Curious about certain terms associated with strength training? Always wanted to speak intelligently about strength training? Courtesy of Lori’s book, Strength Training for Women published by Human Kinetics, you can use this glossary to learn many words and terms.

Strength-Training Glossary
aerobic muscle fibers—Type I muscle fibers used for muscular endurance.
agonist—The muscle initiating a desired movement.
anaerobic muscle fibers—Type II muscles fibers used for strength and power.
antagonist—The opposing muscle in a contraction, located on the opposite side of the joint.
ATP—Adenosine triphosphate; the energy for muscle activity.
basal metabolic rate (BMR)—The amount of energy that the body needs for normal physiological functioning while we are awake.
concentric contraction—A shortening and contracting of the muscle.
delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS)—The scientific term for the muscle soreness you feel after a weight-training session.
eccentric contraction—A lengthening and contracting of the muscle.
estimated energy requirement (EER)—The dietary energy intake predicted to maintain energy balance consistent with good health in healthy, normal-weight individuals of a defined age, gender, weight, height, and level of physical activity.
fat-free mass (FFM)—The portion of muscle, bone, and organ weight that contains no fat.
fat mass (FM)—Total body fat, which includes essential fat and storage fat.
frequency—The number of training sessions completed in a certain time period.
functional training—Training that utilizes specific exercises that mimic sports or life movements.
hyperplasia—The splitting of muscle fibers to make more muscle fibers.
hypertrophy—An enlargement of the muscle fiber.
intensity—The level of difficulty of an exercise, relating to load. It can be measured by a percentage of the RM, with 1RM (100 percent RM) being the highest intensity
interval training—The division of a training period into work and rest intervals.
isometric contraction—A contraction of the muscle without joint movement.
isotonic contraction—A contraction that involves a concentric phase, in which the weight is lifted and the muscle is shortened, and an eccentric phase, in which the weight is slowly lowered and the muscle is lengthened under tension.
lean body mass (LBM)—The amount of fat-free and some essential fat mass.
load—The amount of weight assigned to an exercise set.
metabolic training—Classically, training an athlete’s body at particular work and rest intervals that closely mimic those the athlete encounters during her sport. It comes at a high metabolic cost to the body, and it is now also associated with interval training.
muscular endurance—The ability to do submaximal muscular contractions with high repetitions, low intensity, high volume, and little recovery between sets.
one-repetition maximum (1RM)—The most weight that can be lifted with perfect technique one time.
osteoporosis—Porous bone; low bone mass that leads to structural deterioration of bone tissue and bone fragility and that can result in fractures.
plyometrics—Exercise that employs the stretch-shortening cycle; quick, powerful movements preceded by a prestretch of the muscles.
power—The exertion of force at a high speed.
repetition—The number of times an exercise is performed.
repetition maximum (RM)—The most weight that can be lifted for a specific number of repetitions.
resting metabolic rate (RMR)—A rate that includes the basal metabolic rate plus the amount of energy we use when we are sleeping and waking up from sleep.
set—A group of repetitions.
strength—The ability to exert force.
thermic effect of food (TEF)—The energy (calories) required for the processes of chewing, digestion, and absorption.
total daily energy expenditure (TDEE)—A combination of the resting metabolic rate, physical activity, and the thermic effect of food (TEF).
Type I muscle fibers (aerobic)—Slow-twitch muscle fibers that are fatigue resistant. They are used for cardiovascular and muscular endurance work.
Type II muscle fibers (anaerobic)—Fast-twitch muscle fibers that fatigue quickly and that hypertrophy more than Type I fibers. They are used for short bursts of strength and power.
volume—The total amount of weight lifted in an entire training session (sets 3 repetitions).