I follow a considerable amount of Personal Trainers on social media. Probably more than the average human. 95% of them are friends of mine from the industry. People I can call and talk shop with, people who have thoughtful insight to the industry, all in all some good people. 

What’s the old saying? Birds of a feather, fly together...or something like that. 

I found myself talking to a friend of mine not too long ago and we were making fun of the industry. Specifically, how so many Personal Trainers like to use the science jargon relating to exercise to their audience on social media, and presumably, their clients as well. 

It makes me giggle when Personal Trainers start talking about force-velocity curves, synergistic muscle tendencies, citing the epimysium of the muscle belly, and so forth. 

Yeah, I just read that sentence back and puked a little bit. 

I’m more of a “keep your elbows here and try to lick your knuckles” kind of guy when it comes to describing exercise movements. I think the best people, in any industry, can explain what they do in such a way that 5 year olds can understand. Hell, even my 3 year old knows how to do stuff in the gym. Exercise shouldn’t be rocket-science, yet many Personal Trainers feel the need to bring it to that level. 

So this week, I wanted to cover what some common phrases really mean, and for some, do they even matter when it comes to your fitness. 

Here we go! 

The acronym, R.P.E. 

What is it? R.P.E stands for ‘rate of perceived exertion’. Which is a way of asking ‘how hard does it feel?’ For example, if I asked you to push my car up the driveway, it would be a 10/10 hard. If I asked you to hand me a pillow, it would probably be a 0 or 1 out of that same 10. 

Does it matter? You bet it does. This is a common way to gauge intensity. Specifically, intensity for a specific exercise, week over week, or if you are gauging how hard a training session is overall. 

Do I recommend using it? Yes, I really do. I think it’s really important to grade the R.P.E of each workout and where it lies during the week. For me, I like my harder workouts to be at the start of the week and I want my training sessions to get easier as the week goes on. Now, that’s not how everyone prefers it, so getting a gauge of your R.P.E. for each session is super valuable in that format. 

Next up, the term H.I.I.T.

What is it? H.I.I.T. is another acronym that stands for ‘high intensity interval training’. In plain english it means an interval of time that is harder than the previous interval of time. An example would be running for 30 seconds followed by walking for 30 seconds. One interval is performed at a higher intensity (or higher RPE - see what I did there?) than the other. 

Does it matter? Yes, but probably not the way you’re thinking of. Let me explain. Many people think that H.I.I.T training needs to leave you in a puddle of human after the session is done, and that simply is not the case. H.I.I.T is actually a general phrase, it’s like saying you drive a Toyota. Within H.I.I.T there are a bunch of sub categories, just like there are a bunch of models under the Toyota umbrella. So in short, yes, it matters, but it doesn’t matter all that much because there are so many kinds. 

Do I recommend using it? It depends. I actually think for 90% of people, especially those that are training for general health and longevity, that traditional cardiovascular training keeping your heart rate at a constant level (think RPE 6 out of 10- again, see what I did there?) is better for your body, even when it comes to athletic endeavors. 

How should you use it? Without diving in to specifics, I will say just this- perform H.I.I.T. once a week, at maximum. Anyone who tells you it can be done more, probably doesn’t know too much about accumulating fatigue on the body.   

Side note- if you want me to do something like ‘Casey’s complete guide to cardio’ hit the reply button and let me know.

Okay, for the last installment of this week’s confusing terms, I want to highlight three words that get tossed around in the fitness world but actually mean the same thing. 

The word ‘toning’,the phrase ‘building muscle’, and the politically correct nerd-word ‘hypertrophy’ all mean the same thing. The difference seems to be marketing context, but I can assure you that…

If you are looking to tone, you are trying to build muscle (and lose fat)  in that area of your body to have it look different. 

If you are trying to build muscle, well, you are probably doing certain exercises to stimulate muscle growth in that area (while also trying to lose fat). 

And if you are training for hypertrophy, you are trying to build muscle (and probably lose fat). 

For no right or no wrong, I see that women want to tone up in certain areas, guys want to build some muscle, and if you’ve gone down the strength training rabbit hole, you probably want me to write you a hypertrophy-based program. It’s all the same thing my friends. 

I’m sure there will be future installments of ‘What the hell does that mean’, but my question to you is, what do you find confusing in fitness and exercise? Let me know and I’ll make sure to VIP-it and put it at the top of the lis