Glossary

• Plateau

  A point in an exercise or fitness programme where one isn’t making any additional progress.

• Safety Stoppers

  These are fitness equipment accessories where the lifter can place the bar after finishing a set. They’re typically included in bench presses, Smith Machines, squat racks, and power cages.

• Pecs

  This refers to the pectoralis muscle or the large muscle in the upper chest.

• Pipe Spotters

  These are metallic pipes which one inserts to the sides of power cages to prevent the barbell from pinning the lifter during lifts such as barbell bench presses and overhead presses. As the name implies, pipe spotters act as a spotter for the lifter, making it safe for him to lift heavy alone in his home gym.

• Jammer Arms

  Also known as lever arms, jammer arms are power cage attachments which lifters can push, pull, or rotate for their fitness and sports-specific-training needs. Typical jammer arms exercises include the upper body press, full body press, and explosive plyo step.

• Monolift

  A monolift is a fitness equipment attachment which clamps on to power cages. Lifters rely on monolifts when re-racking dumbbells during squats and barbell bench presses.

• Good Mornings

  This is a strength training exercise where one places a barbell on his rear delts whilst standing up and then bends his torso until it’s parallel to the ground. Good mornings strengthen the posterior chain with the glutes and hamstrings stabilising the movement.

• Lat Tower

  This is a fitness machine where a lifter can do exercises that develop the Latissimus dorsi or lats, which are the most noticeable features of a “V-tapered” physique. These exercises include lat pulldowns, close-grip pulldowns, neutral grip lat pulldowns, reverse grip lat pulldowns, kneeling lat pulldowns, and single arm lat pulldowns.

• Landmine

  The landmine is a small metal tube which exercisers typically use with a barbell bar. Some of the exercises one can do with a landmine are transverse goblet squats, single-leg romanian deadlifts, t-bar rows, half-kneeling shoulder presses, hip-to-hip rotations, lateral shuffle and press, chest presses, and landmine rows.

• Foam Roller

  This is a cylindrical tube made of compressed foam which fitness enthusiasts use for myofascial release and self-massage purposes. One can also use a foam roller for reducing soreness, eliminating muscle knots, increasing flexibility, and warming up before a rigorous training session.

• Wrist Roller

  A wrist roller is a device which consists of a bar attached to a cord or rope which one rolls and unrolls to strengthen the forearm muscles.

• Power Sled

  A sled is a versatile piece of fitness equipment which one can use for fitness training of sports-specific conditioning. Lifters can attach harnesses, belts, or weight plates to the power sled to increase the challenge.

  Exercises that make use of the power sled typically involve multiple muscle groups. For instance, the sled push works the back, glutes, hips, core muscles, hamstrings, calves, triceps, and shoulders.