Strength training and workout journal glossary

Adaptive TDEE: An estimate of total daily energy expenditure updated from logged calorie intake and bodyweight trend rather than relying only on a population equation. Read the full explanation.
Autoregulation: Adjusting training load, volume, or exercise choice using current performance and readiness instead of following a fixed prescription regardless of circumstances.
Back-off set: A working set performed after a heavier top set, usually with less load and often more reps to add practice or volume.
Confidence grade: A visible judgment about how much trust an estimate or recommendation deserves given the quality and completeness of its inputs.
Deload: A planned reduction in training stress, commonly through lower load, fewer sets, or both, intended to manage accumulated fatigue. Read the full explanation.
Deterministic calculation: A calculation that returns the same output from the same inputs according to an explicit formula or rule. It does not improvise an answer.
Double progression: A progression method where reps increase within a target range before load increases. After the load rises, reps return toward the bottom of the range. Read the full explanation.
Estimated one-rep max (e1RM): A formula-based estimate of the most weight a lifter could perform for one repetition, calculated from a submaximal set. It is a trend tool, not a guaranteed max. Read the full explanation.
Failure: The point where another repetition cannot be completed with the required technique. Technical failure may occur before absolute muscular failure.
Hard set: A working set performed close enough to failure to provide meaningful training stimulus. The exact boundary varies by exercise, goal, and lifter.
Intensity: In strength programming, intensity often means load relative to one-rep max. In everyday gym language it may also refer to effort, so the intended meaning should be stated.
Maintenance calories: The average calorie intake expected to maintain bodyweight over time. Day-to-day scale changes do not establish maintenance by themselves.
Macro: Short for macronutrient: protein, carbohydrate, or fat. Each contributes energy and serves different physiological and practical roles. Read the full explanation.
Methodology rule: A versioned instruction that turns defined inputs into an allowed decision, with evidence, assumptions, guardrails, and source references attached. Read the full explanation.
Progressive overload: The gradual increase of training demand as capacity improves. Load, reps, sets, range of motion, technique, and density can all change demand. Read the full explanation.
Raw journal entry: The original workout or food note exactly as the user wrote it. In Flexbound, parsing creates separate records and never mutates this text. Read the full explanation.
Rep range: A lower and upper repetition target used to guide set performance and progression, such as 6–8 reps.
Reps in reserve (RIR): An estimate of how many technically acceptable repetitions remained when a set ended. Zero RIR means no additional rep was believed possible. Read the full explanation.
Rate of perceived exertion (RPE): A subjective effort scale. In common strength-training use, RPE 10 corresponds roughly to zero reps in reserve, RPE 9 to one, and RPE 8 to two. Read the full explanation.
Source trace: A record of where an estimate, fact, or recommendation came from, including the selected data source and methodology rule.
TDEE: Total daily energy expenditure: the energy used across resting metabolism, digestion, movement, and exercise over a day. Read the full explanation.
Tempo: The timing of phases within a repetition, usually eccentric, pause, concentric, and pause. A written tempo such as 3-1-1-0 makes the condition repeatable.
Tonnage: Sets multiplied by reps multiplied by load. Useful for comparing similar work on the same exercise, but weak for comparing different exercises. Read the full explanation.
Training frequency: How often a muscle, movement, or session type is trained within a period, commonly expressed as exposures per week.
Training volume: The amount of training work performed. It can mean hard sets, total repetitions, or tonnage, so a useful log states which measure it uses. Read the full explanation.
Working set: A set intended to produce the session’s training effect, distinct from warm-up, rehearsal, or technique-only sets.

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