Gym plan abbreviations explained: RM, AMRAP, supersets, tempo

A plain explanation of the shorthand in training programmes — RM and percentages, AMRAP sets, supersets and tempo 3-1-1 — with what each one changes on the gym floor.

Your programme says 3x8 @ 75% 1RM, tempo 3-1-1, then A1/A2 a few lines down, then AMRAP at the bottom. It reads like code, but it is only shorthand for three things: how heavy, how fast, and in what order. Here is what each one means, and what actually changes once you load the bar.

RM: repetition maximum

RM stands for repetition maximum — the heaviest weight you can lift for exactly that many reps and no more. Your 1RM is a single all-out rep. Your 5RM is the load where the fifth rep goes up and the sixth does not.

The number in front of RM is not telling you how many sets or reps to do; it describes a weight. If the plan says „bench 80 kg (5RM)“, that means 80 kg is your ceiling for five, whatever the session asks you to do with it.

More often you will see percentages. 3x8 @ 70% 1RM means three sets of eight with 70 per cent of your one-rep max. If you squat 100 kg for a single, your working weight is 70 kg.

The rough guides most coaches use: around 85 per cent for five reps, 75 to 80 per cent for eight, around 70 per cent for ten to twelve. Those are averages, and they shift from person to person and from lift to lift — at the same percentage most people get more reps in the squat and the deadlift than on the bench.

Testing a true 1RM is rarely worth it for a beginner. The risk outweighs the information, and the number moves every few weeks anyway. Start instead from a weight where you finish the prescribed reps cleanly with two left in the tank; there is more on picking that working weight in its own article.

AMRAP: as many reps as possible

AMRAP means you keep going until you cannot do a good rep with that load. It usually sits on the last set of an exercise: three sets of eight, then a fourth marked AMRAP.

It almost never means grinding until the bar pins you. In most programmes AMRAP runs to technical failure — you stop when the reps start looking different: the back rounds, bar speed halves, one side lags behind. If the plan says AMRAP-1 or AMRAP-2, you deliberately leave one or two reps unfinished.

That final set doubles as your progress test. Nine reps with 60 kg last week and thirteen today is a clear sign it is time to add weight.

In conditioning work AMRAP means something else entirely: as many rounds as possible inside a time cap, for example „AMRAP 12 minutes: 10 squats, 8 press-ups, 200 m row“. The tell is simple — if there is a clock next to AMRAP, you are counting rounds, not reps.

Supersets: two exercises, no rest between

A superset is two exercises done back to back with no rest in the middle. The rest comes after you have finished both. On paper it looks like A1 and A2: A1 chin-up, A2 dumbbell press, then 90 seconds off, then round two.

The easiest version pairs opposing movements — a press with a row, a curl with a triceps extension. While one muscle group works the other recovers, so you lose very little strength on the second exercise.

Pair two exercises for the same muscle, say bench press followed by dumbbell flyes, and the second one will drop off noticeably. That is fine if the point is a shorter session, but do not expect your usual numbers.

The evidence mostly says that when total volume is matched, supersets build muscle much like straight sets — the real difference is that the session is shorter and feels harder. For heavy compound lifts in low rep ranges they rarely make sense; there you need the full rest for the second lift to be worth doing.

Tempo 3-1-1: speed written as numbers

The digits tell you how many seconds each phase of a single rep should take. The order never changes, and it always starts with the lowering phase, whatever the exercise looks like.

First digit (3) — the eccentric phase, lowering the weight: three seconds.
Second digit (1) — the pause at the bottom: one second.
Third digit (1) — the concentric phase, lifting: one second.

In a squat that is three seconds down, one second in the hole with no bounce, one second up. In a chin-up the first digit still means lowering: three seconds down, a second hanging, then pull yourself up in one.

Sometimes you get four digits, 3-1-1-0. The last one is the pause at the top before the next rep starts. An X instead of a number means „as explosively as you can“ — for example 3-0-X-0.

The arithmetic is easy: a set of eight at 3-1-1 takes about 40 seconds, while the same set at normal speed takes 15 to 20. That is why a prescribed tempo usually forces you to drop the load, often by 10 to 20 per cent. It is not a step backwards, just a different job.

Slow tempos also change how you breathe — holding your breath through a three-second descent is hard work, so it helps to know when to breathe and when bracing is safe.

The rest of the shorthand

A few more you will run into on the same page:

3x8 — three sets of eight; the first number is sets. „8x3“ is a completely different session: eight sets of three.
RPE — how hard the set felt, on a scale of 1 to 10. RPE 8 means you had two more reps in you.
RIR — reps in reserve. RIR 2 is the same thing as RPE 8.
EMOM — every minute on the minute: start the set at the top of each minute, the rest of the minute is your recovery.
BB / DB / KB — barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell.
WU — warm-up sets; they do not count towards the prescribed volume.
„per side“ or /side — the rep count applies to each arm or leg separately.

When an abbreviation is unclear, ask whoever wrote the plan — and either way, write down what you actually did: load, reps, how hard it felt. After a few weeks those numbers show you what is moving and what is stuck, which is the whole case for keeping a training log.

The short version

RM describes a weight, not a set count: 5RM is the load you can lift exactly five times, and percentages like 70% 1RM come off your one-rep max.
AMRAP means as many reps as possible to technical failure; if there is a time cap next to it, you are counting rounds instead.
Supersets are two exercises with no rest between them; opposing movements pair best, and heavy compound lifts pair worst.
Tempo 3-1-1 reads lower–pause–lift, always starts with the lowering phase, and usually needs 10 to 20 per cent off the bar.
A misread abbreviation turns an easy day into a hard one, so check anything you do not recognise before you load up.