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Hello English learners. Welcome back to EnglishPod. My name is Marco

and my name is Catherine. And today I think we’re hitting the gym, Marco.

We need to be healthy. We’ve gained weight over the winter, I think.

I think so, and be in an office, you know, it doesn’t give you much opportunity to go and exercise and really get a lot of work

Exactly, so that’s why we’re going to the gym on this occasion. We’re gonna be pumping some iron. We’re going to be working out so why don’t we take a look at vocabulary preview and see what this means.

Vocabulary preview

All right, so to pump iron, what does that mean?

all right, well to pumping iron means lifting weights.

Okay, so we’re pumping iron, we’re lifting weights

Cause you know weights are made of iron

right

that’s makes them so heavy

all right, so we’re pumping iron, good. And, well, we’re gonna be giving you guys some pointers.

Pointers. All right, so you might’ve heard the word point before, well pointers is another word for tips.

All right, so we’re going to be giving you tips or advice.

Yeah, so you’re going to get some help today from the trainer. All right, so we’re gonna jump right into this dialogue and we come back and we’ll talk about what’s going on.

A: Hey there, you look a little lost. Are you new here?

B: Yeah how’d you know?

A: You can always spot the newbies. I can give you a few pointers if you want. Were you trying to use this machine here?

B: Yeah! I just started my training today and I’m not really sure where to begin.

A: It’s ok, I know how it is. This machine here will work out your upper body, mainly your triceps and biceps. Are you looking to develop strength or muscle tone and definition?

B: Well, I don’t want to be ripped like you! I just want a good physique with weights and cardio.

A: In that case you want to work with less weight.

You can start off by working ten to fifteen reps in four sets. Five kilo weights should be enough.

Now it’s very important that you stretch before pumping iron or you might pull a muscle.

B: Got it! Wow is that the weight you are lifting? My goodness that’s a lot of weight!

A: It’s not that much. Just watch. I’m ok.

So this guy was a little bit arrogant. I think he was very muscular but I think he embarrassed himself in front of the lady.

The trainer you mean, yeah, yeah, definitely. So we say he had a big ego. He thought a lot about himself. So, let’s check out some of these phrases and words. They were using because there are all related to going to the gym and they can help you if you evr wanna get some help when you’re at the gym.

So, this girl, she was new at the gym. She didn’t really know what she was doing and well, the guy said, do you want to develop strength or muscle tone.

All right, we know what strength is but what is muscle tone?

Okay, so if you want to develop muscle tone or to have muscle tone, it means that you have healthy muscles. Not like huge big muscles, right? But you have a nice body.

Right, so tone, to tone is to maybe give some shape to something. Sometimes you have big arms and they’re not really—you can’t see the muscles. Well, muscle tone means that you can start to see the shapes and they start to get stronger. All right, so think of Madonna, like 5 years ago, she had a lot of muscle tone, now she’s like—big muscles.

Yeah, she’s strong.

But muscle tone means that you can see the muscles. They start to develop.

Okay. And this actually is very related to our next word because he said, muscle tone and definition.

Right so, definition is another way for us to describe seeing those muscles because at first you have big tummy or you have big arms and when you start to work out, every time you go, you can see more and more definition. That means more and more of the muscle becomes visible.

All Right, so you have defined muscles. All right, Good. Now, the girl was like, no, no, I don’t want to be like super strong and huge, right?

She doesn’t wanna look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Yeah, exactly. She said, I just want a good physique.

All Right, this word maybe sounds strange for Some of You Because It’s..

It kind of Sounds French to me

more like French than English. Yeah, it Does Come from French and Physique is a Way to Talk about the Whole Body. The Physique Is the State of Your Whole Body. It’s Your Physical Appearance.

Okay, so I Can Say, She Has a Nice Physique.

So That Mean She’s Probably Works out A Lot.

So, but Basically It’s like Her Whole Body, Right? You Can’t Just Say like, She Has a Good Physique in Her Arms or Something like that.

No, no. You’re Physique, Physical, I Think of the Word Physical, it’s your Whole Body.

Your Whole Body, all right. So, Good Physique and Now the Tips That He Was Giving Her or the Pointers, He Was Talking about These Two Words: Reps and Sets.

Right. These Are Great Words for the Gym Because They Allow Us to Count When We’re Working out. So the First One Is Reps or Repetitions. That Means Doing Something over and over Again. So for Example If I Want to Lift Away, I Sit down on a Bench, I do 123. How Many Times I Left That Weight Is a Repetition or a Wrap.

All right, and What about Sets? So I Could Say I Lift the Weight 10 times, 1234– All The way to 10 and Then I Wait and Then I Do It Again. So the Number of Times I Do It Again Is a Set. So Sets of 10 or Sets of 5.

Okay, so If You Are Lifting This Weight 10 Times and You Have Five Sets You Will Do a Total of–

50 pushes or Lifts or Repetitions.

Okay, so Reps and Sets Are Probably the Most Important or Common Words You’ll Hear in the Gym, Especially If You’re Lifting Weights, Right?

Definitely and Sometimes Your Trainer Will Count with You. So That He’ll Help Keep it count While You’re Working out.

Cool. So Those Are the words That We Have for You on Language Takeaway. I Think in Order to Better Understand These Words, We Should Listen to our Dialogue Again but We’re gonna Slow It down Just a Little Bit.

A: Hey there, you look a little lost. Are you new here?

B: Yeah how’d you know?

A: You can always spot the newbies. I can give you a few pointers if you want. Were you trying to use this machine here?

B: Yeah! I just started my training today and I’m not really sure where to begin.

A: It’s ok, I know how it is. This machine here will work out your upper body, mainly your triceps and biceps. Are you looking to develop strength or muscle tone and definition?

B: Well, I don’t want to be ripped like you! I just want a good physique with weights and cardio.

A: In that case you want to work with less weight.

You can start off by working ten to fifteen reps in four sets. Five kilo weights should be enough.

Now it’s very important that you stretch before pumping iron or you might pull a muscle.

B: Got it! Wow is that the weight you are lifting? My goodness that’s a lot of weight!

A: It’s not that much. Just watch. I’m ok.

So You Might’ve Heard the Mother Phrases in There That Sound Interesting or New to You, and That’s why we’re Going to Go into the Fluency Builder Part of Lesson Where we Can Talk about Sounding More Fluent in English.

Fluency Builder

All Right, so the Girl, She Was a Little Bit Lost, Right? so This Guy Was Trying to Help Her out. I think it Was Her First Time in the Gym.

It Was and She Doesn’t Really Know Where to Start, Which Is a Common Problem for People Who Go to the Gym for the First Time.

so the Guy Said, Yeah I Know How It Is.

How What Is?

Exactly, How what is?

It sounds Very Strange Phrase Because It Is Vague, It’s Not Clear.

so What Is He Referring to?

It is Something Very Common That We Say in English to Mean I Understand Your Situation.

I Know How You Feel.

I Know How You Feel. So She Says, This Is My First Time. I Don’t Know What to Do and He Says I Know How It Is. I Understand Your Situation.

Because I Imagine the First Time He Went to the Gym, He Felt the Same Way.

Exactly. I Could Say I’m so Lost, I’m new at the School. I Don’t Even Know Anyone.

Yeah, I Know How It Is. I Was New Here Last Year. So Trust Me I Know How it is.

Okay, so Marco and I Have Similar Situations. Although He Has Already Experienced this so He Can Help Me out.

This Is a Good Phrase. It’s actually, I Think It’s Very Common for Somebody to Sympathize with You.

Absolutely, and It’s a Really Good Phrase If You Want to Help Someone Who Looks Lost or Confused. So If Someone Joins Your Work, if you have a new Colleague, and Say I Do Know Where Anything Is. I Don’t Know How to Do Anything at My Job. You Say, I know How It Is.

Right.

I Was New Here Last Month.

Great and Well, Now They Were Talking about Lifting Weights and the Physique and She Said This Interesting word. She Said, I Don’t Want to Be Ripped like You.

Okay, so Many of You Have Probably Heard the Other Meaning of the Word to Rip, or Ripped.

so This Is To rip

yeah, to Tear, but in This Case It’s an Adjective. It’s a Way to Describe Someone’s Physique, Their Body and I Were Talking about People Who Are Very Very Muscular.

Okay, so Basically Bodybuilders.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Is Ripped. He Has Huge Muscles. Madonna Is Ripped. She Has Huge Muscles.

Okay, so It’s a Very Informal Way, but Is a Very Informal Way of Saying Very Muscular.

Yeah, Someone Who Works out A Lot.

All Right You’re Ripped.

This is go One More Phrase and it’s Actually Very Important Because When We Talk about Going to the Gym, Working out, we have to Talk about Safety and Your Health As Well. It’s Very Easy to Hurt Yourself.

Right and That’s What We Want to Avoid. You Don’t Want to Pull a Muscle.

All right, Pull a Muscle. This Is a Key Phrase Here Because We Have a Special Combination of Verb and Noun. The Thing That We Pull Is Our Muscle and what We Do to It Is We pull it. That Means We Hurt It.

So If You Don’t Stretch, and You’re Lifting Weights, Maybe Your Muscles Start to Hurt and You Can’t Lift Anymore.

Yeah, You Heard It. You Pulled Your Muscle.

You pulled your Muscle.

Or Often Runners Have This Problem. They Don’t Stretch before They Run or They Run Too Much and They Have A Lot Of Pain in Her Muscles. you Say, I Pulled a Muscle.

Now, I Think There’s Another Way of Saying It. Also It’s to Tear a Muscle, Right?

Tear is More Serious

More Serious

A Tear Is like a Little Rip in Your Muscle and You Should Really See a Doctor about that.

Okay, so if you Don’t Want You to Pull a Muscle or to Tear a Muscle, so Be Sure to Stretch. But We Have Some More Examples with This Phrase, to Pull a Muscle, so Let’s Listen.

Example 1

Muscle Strains, Also Called Pulled Muscles Are Common Sports Injuries.

Example 2

If You Do Not Warm up before Physical Activity, You Can Easily Pull a Muscle.

Example 3

Anyone Can Pull a Muscle Because of Overuse, Muscle Fatigue or through a Fall.

Alright, so Now That That’s Clear, I Think That We Can Listen to Our gym dialogue One More Time and See What Happens to This Arrogant Body builder.

Absolutely.

A: Hey there, you look a little lost. Are you new here?

B: Yeah how’d you know?

A: You can always spot the newbies. I can give you a few pointers if you want. Were you trying to use this machine here?

B: Yeah! I just started my training today and I’m not really sure where to begin.

A: It’s ok, I know how it is. This machine here will work out your upper body, mainly your triceps and biceps. Are you looking to develop strength or muscle tone and definition?

B: Well, I don’t want to be ripped like you! I just want a good physique with weights and cardio.

A: In that case you want to work with less weight.

You can start off by working ten to fifteen reps in four sets. Five kilo weights should be enough.

Now it’s very important that you stretch before pumping iron or you might pull a muscle.

B: Got it! Wow is that the weight you are lifting? My goodness that’s a lot of weight!

A: It’s not that much. Just watch. I’m ok.

All right Catherine, so We Know That You Are a Very Healthy Person. You Often Go to the Gym.

This Is True. I like to Go to the Gym.

So, Any Gym Stories?

Gosh, I Have Lots of Gym Stories. I like to Run and I Often Use the Treadmill. And I’ve Never Really Understood the People Who Don’t Run on the Treadmill, People Who Stand or who Walk

Who Walk on the Treadmill

and I Remember, My gym Is Usually Very Crowded, I Remember One Time I Was at My Gym and I Wanted to Run on the Treadmill. I had a Long Day at Work and I Had to Go out Afterwards so I Didn’t Have Much Time. I mean, I Only Had one Hour. And I Really Wanted to Run but There’s a Line for the Treadmills. There are too many people. And This Particular Day, I was Waiting and Waiting and Waiting and Finally It was My Turn; I Stepped and a Woman Cut in Front of Me.

no

She Cut in Front of Me and I Was so Angry and What did She do? In Her Heels—

Heels

Heels, Big Shoes, She Walked for 40 Minutes.

Oh my God

You could go outside and Walk. I wanna run.

and She Was Wearing Heels at the gym.

in Her Heels, at the Gym

Well, I Guess You Have To Look Nice When You Go to the Gym, also.

Apparently, Apparently

It Is a Very Popular Place for People to Meet, Right? To start dating

It is. They say after the office, The Gym Is One of the Most Common Places for People to Meet Their Boyfriends and Girlfriend.

so There’s Another Good Reason Why you Should Go to the Gym.

Absolutely, Yeah

All Right, so That’s All the Time We Have for Today but We Would like to Hear If You Have Any Questions, Any Doubts or Comments. So Come to Our Site EnglishPod.com.

and If You Have any Gym Stories, we’d Also like to Hear Those. So that’s gonna do it for us, until Next Time Everyone. Bye.