RPE, RIR, training max, stall, reset, low-bar, opener — the jargon that shows up across this program’s pages, defined in one place and linked back to wherever it’s actually explained.
New to most of this vocabulary? Read start to finish — it’s ordered the same way this program actually introduces the ideas: effort and maxes first, then progression, then everything else. Start with effort and maxes
Looking up one specific term? Jump straight to the category it lives in. Progression and phases · Lift technique · Equipment and warm-up · Competition day · Nutrition and recovery
RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) and RIR (Reps in Reserve) are the same idea read in opposite directions: RIR counts how many more reps you could have done, RPE scores the same set 0–10, with 10 meaning nothing was left. This app treats RPE = 10 − RIR as an exact conversion. See RPE and RIR, in plain language for the full scale and how the app actually uses each one.
1RM (one-rep max) is the heaviest weight you can lift once with good form. This program almost never asks you to test one directly — see finding your starting numbers for a safe starting weight found without one, and training max below for a whole phase built off a percentage of one instead of the number itself.
A training max is the advanced phase’s own number — every load in that phase is a percentage of it, not of a true max. It’s a deliberately conservative 90% of a true or estimated one-rep max, kept below your real ceiling so a prescribed percentage stays hittable even on a bad day. It isn’t one-directional: a real retest can lower it as easily as raise it. See training max: a number you can actually hit on a bad day and what actually happens at the recompute.
The Epley formula is the public, decades-old equation this app’s RPE/RIR calculator and meet-day attempt planner use to convert between a set’s reps-and-effort and an estimated one-rep max, in either direction. See the built-in calculator.
A working set is the actual prescribed set for the day — loaded to the program’s real reps and weight — as opposed to a lighter warm-up set on the way to it. See warm-up sets and plate math.
Linear progression is adding a small, fixed amount of weight to a lift every single time you complete it, session after session, for as long as that keeps working — the mechanism the whole novice phase runs on. See the novice phase page.
A lift stalls when it fails to complete its prescribed reps at the same weight for two sessions in a row — not the first missed rep, the second one. A reset is what a stall triggers: the lift’s working weight drops to a set percentage of the last weight it actually completed, and rebuilds from there with the same increment. See stalls and resets.
A deload is a single, deliberately lighter week built into the advanced phase’s own schedule, letting accumulated fatigue dissipate before the next training block starts. See blocks.
Novice, intermediate, and advanced are this program’s three phases, each built around a different progression clock: novice adds weight every session, intermediate adds it once a week, advanced adds it once every multi-week block. See how the program works. There’s no fourth phase past advanced — see what actually comes after it, if you ever outgrow it.
The intermediate phase runs three named sessions a week: Test Day is the one real attempt that moves a lift’s official number, Build Day is real, moderate-heavy volume, and Groove Day is deliberately lighter, technique-only work. See the intermediate phase page.
The advanced phase alternates two multi-week blocks: an Accumulation block trains higher volume at a more moderate intensity, an Intensification block trains lower volume at a higher one. Within either block, Heavy, Medium, and Light days are the three weekly sessions, each prescribing a different percentage of training max and a different target RIR. See Heavy, Medium, Light — every week, both blocks.
A peak and taper are the short block and final week the advanced phase switches to once a competition date is close, cutting volume down toward a last, light session built to rehearse the actual opener rather than test anything new. See peaking for a real competition.
Low-bar and high-bar are the two legitimate places to rest the bar on a back squat: low-bar sits it across the rear delts and leans the torso further forward; high-bar sits it higher across the traps and keeps the torso more upright. This program teaches low-bar. See low bar or high bar.
Conventional and sumo are the two common deadlift stances: conventional pulls with the feet roughly hip-width and the hands outside the knees, sumo pulls from a much wider stance. This program teaches conventional. See the deadlift’s own setup section.
A double-overhand grip (both palms facing you) is the safest option for your arms but limits how much weight your hands can hold. A mixed grip (one palm each way) holds more but carries a real, documented bicep-tear risk on the underhand arm. A hook grip (both palms facing you, thumb trapped under the fingers) avoids that risk at the cost of being uncomfortable to learn. See the deadlift’s own grip section.
Hitching is using the thighs to help drag the bar up past the knees on a deadlift, instead of pulling it there — a sign the weight has outrun your pulling strength off the floor, and a disqualifying fault in competition. See the deadlift’s own fault list.
Leg drive is actively pushing through the legs and feet to help move the bar, most often discussed on the bench press, where it’s a real, deliberate part of the lift rather than just a base to lie on. See the bench press’s own setup section. The J-curve is the bar path a bench press with a real arch and leg drive actually traces: down and slightly back toward the lower chest, then back up and toward the face on the way to lockout. See the J-curve, and the arch underneath it.
A strict press uses no hip or leg movement at all. A push press adds a visible knee dip to move more weight. The Olympic press — what Mark Rippetoe calls “the throw,” and what this program teaches — uses a real hip drive while the knees stay locked, distinct from both. See the overhead press’s own setup section.
Bracing and the Valsalva maneuver are the breath-and-brace step every lift page here asks for before the hard part of a rep — a forceful attempt to exhale against a closed airway that raises pressure through the whole trunk and stabilizes the spine. See bracing and the Valsalva maneuver for the mechanism and a real safety caveat.
Fractional plates are plates smaller than a standard gym’s smallest — commonly quarter- and half-pound pairs, or their metric equivalents — the actual physical tool that makes a program’s smaller prescribed jumps loadable instead of quietly rounding up to a bigger one. See the equipment page and the plate-math page’s own worked examples.
A warm-up ramp is the ascending series of warm-up sets between the empty bar and a session’s actual working weight, sized to rehearse the lift at climbing loads rather than jumping straight to a near-max set cold. See the ramp this app actually computes.
A meet is a powerlifting competition: a fixed sequence of weigh-in, then squat, bench press, and deadlift, three attempts each, where only your best successful attempt on each lift counts toward your total. A flight is a group of lifters, typically 8 to 15 depending on the federation, who lift together in the same order through the whole meet, grouped by weight class and opening attempt. See what a meet is actually built out of.
The weigh-in is the window before your session where you step on the scale, declare your opening attempt for all three lifts, and get your gear checked. See meet structure.
An opener, second attempt, and third attempt are the three tries you get per lift at a meet — an opener you’re certain of, a second real but confident attempt, and a third that matches or slightly exceeds your best, picked to bank a total rather than test a limit. See picking your opener, second, and third attempts.
A singlet is the required one-piece, non-supportive competition garment worn on the platform, under or instead of other gear depending on the lift — exact rules on pockets, seams, and leg length are federation-specific. See what to bring, and what you’ll be asked to wear.
A no lift is a meet referee’s call on an attempt that broke a rule — missed depth, moved before a command, and so on — even if the same rep would pass without comment in training. See the referee commands for the exact command sequence, and picking your attempts for the rest of attempt selection.
A weight class is the bodyweight bracket you compete in, declared at weigh-in and fixed for the whole meet. A Wilks score scales a total by bodyweight and sex so lifters of different sizes can be compared on one number; DOTS is a different coefficient doing the same job — USPA’s own official one, not Wilks. A classification score places a total on a federation’s own ladder instead, from a lowest class up through Elite. See choosing a weight class.
Powerlifting is raw when only a singlet, a belt, and wraps or sleeves are allowed, and equipped (Single Ply or Multi Ply) when a supportive squat, bench, and deadlift suit adds real force to the lift. A tested meet drug-tests its competitors; an untested one doesn’t. This program teaches raw lifting only. See joining a federation.
Bulk, cut, and maintain are the three basic calorie targets for a training goal: bulk eats above maintenance calories to add size, cut eats below it to lose fat, maintain holds calories steady. See bulk, cut, or maintain.
Recomposition (recomp) is trying to gain muscle and lose fat over the same stretch of time, on a gentler deficit with higher protein than a full bulk or cut — realistic mainly for a genuine beginner. See body recomposition.
BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the number of calories your body burns at complete rest — the starting figure a formula-based calorie target scales up from. See how to actually get your numbers.
The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) is Hans Selye’s 1936 theory of how a body responds to any repeated stress — alarm, then adaptation, then, if the stress outpaces recovery, exhaustion. It’s the real theoretical foundation behind why this program’s novice, intermediate, and advanced phases run on three different clocks. See stress, recovery, and adaptation.
Overreaching is an ordinary, self-correcting dip in performance from accumulated fatigue. Overtraining is the much rarer, much longer-lasting version, GAS’s own exhaustion stage — most lifters who ask whether they’re overtraining are actually describing overreaching. See normal novice fatigue versus a real reason to back off.
Autoregulation is letting a same-day signal you report yourself — effort, soreness, pain — adjust the advice you get, without it ever silently changing your program on its own. See sleep and recovery basics and pain during a specific lift.
GPP (general physical preparedness) is broad, non-sport-specific conditioning work — walking, cycling, rowing, and the like — as distinct from the four barbell lifts this program is actually built on. See conditioning and cardio alongside the program.
Diastasis recti is a separation of the two halves of the rectus abdominis caused by pregnancy stretching it, genuinely common postpartum, with its own real exercise guidance distinct from a general core-strength question. See pregnant and postpartum lifters.
The follicular phase and luteal phase are the two halves of the menstrual cycle either side of ovulation, named for what athletes themselves consistently report feeling like — worse in the early follicular and late luteal phases — even though objective performance research across both hasn’t found a consistent pattern to build a training rule on. See the menstrual cycle and training performance.
Perimenopause and menopause are the years-long transition into, and the point marking, the end of menstrual cycles — the transition itself, not just being older, drives an accelerated window of bone loss, with its own real research on resistance training specifically. See perimenopause and menopause.
Cold water immersion (CWI) is an ice bath or cold plunge used right after training — a real randomized trial and a separate meta-analysis both found regularly pairing it with a strength session measurably reduces the strength and muscle gains from that session. See ice baths and cold water immersion.
An NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) is a pain reliever like ibuprofen or aspirin that works by reducing inflammation — a real randomized trial found daily ibuprofen at the maximum over-the-counter dose measurably reduces muscle growth and strength gains compared with a low, non-pain-relieving dose of aspirin. See ibuprofen and other NSAIDs.