HIIT To EMOM: Fitness Terms Every Beginner Should Know I POPxo | POPxo

From HIIT TO EMOM: Key Fitness Terms Every Beginner Should Know Before They Sweat It Out


Starting your fitness journey can get a little intimidating. I, for one, was quite confused on my first day in the gym and that's because my ambitious plan of working on myself involved enrolling straightaway for personal training. So I was pretty excited and here's a brief description of how my first day went.

New gym membership--check. My brand new trainers--check. A cool gym bag--check. 

Personal trainer: Okay, let's do a superset now

Me: What? What does that even mean?

TBH, I felt like I should have Googled some terms before going to the gym, or there should have been a translator present there to explain all the jargon to me. 

Decoding Key Fitness Terms

So, if you are a novice, don't worry, we've got you covered. Here's decoding all the key fitness terms for you. Just keep this guide handy to up your training game.



HIIT stands for high-intensity interval training, the type of workout where you go all out. HIIT involves bursts of exercises with shorter rest periods. If you are looking to gain muscle and burn calories, HIIT is your one-stop solution.


Low-intensity steady-state cardio is a kind of workout that's performed for a longer period of time, such as swimming, cycling, walking on an inclined treadmill. Because there is less impact, these exercises tend to be gentler on the joints and muscles.



Cross-training is all about pairing workouts that complement and support each other. If you want to break the gym boredom, cross-training will help you do that. It helps you build strength, endurance, power, and agility. For instance, you can include strength and yoga workouts with running as this helps improve your performance and reduces the chances of injury by improving your muscle strength.


EMOM stands for every minute on the minute. In an EMOM workout, you perform a specific set of reps every minute. Once one minute is up, you move on to the next exercise, completing all the reps and then resting again for whatever time is left in the minute. An ideal way to do an EMOM workout is to complete your reps in 45 seconds and then rest for the remaining 15 seconds.



Tabata is a popular form of high-intensity interval training that can torch more calories quickly. It requires 20 seconds of ALL-OUT intensity, followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated eight times.


A superset involves performing two exercises back to back without any rest. For instance, if you do 10 squats followed by 10 push-ups without any break and you take a break after completing the two exercises, then you've just done a superset. 


Plyometrics or plyos are explosive jump training exercises that help you burn fat and improve muscle strength and endurance. Plyometric exercises like box jumps, burpees, broad jumps help you increase power to lift heavy weights and perform sprinting drills.



Isometric exercises involving getting in a position and holding it for a set amount of time. These exercises help you push yourself harder and apart from building your strength and stability, they also help you improve your mental strength.

Functional Exercises

Exercises that help you move and feel better every day are called functional exercises. For instance, squats. If not in the gym, you perform squats when you bend to pick up something at home. So, when you crouch down to tie your shoelace, you're performing a functional exercise.

Use this guide as refresher before you head to the gym. Happy working out, peeps!

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