11 Health Acronyms You Should Know
Hey Angels and Alphas,
Whether you’re someone who has been on a weight loss journey for a while, someone stepping inside the gym for the first time, or a seasoned veteran who has been competing for years, there are always new things you can learn about the world of health and fitness.
But when you’re a newbie to living healthy, it can often feel as though people who have been doing it for a while are speaking a completely different language than you.
With that in mind, we decided to create a list of the most common fitness, health, and nutrition acronyms that will help you decode the things you’re hearing at the gym or reading online.
Let’s get started.
HEALTH
#1 BMI. Your body mass index is a measurement that indicates the rate of obesity by calculating the relative percentages of muscle and fat in your body based on your weight, height, and sometimes, other factors.
#2 BMR. Your basal metabolic rate is the number of calories your body is going to burn simply by performing daily bodily activities such as breathing, digesting, etc. This can help you determine how many calories you need to consume on a daily basis.
NUTRITION
#3 RDA. RDA refers to your recommended daily allowance, or in other words, the amount of a nutrient that is going to meet your requirement if you’re the average healthy individual.
#4 GI. Glycemic index. Your glycemic index is a measure of how quickly blood sugar rises after eating a specific type of food. Foods that rank higher on the GI scale will exhibit more rapid and steep spikes in your blood sugar and will usually contain a large amount of added sugar or refined carbs.
#5 IIFYM. If It Fits Your Macros is a nutrition and fitness philosophy originally coined by the bodybuilding community. It’s a flexible approach to selecting foods based on your calorie and macronutrient composition. It will allow you to meet your nutrition goals while accommodating the occasional sweet treat.
FITNESS
#6 BPM. Beats Per Minute. This is how your heart rate is measured. Knowing this number allows you to monitor how hard your body is going to be working and how many calories you’re going to burn during a specific sweat session. You can figure this number out through a heart rate monitor or by taking your pulse. (To take your pulse, simply press your fingers to your wrist and count the number of beats you feel in ten seconds. Then multiply that number by six and you have your BPM.
#7 HRM. Heart rate monitors are devices that measure how fast your heart is beating. They can come in many forms – strapped around your chest, on your hand, or even on the sides of the treadmill or elliptical machine at your gym.
#8 RPE: Your perceived rate of exertion. This is a scale of 1 to 10 in which 1 is easy and 10 is beyond difficult. This allows you to measure how hard you’re pushing yourself during a workout. For example, a walk could be anywhere between 2-3, while an intense weightlifting workout might deserve a solid 8 or 9.
#9 AMRAP: As Many Reps As Possible. You might have seen this in workout write-ups. AMRAP is exactly what it sounds like – doing as many reps on a particular exercise as you can. The focus is usually on the form of the exercise, so it’s better to complete 10 perfect pushups than 50 sloppy ones.
#10 HIIT: High-Intensity Interval Training. This is a short, but intense workout, such as a circuit training or Tabata drill, that brings together cardio and strength training so it can maximize time and efficiency and give you an intense workout in a short period of time.
#11 DOMS: Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. DOMS is the stiffness and pain that will set in about 24 to 48 hours after a difficult workout. It’s perfectly normal and it’s a sign that your body is responding well to your efforts to train by recovering the tissue that has been broken down during your training process.
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