Plain-English definitions of the terms used across this site, from healthspan and VO2 max to DEXA and progressive overload. If a word here sends you to the dictionary, it should be on this page, explained the way Leigh would explain it in a session.
Also known as: Health span.
The number of years you live in good health, as distinct from lifespan, which is simply how long you live. Healthspan is the measure most of the coaching on this site is pointed at: keeping strength, energy, movement and independence intact for as long as possible, so the later decades are lived well rather than merely reached.
Long life, and in a coaching context the deliberate work of training and living in a way that supports it. Used here to mean the combination of measured strength work, aerobic capacity, sleep, nutrition and stress regulation that protects both how long and how well you live.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: PPS.
The framework W1 Performance coaches to. Rather than treating training as an isolated activity, it looks at training, recovery, energy, stress regulation and decision-making together, and builds one coordinated plan across all of them. The aim is a system that holds under pressure, not a plan that only works in an easy week.
Also known as: Maximal oxygen uptake.
The maximum rate at which your body can take in and use oxygen during hard exercise, and one of the most useful single measures of aerobic fitness. It is strongly associated with long-term health outcomes, and it responds well to structured training at almost any age.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: DXA, Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.
Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry: a low-dose scan that measures bone mineral density and body composition, reporting lean mass, fat mass and their distribution. It gives a precise baseline to train from and to measure against, in place of guesswork from the bathroom scales.
Source: www.nhs.uk
What your body weight is actually made of: muscle, fat, bone and water, rather than the single number on the scales. Two people at the same weight can have very different composition, which is why we measure it directly and train to change the parts that matter.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: Fat-free mass.
Everything in your body that is not fat, most of which is skeletal muscle. Preserving and building lean mass is central to strength, metabolic health and staying capable with age, and it is one of the primary things a DEXA scan lets us track over time.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Fat stored around the internal organs, as opposed to just under the skin. It is more closely linked to metabolic risk than fat elsewhere, which is why we measure it rather than relying on weight alone, and why reducing it is a meaningful outcome in its own right.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
A measurable signal in the body that indicates something about your health, such as a value on a blood test. Biomarkers turn how you feel into something trackable, so training and nutrition decisions can be reviewed against evidence rather than impression.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: Blood test panel.
A set of blood tests run together to give a broad picture of health, typically covering markers of metabolic, cardiovascular, hormonal and nutritional status. Interpretation is a clinical matter, so any panel arranged through W1 Performance is reviewed by a physician.
Source: www.nhs.uk
Also known as: Insulin resistance.
How readily your cells respond to insulin and take up glucose from the blood. Better sensitivity means your body manages blood sugar with less insulin, and it tends to improve with regular resistance training, aerobic work, sleep and sensible nutrition.
Source: www.nhs.uk
How well your body manages energy, taken across markers such as blood glucose, blood lipids, blood pressure and waist measurement. It is one of the clearest places training and nutrition show up in measurable numbers, often well before symptoms appear.
Source: www.nhs.uk
Also known as: Aerobic base work.
Steady aerobic work at an intensity you could hold a conversation through, sitting below your lactate threshold. It builds the aerobic base that supports everyday energy, recovery between harder sessions and long-term cardiovascular health, and it is deliberately unglamorous.
Source: www.nhs.uk
Gradually increasing the demand placed on the body, through load, volume, complexity or density, so it keeps adapting. It is the mechanism behind almost all physical progress, and doing it in measured steps is what separates steady improvement from injury.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: Periodization.
Organising training into blocks with a clear emphasis, sequenced over months rather than left to chance week by week. It is how a plan absorbs a heavy work period, a holiday or a busy quarter without progress unravelling.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: RFD.
How quickly you can produce force, as opposed to how much force you can produce in total. It matters more with age than most people expect: catching yourself on a stumble, or getting off the floor quickly, is an RFD problem as much as a strength one.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The age-related loss of muscle mass, strength and function. It begins earlier than most people assume and accelerates without resistance training, which is a large part of why measured strength work sits at the centre of longevity coaching.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also known as: BMD.
The amount of mineral in your bone tissue, and a primary measure of bone strength. It is reported by a DEXA scan, and it responds to loaded resistance training, which makes it one of the more compelling reasons to keep lifting into later decades.
Source: www.nhs.uk
Also known as: HRV.
The variation in time between consecutive heartbeats, commonly used as an indirect read on how your nervous system is coping with the load you are under. Treated as one input among several, it can help decide whether a session should be pushed or eased.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Practical work aimed at shifting your physiology out of a persistent stress response and into a state where recovery, sleep and clear thinking are possible. In coaching this covers breathing practice, deliberate downshifts in the day and how hard sessions are placed around real life.
Source: www.nhs.uk