weekly sets rising 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and then a deload. In the app a program schedules your routines across weeks.

In Renaissance Periodization's coaching model it is "the lowest amount of training that actually grows muscle". It is a starting estimate, not a measured line. The app's MEV mark for the chest is 10 sets a week. See volume landmarks.

Renaissance Periodization calls it "your upper limit", and its sign that you have reached it is that you cannot match last week's performance. It varies by person. The app's MRV mark for the chest is 22 sets a week, and it labels anything above as "Over". See deload.

Competition rules provide for it: at a weightlifting competition "chalk and resin must be provided on the stage". Liquid chalk is the same thing in a fluid that dries on the hands.

Dumbbell lifts are usually logged by the weight of one dumbbell, not the pair. So "20 kg" on a dumbbell press means a 20 kg dumbbell in each hand, 40 kg in your hands in all.

It is used mostly for curls and triceps work, and weighs less than a straight bar. The weight differs by maker: Eleiko's curl bar is 12 kg (26.46 lb) and 1.316 m long.

The IPF rule book asks for a bar that is "well knurled" and sets where the knurled sections sit. Two rings, 81 cm apart, mark how wide the hands may go in the bench press.

Plates go on in pairs, one each side. Competition plates run 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, 2.5 and 1.25 kg. In gym talk "a plate" means the biggest common one, 20 kg or 45 lb, so "two plates" is two of them each side.

The two-upright version, with no bars across the sides, is a squat rack or squat stand. Powerlifting rules under the IPF call them squat racks.

On a competition barbell the sleeve spins freely round the shaft and is 50 to 52 mm thick, while a plate's hole is 52 to 53 mm.

It is used mostly for deadlifts, and is also called a hex bar after its six-sided shape. Weights differ by maker: Eleiko's open trap bar is 25 kg (55.12 lb), heavier than a standard straight bar.

The squat is the day's main lift; the leg curl and the calf raise come after it. One of the app's program descriptions reads "a heavy lift, a volume lift, an accessory".

It trains the back, and is the usual pull paired with the bench press. It is one of the five lifts Masheen's strength levels cover.

It is one of powerlifting's three lifts, counted in the powerlifting total. In competition the bar must reach the chest or abdominal area and finish with the elbows locked.

The IPF's wording: the bar is "laid horizontally in front of the lifter's feet, gripped with an optional grip in both hands and lifted until the lifter is standing erect". It is one of powerlifting's three lifts, counted in the powerlifting total.

Researchers call it a single-joint exercise. A 2017 study names the dumbbell fly and the knee extension as single-joint exercises, against the bench press and squat as multi-joint ones, which lifters call compound lifts.

Programs often just call it "the press". It is one of the five lifts Masheen's strength levels cover.

By the usual naming a pull-up has the palms facing away, an overhand grip, and a chin-up has the palms facing you. The names are used loosely, so check which grip a program means.

With knees only slightly bent, you push your hips back and lower the bar down your legs, then stand up again; the plates do not touch the floor between reps. It works the hamstrings and glutes, and in the app it is a separate exercise from the deadlift.

It is one of powerlifting's three lifts, counted in the powerlifting total. The competition depth rule: the top of the legs at the hip must go lower than the top of the knees.

Its opposite is bilateral: both sides at once, as in a squat. The ACSM's 2009 position stand lists both bilateral and unilateral exercises as part of a strength program.

Matt Brzycki published it in 1993. It agrees with the Epley formula at 10 reps and reads lower below that: 80 kg for 5 reps gives 90.0 kg by Brzycki and 93.3 kg by Epley. The app's 1RM calculator shows both.

"5 reps at 80%" means 80 kg for someone whose max is 100 kg. The ACSM's 2026 position stand found strength was enhanced by loads of 80% of one-rep max or more. The app's 1RM calculator prints the weight for each percentage.

Researchers call it volume load: reps × sets × load. The app shows it as a workout's Volume, in kilos or pounds.

Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 for beginners sets it at 80–85% of your real max and says "All percentages are based on that training max", so "90% of training max" on an 85 kg training max is 76.5 kg, not 90 kg. Masheen is not affiliated with him.