Wally's Encyclopedia of Fitness | Beginner's Terms and Definitions

Ab Wheel: Plastic wheel with handles on the sides. Used for a variety of exercises, especially core exercises

Battle Ropes- Big heavy ropes affixed to a wall or weight that you throw around

Barbell: Big metal bar with plates that go on the ends.

Standard Bar: Generally refers to a 45 lb., 7 foot bar.

Olympic Bar: 45 lb., 7 foot bar with slight ergonomic differences that make it more ideal for Olympic style lifting (compound movements, dropping it, etc.)

Women's’ Bar: Olympic bar that is 6.6 feet long, and narrower at 35 lbs. This makes it easier for smaller people with smaller hands to do compound movements. They have a lower capacity than the regular Olympic bar, but still hold more weight than most humans will ever lift.

Safety Squat Bar: 65 lb. bar with arms that go over your shoulders, forcing correct squat posture.

Swiss Bar: 35 lb.…thing (just look at the picture, it’s hard to describe) that makes it possible to do a lot of traditional upper body exercises with a neutral grip. Designed to be easier on the shoulders.

Hex Bar/Trap Bar: Allows the bar to be centered around your body for deadlifts and other exercises. Ergonomically ideal for beginners and people with certain proportions. Cannot be used for compound lifts.

Curl Bar/EZ Bar: Short, 15 lb. curly thing designed to allow maximum wrist pronation in bicep and tricep exercises.

Barbell Pad: Foam cover that goes over the barbell where your body touches it. Source of some controversy

Bench Press: Can refer to the exercise itself, or a specialized exercise bench affixed to two metal arms that is only used for performing this exercise.

Bosu Ball: Half a yoga ball with a plastic bottom. Used for various strength and balance exercises.

Cable Machines: Exercise machines that incorporate cables. Often referred to as such to differentiate them from the bigger, clunkier ones that you sit in.

Cable Jungle: Connected amalgamation of cable machines.

Deafener/Deadlift Deafener: Rubber pads that go under the plates on a barbell if you are doing deadlifts off the ground where the floor is not specially designed for it.

Dumbbell: A short bar with a weight on each end. Designed so that holding it in one hand by the bar is easy, although this is not the only possible use.

Elliptical: Meant to be a lower impact alternative to the treadmill. For some people with hip/back problems, can actually be a worse alternative.

Foam Roller: Foam cylinder used for myofascial release, aka rolling out your muscles. More advanced alternatives made from harder materials also exist.

Free Weights: Refers to strength equipment that isn’t a machine of some kind. Mainly barbells/dumbbells.

Kettlebell: Metal ball with one handle on top. Used similarly to a dumbbell, but for more dynamic exercises (you can swing it around).

Leg Press: Machine designed for doing leg press. Comes in many different varieties.

”Crippler”: sometimes used to refer to a leg press in which the weight is above you. So called because misuse can easily lead to serious injury

Medicine Ball: Weighted ball used for exercises. Not made to be thrown (that would be a slam ball)

Olympic Platform: Platform made of wood and rubber; used for olympic lifting and powerlifting. Prevents the floor from being obliterated if/when the weight is dropped. (Part of some lifts, and a general inevitability while training some types of lifting.)

Plate: Metal or rubber disk with a hole in it that goes on the end of a barbell.

When someone says “a full plate” or “two/three/four/ plates”, they are referring to that number of 45lb plates on each end of the barbell. Aka if your friend says she can squat two plates, she means she has two 45 lb. plates on each end of the bar.

Plyometrics Boxes/Plyo Boxes: Foam/platic/wood plastic boxes used for plyometric exercises

Recumbent Bike (Stationary): An exercise bike where you recline in the seat.

Release Ball: Rubber ball used for myofascial release.

Resistance Band: Rubber band used for strength training. Comes in a variety of shapes, sizes, and strength levels.

Sand Bag: Heavy bag full of sand/similar material. May be duffel bag shaped with handles, or regular sandbag-shaped. For advanced strength training exercises.

Slam Ball: Weighted exercise ball used for exercises and designed to withstand being thrown against hard surfaces. Comes in bouncy and non- bouncy varieties.

Spin Bike: Exercise bike that mimics a road bike. Generally the most high performance kind of exercise bike. When people refer to “Spin”, they usually are referring to an exercise class utilizing spin bikes.

Step: Little plastic bench thing usually used for stepping on/off of during aerobics or balance exercises.

Squat Rack: Metal cage or rack used for supporting a barbell.

These have uses for many exercises beyond just squatting, and are often considered the most essential piece of equipment for a gym to have.

TRX: Popular piece of suspension training equipment; meant to make versatile use of the user’s bodyweight.

There are other brands, but it's one of those things where the one brand name has become ubiquitous.

ViPR: Heavy plastic tube with handles indented into it. For functional strength training. Can also be used as a foam roller if you're at that point.

Weightlifting Belt: Belt that provides stability and support to the spine and core while lifting heavy. Greatly overused.

Weight Machines: Machine that uses various mechanisms to convey resistance to the user. They range from the big fancy ones incorporating a seat, to simplistic cable machines.

Yoga Ball: Inflatable rubber ball used in yoga and other mobility/stability/balance training.