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When you are interested in fitness and getting into shape as well as
looking after your body, then it is crucial that you understand all the fitness terms that are
floating around these days. There are so many terms that you will here in the changing room at your
local gym or fitness club, many of which you will be unfamiliar with.
The misuse of fitness terms often surrounds weight lifting, and this can
of course be dangerous if you interpret wrong what it is that you are actually supposed to be doing
when you are training. Lets’ take resistance training for a start; resistance training refers to an
exercise or regime where your body needs to overcome a resistance, and this often refers to
weights.
Resistance training can however be very varied and include balls, cable
and ropes, and indeed anything that we can build up a resistance against. Even exercises that use
no weights or items can be known as resistance training, most especially those where you have to
resist your own body weight such as the average push up.
There is a grey area surrounding the term weightlifting. If you include
the lifting of weights in your exercise regime this does not necessarily mean that you are a weight
lifter. Weight lifting is an Olympic sport and during the Olympics a weight lifter may be referred
to as an Olympic lifter, this however meaning that it refers to someone who lifts weights to an
Olympic standard.
So, if you are already confused over what a weightlifter is, what then is
a power lifter? A power lifter does indeed use weights within his exercise regime, but it involves
three very separate stages to the exercise; bench press, squat and dead lifts.
Power lifting as a competitive sport is of course very similar to weight
lifting as the ultimate goal is to lift the biggest weight, the lifters being given multiple
attempts to achieve their goal. Power lifters are divided into classes rather like boxers depending
on the range of weights they use; separating the different weights of the actual competitors as
well as their strengths.
So, then now you are more familiar with the difference between an Olympic
lifter, a power lifter and a weight lifter, next we can discuss body building. Body building must
be one of the vaguest terms when we talk about fitness. Body building is not specifically talking
about weight lifting, more the achieved result of an intensive exercise regime.
A bodybuilding contest judges the competitors by the way their body looks
due to their rigorous exercise regimes. Women are commonly body builders too in today's society,
although the topic is often frowned upon and seen as unnatural.
The exercises the bodybuilder works on in order to achieve their desired
body image may of course include weight training, but can involve any type of exercise they wish
from bench press to running and of course all types of resistance training.
If you are still a little overwhelmed by all these different terms, then
the good news is that if you join your local gym or fitness centre you can hire the help of a
personal trainer who can talk you through all the exercises in more detail and give you a plan for
your fitness that is tailored for your personal needs.
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