Glossary
Exercise Physiologist Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential exercise physiologist terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key exercise physiologist vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in exercise physiologist training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Body composition
- Fat and lean mass.
- Borg scale
- A rating of perceived exertion.
- Cardiac rehabilitation
- Supervised exercise after heart events.
- Contraindication
- A reason not to exercise.
- ECG
- Electrocardiogram.
- Exercise prescription
- A plan with frequency, intensity, time and type.
- FITT
- Frequency, intensity, time, type.
- Graded exercise test
- A test with increasing intensity.
- Heart rate reserve
- Difference between max and resting heart rate.
- Hypertension
- High blood pressure.
- Metabolic syndrome
- A cluster of risk factors.
- METs
- Metabolic equivalents.
- Pulmonary rehabilitation
- Exercise programs for lung disease.
- Telemetry
- Remote heart monitoring.
- VO2 max
- Maximum oxygen use during exercise.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Exercise Physiologist practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Exercise Physiologist training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.