Exercise Nomenclature

This is a subject which drives many personal trainers nuts.

For all the personal trainers out there, how many times has someone in the gym approached you with a list of exercises they are supposed to do and it looked like something like this…

• 10 sets of 3 reps of Thunder Jumps
• 10 reps of 20 seconds of leopard push ups
• 20 seconds of the lion leg holds
• 27 reps of Taiwanese Megamans
• 5 sets of 10 reps of Gorilla Curls
• Etc.

Naming exercises with ambiguous names such as animals is useless for anybody other than the people who name them.

When I see lists such as this example I think to myself that may be a reason why I’m glad to pay off my college loans.  Exercise nomenclature was something I vaguely remember actually learning.

The fact is, you don’t have to be a college graduate or an exercise genious to understand how to properly name exercises.  This is all fresh in my head because while I’m putting my Ask Personal Trainers Youtube channel I’ve had to name exercises constantly.

Being too lazy to check in a book, I name the exercises like they naturally come to me in my head.  I would think that I’m naming the exercises correctly.  Here is proper exercise nomenclature, according to me.

1. Position- i.e. standing, seated, supine, etc.
2. Equipment - i.e. Cable, bench, stability ball, bosu, tube, kettlebell, dual cable, etc.
3. MODIFIER- (Optional) Iso-lateral, One Legged, Reverse, Squatting, etc.
4. Body Part-  i.e. Lats, biceps, chest, legs, abdominals, etc.
5. Movement- i.e. Rows, pulls, press, adduction, abduction, curls, extensions, etc.

What does Military Press say to a Beginner?

It is so easy and if all personal trainers used the same exercise nomenclature maybe clients and other trainers would benefit from the previous exercise program.

During my training sessions I sometimes have fun with my clients performing exercises such as, seated mojave desert polar bear press and Japanese Giraffe Squats, etc. but always refer to the exercises by their proper name when needed.

This brings up another point.  Should personal trainers explain exercises to their clients?

Some clinets ask a lot of questions.  Some cilents just train.

Some trainers drop a lot of knowledge during training sessions while some just keep the client moving.

This really depends on the goals of the clients.  Since most people work with a trainer to get results, I would think that trainers should work the client’s muscles rather than their own jaws.

There is the ocassional client who is actually interested in exercise science which it may be beneficial to drop some knowledge on, but for the most part, if a personal trainer keeps talking A & P with their clients, my bet is it will be traveling in one ear and out the other.