English Vocabulary for EXERCISING at the GYM

Hi again. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. Today's lesson is about getting

you in shape. What does that mean? It means going to the gym and exercising, and all the

vocabulary you need to do that well. If you go to the gym and you need to speak to a personal

trainer or a fitness coach, he or she will use these words to help you get a very nice

body.

So let's start with these. First of all, most people who go to the gym want to "get in shape".

It doesn't mean they want to become square or a circle or a triangle. It means they want

to have a good body, and also to feel healthy. They want to breathe easier, they want to

be able to walk or run for a longer time, they want to be able to feel good about their

physical condition.

Now, a lot of people also go to the gym because they want these things. They want to be "fit".

"Fit" basically means healthy. Some people want to get "toned". They want some lines

here and there; they don't want to be round. They want more lines, a little bit more showing

muscles; a little bit less showing fat.

Some people want to get "cut". Now, "cut" means that you see all the lines where all

the muscles are or should be, because you've worked out a lot. You have very little fat,

more muscle. Now, some people want to get "shredded". "Shredded" means like very, very,

very cut. So if you think, for example, Brad Pitt, in the movie Fight Club, he was shredded.

Very little fat, all muscle, and cut in all the right places.

Then if you say someone is "jacked", then you think of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Before

he was a politician, a little bit before he was an actor, he was a bodybuilder. He was

"jacked"; he had huge muscles everywhere. "Ripped" and "shredded" basically mean the

same thing. These are all slang words for "toned", basically. And everybody wants like

a "six-pack abs". They want one, two, three, four, five, six. You have to work very hard

for that. You have to get rid of a lot of fat to get all the muscles to show up. Keep

in mind: all of these things, they're more about a lifestyle than about exercising, but

you have to exercise to get all these things.

Okay, so what can you do to exercise? You can "work out". One thing you can do, you

can walk around your house every day after dinner and, you know, work your digestive

system. All the food you ate goes to the right places, everything okay. But you can also

"work out", means you go to the "gym" where they have all the weights, all the machines,

you can exercise. "Work out", exercise.

Why? Because you want to get rid of your "spare tire". Now, this happens a lot more to men,

but a spare tire. So, you know in your car if you have a flat tire, in the back, you

have a spare tire? So imagine carrying that spare tire around your stomach. You're skinny,

skinny, skinny, fat, skinny, skinny, skinny, skinny. That's your spare tire.

Now, men also have "love handles", you can grab them on the side and you can play with

them. I won't explain too much where the "love handle" term comes from, but that's what they're called.

Women, on the other hand, it's called a "muffin top". Because you know when you have a muffin,

there's the paper, and then-whoop-it comes out? So if you're wearing really tight jeans

and then a little bit sticks out, that's your muffin top. So, you go to the gym, you want

to get rid of all these things.

Some people want to "bulk up", means they want to get bigger. They want to "build muscle".

Muscle. Some people want to "slim down", means they want to get thinner. They want to "burn

fat". So you build muscle, you burn fat. Ideally, you do both at the same time. And, of course,

more important than all of this: diet. You have to stop eating McDonalds, you have to

stop eating pizza, you have to stop eating bad food if you want to get any of these things.

Now, what can you do at the gym? You can do "weights". "Weights" means like actual physical,

heavy things that you lift, etc., you do all kinds of things with them. Or you could do

"cardio". "Cardio" is short for "cardiovascular", it means working the lungs, working the inside,

getting the body, the blood to flow properly, getting your air passages to open and close properly.

One thing you can do for cardio is "aerobics", so you know, like jumping jacks, and all that

stuff, and running, and all these things, exercises on the floor. You do only with your

body and a lot of movement to get the inside to burn fat.

Now, you can also do the "treadmill". This is one machine. It's a machine that you stand

on. It has like a belt, and you just walk. You don't go anywhere; you just walk, walk,

walk for an hour. You burn a lot of fat. "Burn a lot of calories" is more correct,

and hopefully slim down.

Now, if you want to bulk up, if you want to build muscle, you have to do things like "push

ups". "Push ups" on the floor, you're basically almost lying down on the floor, and with your

arms, you push yourself up. This is the floor. Okay? Or you could do "pull ups". On a bar,

you pull yourself up. Pull yourself up and down.

Or you can use "barbells" or "dumbbells". What's the difference between a barbell and

a dumbbell? A barbell has a long bar with however much weight you put on them, and you

lift them up, do whatever. Dumbbells are similar, but they're smaller. So you grab with one

hand and one hand, or you can just do one hand, and you can do all kinds of lifts with

the dumbbell.

You can also use "cables". These are like machines, but it's like a metal wire, and

you use them to pull, or push, or whatever you need to do, whatever muscle group you

want to work.

And then you can do a "bench press". So a "bench" is basically a bench; you sit on it,

you lie down on it, and you... You're lying down, and you're pushing the barbell up and

down, or the dumbbell, or whatever you need to do.

Now, what we do with when we do weights, we do "sets" and "reps". "Reps" is short for

"repetitions". So, for example, if you're doing curls, if you're lifting up the dumbbell,

you do 12 reps, and you do it three times, so three sets. Each set has 12 reps. Okay?

So, now, if you go to the gym and you want to get shredded or you want to get jacked

or you want to just slim down, you know what to tell the trainers or what to tell the people

there who are helping you out. More importantly, what to tell yourself.

Now, if you want to practice these words, go to www.engvid.com. There's a quiz there

to help you practice these words. You can ask questions in the comment section. And,

of course, come back and visit us again. Don't forget to join my... To subscribe to my YouTube

channel. See you again soon. Bye.