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Glossary

Every HyperIron term in one place. Each entry gives a one-line definition and links to the guide page that explains it in full.

:::tip New to structured training? If terms like "mesocycle," "RIR," or "progressive overload" are unfamiliar, start with the Concepts section — it covers the training science in plain language. :::

Training concepts​

  • Mesocycle — A single training block of 4–8 weeks that drives adaptation through structured progression; HyperIron's core organizational unit. Mesocycles →
  • Microcycle — One week within a mesocycle: a single rotation through all your workout days. Microcycles →
  • Loading weeks — The hard training weeks of a mesocycle (3–8 of them) with progressive intensity, before any deload. Structure →
  • Conservative / Moderate / Aggressive phases — The three intensity phases loading weeks pass through — roughly RIR 3, then 2, then 1 (or 0) as the block builds. Three phases →
  • Deload — A planned light recovery week (reduced weight, ~2 sets, roughly half the reps, easy effort) that sheds fatigue before the next block. Deload Weeks →
  • Sliding Mesocycle — HyperIron's model where weeks advance by completion order, not the calendar — miss a day and the whole program slides forward intact, with nothing marked failed. Workouts slide, not fail →
  • Progressive overload — Doing more over time (weight, reps, or sets) — the fundamental driver of growth, which HyperIron computes for you each week. Progressive Overload →
  • Double progression — The weight-mode strategy: add a rep each week at the same weight, then step the weight up one increment once you top the rep range (reps reset). Weight progression →
  • Autoregulation — The system self-adjusts your weekly set count from your fatigue ratings, so volume converges on what you can actually recover from. Fatigue & Autoregulation →
  • Working weight — The load HyperIron suggests for an exercise, derived from what you actually lift rather than entered by hand. Working Weights →
  • Anchor — The best set (by estimated 1RM) of your most recent completed session, which the progression rule projects forward from. How the anchor works →
  • RIR ramp — The weekly effort instruction that steps your target RIR down across the block (3 → 2 → your minimum). The RIR ramp →

Programs & templates​

  • Template — A reusable program blueprint you design once and start mesocycles from repeatedly; editing it never affects a running mesocycle (see Running mesocycle). Templates and active mesocycles →
  • Running (active) mesocycle — The live instance created when you start training a template, with its own progression state; only one runs at a time (see Template). Managing Programs →
  • Start Mesocycle (instantiate) — Creating a running mesocycle by copying a template's workouts and exercises at that moment. Starting a mesocycle →
  • Workout day — A named group of exercises done together in one session (e.g. Push, Pull, Legs); not tied to a calendar day. Workout Days →
  • Program exercise — An exercise's prescription within a workout day: target sets, rep mode/range, minimum RIR, weight increment, and notes. Adding Exercises →
  • Progression mode — The per-exercise choice of which axis climbs: weight (double progression) or reps (weight fixed). Two progression modes →
  • Rep range — The band of reps an exercise targets (e.g. 8–12); you climb it before the weight steps up. Rep range →
  • Deload mode — How deloads are scheduled for a program: none, a final deload week, or every N weeks. Deload modes →
  • Minimum RIR — The RIR floor for the hardest week of a block (default 1; set 0 for isolations trained to failure). Minimum RIR →
  • Progression preview — A projected grid of the computed weight, rep, RIR, and set targets for every future week. Progression Preview →
  • Mesocycle report — An end-of-block summary (adherence, volume, strength change, PRs) used to plan the next mesocycle. Mesocycle Report →
  • Pause / Resume / Abandon — Lifecycle actions on a mesocycle: pause preserves progress, resume picks up where you left off, abandon hides it while keeping the data. Managing Programs →
  • Quick (standalone) workout — A session logged with no program attached; it appears in your history and PRs but has no progression. Completing a Workout →

Program balance & volume targets​

  • Balance Score — A letter grade (A+ to F) for how evenly a program spreads volume across the major muscle groups. Balance Score →
  • Effective sets — A set count weighted by each exercise's muscle-activation percentage, giving the true stimulus a muscle receives. Effective sets →
  • Volume landmarks — Per-muscle weekly-volume boundaries (Growth min / Optimal / Upper limit) that define the balance zones. Volume landmarks →
  • Volume zones (traffic lights) — Per-muscle status colors — from "Too low" through "Sweet spot" to "Too much" — showing whether a muscle is under-, optimally, or over-trained. Traffic lights →
  • Training Profile — Your age, training experience, caloric context, and biological sex, which scale the volume landmarks to you. Training profile →
  • Per-session volume warning — An amber flag when one workout loads more than 10 effective sets onto a single muscle in a single session. Per-session warnings →

Tracking & logging​

  • Workout (session) — A single training session: a self-contained record of what you did, with its sets embedded. Completing a Workout →
  • Set — One logged effort: set number, weight, reps, and optional RIR/RPE, resistance, modifiers, and notes. Logging Sets →
  • Working set — A completed set with real weight and reps that counts toward volume, 1RM estimates, and PRs (as opposed to a warm-up). Logging Sets →
  • Fatigue rating — A per-muscle-group, per-session score from −2 to +2 that raises or lowers next week's set count. The rating scale →
  • Bodyweight tracking — Your recorded bodyweight for a session, used by the Total and ×BW metrics; editable during the workout. Bodyweight tracking →
  • Skipped workout — A scheduled session you explicitly skip; it logs no sets but still counts in week ordering so the calendar stays aligned. Skipping a workout →
  • Workout & exercise notes — Free-text notes at the session level and per exercise. Workout notes →
  • Exercise substitution — Swapping a prescribed exercise for one session or from this week forward, carrying your history across. How to swap an exercise →
  • Tempo — A 4-digit rep-speed prescription (Eccentric–Pause–Concentric–Pause), e.g. 3-1-2-0; not a stored field — note it in the set notes. Tempo →
  • Time Under Tension (TUT) — The total seconds a muscle is loaded, computed from tempo × reps; not tracked by the app today. Time Under Tension →

Set types​

  • Straight set — Do your reps, rest, repeat — the default and the backbone of good tracking. Straight Set →
  • Drop set — Reps to near-failure, drop the weight, continue without rest; repeat for several drops. Drop Set →
  • Rest-pause set — Reps to failure, a 10–20s rest, then more reps at the same weight; repeat 2–3 times. Rest-Pause Set →
  • Myo-rep set — A high-rep activation set, then short mini-sets of 3–5 reps with brief rests; the Myo-Rep Match variant holds every mini-set to the first one's rep count. Myo-Rep Set →
  • Cluster set — A heavy set broken into small clusters with short rests, not taken to failure. Cluster Set →
  • AMRAP — As Many Reps As Possible at a given weight. AMRAP →
  • Lengthened partial — Full reps to near-failure, then partial reps in the stretched position. Lengthened Partial →
  • Partial reps — Reps through a reduced range of motion; recorded in notes and excluded from 1RM estimates. Partial reps →

Strength & intensity metrics​

  • RIR (Reps in Reserve) — The number of reps you could have done but didn't — a direct measure of proximity to failure. RIR →
  • RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) — Effort on a 1–10 scale; the modified Borg scale maps directly to RIR. RPE →
  • Failure — Being unable to complete another rep (RIR 0 / RPE 10). Failure →
  • Estimated 1RM (e1RM) — Your one-rep max estimated from the weight × reps of every qualifying set, averaging the Epley and Brzycki formulas. Estimated 1RM →
  • Personal Record (PR) — A set whose estimated 1RM beats your best prior estimate for that exercise. What counts as a PR →
  • PR categories — The rep-specific bests HyperIron tracks per exercise: estimated 1RM and 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-rep max. PR categories →

Progress & analytics​

  • Tonnage (volume) — Total work — weight × reps summed — a rough measure of training load. Tonnage →
  • Load lenses (External / Total / ×BW) — A toggle for how load is counted: added weight only, added weight plus bodyweight contribution, or 1RM as a multiple of bodyweight. Lenses →
  • Bodyweight factor — The fraction of body mass a movement lifts per rep (pull-up ×1, push-up ×0.65, ×0 for movements that lift none), used by the Total and ×BW lenses. Exercise detail →
  • Implement count (two dumbbells) — Whether an exercise loads a pair of implements; you enter one implement's weight and HyperIron counts both toward volume, while 1RM stays per-implement. Dumbbell exercises →
  • Sets by Muscle (Direct vs All) — A per-muscle set breakdown; the Direct/All toggle switches between direct sets and activation-weighted totals. Tap to drill down →
  • Planned vs Actual / Compliance — Prescribed volume shown against what you logged, plus the percentage of planned sessions you completed. Planned vs Actual →
  • Strength charts — Line charts of your estimated 1RM over time, per exercise. Strength Charts →

Exercises, muscles & equipment​

  • Exercise Library — The built-in catalog of exercises with their muscle activations, equipment, and movement pattern, shared across users. Exercise Library →
  • Custom Exercise — An exercise you create (unique to your account) with your own muscle activations and default resistance. Custom Exercises →
  • Muscle Activation — The per-exercise percentages defining how much each muscle is worked, which drive effective-set volume. Muscle Activation →
  • Muscle Group — One of the tracked muscles (chest, back, quads, side delts, …) that volume is split across. Muscle Activation →
  • Movement Pattern — An exercise's classification — push, pull, hinge, squat, lunge, carry, rotation, or isolation. Exercise Library →
  • Resistance Type — How a set's load is measured: Weight, Band, Bodyweight, Bodyweight+, Kettlebell, Machine, Cable, Angle, Time, or Distance. Resistance Types →
  • Equipment Profile — A saved gear configuration (band, kettlebell, machine, or bench-angle) you select while logging instead of retyping. Equipment Profiles →
  • Machine Calibration — A saved machine setting mapped to an equivalent weight per gym, so tracking stays consistent. Calibrating a machine →
  • Accommodating resistance — Adding bands or chains to a barbell movement; you log the bar weight and note the setup so 1RM stays bar-based. Accommodating resistance →
  • Exercise Modifiers — Per-set tracking fields you enable per exercise: bench angle, bands, stance width, stance angle, and heel wedge. Exercise Modifiers →

App & platform​

  • AI Coach (MCP) — Connecting Claude or ChatGPT to HyperIron over MCP so it can read your data and take actions like building programs and logging workouts. AI Coaching →
  • Import from Strong — Bringing your Strong app CSV history into HyperIron, with unit conversion, exercise mapping, duplicate detection, and undo. Importing from Strong →
  • Offline mode — Logging fully offline on mobile against a local database. Offline Mode →
  • Syncing — How offline changes reconcile with the cloud once you're back online. Syncing →
  • Free vs Premium — The two tiers, the 30-day full-Premium trial, and the money-back guarantee. Free vs Premium →
  • Calendar & Volume stats — A monthly calendar of sessions with daily, weekly, and monthly volume-per-muscle stats. Monthly View →
  • Unit system — Your lbs-vs-kg preference, set during account setup. Units →