This glossary defines the vocabulary RepCanvas uses across programs, the workout logger, and insights. Where established research-grounded definitions exist, those are the meanings the app applies.
Programming
Microcycle. One training week. A microcycle owns the days you train, the exercises you do on each day, and the sets prescribed for each exercise. Most RepCanvas programs are between four and twelve microcycles long.
Mesocycle. A block of microcycles sharing an intent. A typical eight-week program runs as a single mesocycle: one pre-load week, five training weeks, one peak week, one deload. Longer programs may chain multiple mesocycles together.
Week type. A label applied to a microcycle that scales loads and volume relative to a reference week. The default options are pre-load, train, peak, and deload. The label is informational on a custom program; on a template, it drives suggested progression.
Periodisation. The pattern of week types and intensity changes across a mesocycle. Periodisation is what gives a program its shape - it decides whether you ramp up steadily, push hard early then taper, or alternate intensity blocks.
Diet phase. Cut, maintain, or bulk. Surfaced as a chip on the day header - informational, not enforced. Useful when you read your strength trends back later and want to remember which phase you were in.
Day label. A human label for a day inside a microcycle: push, pull, legs, or upper, lower, or whatever you prefer. RepCanvas offers presets (push pull legs, upper lower, bro split, days of the week, numeric) and lets you override any label.
Set and rep defaults. Program-level prescription that seeds new exercises and microcycles - your default rep range, RIR target, tempo, rest interval, and progression mode.
Progression mode. How RepCanvas computes the next set’s load suggestion. Weight-first adds load at constant reps; reps-first adds reps at constant load; balanced alternates between the two.
Progression rate. The percentage you target adding each week. Per-program override available, so an aggressive block and a conservative block can run different rates without changing global settings.
Progression deadband. Tolerance band around the target progression rate. Inside the band, the app reads “you’re tracking the program” and does not push a new load suggestion. Outside it, the app surfaces a recommendation.
Logging
Set. One execution of an exercise with a specific load and rep count. Sets are the unit of record in RepCanvas.
Top set. The set in a session with the best combination of weight and reps. Used as the strength signal for trend tracking, since it captures both load and rep work in a single score.
Drop set. A set with reduced load following a main set, with no rest. Drop sets count toward total volume but not toward personal-record detection - they’re additive volume, not measured working effort.
Back-off. A regular working set following a top-set effort, performed at lower load. Distinct from a drop set: a back-off has rest before it and counts as a normal main set in volume math and personal-record detection.
RIR. Reps in reserve. The number of additional reps you could have done at the end of the set. Lower numbers mean closer to failure.
Tonnage. The total weight moved in a session - sum of weight times reps across logged sets, with adjustments for exercises performed unilaterally.
Personal record. Tracked across three records: heaviest weight at any rep range, best weight-times-reps combination, and highest session tonnage. Detected automatically the moment you log a set that beats any of the three.
Insights
Strength trend direction. Whether your top set on an exercise is improving, plateauing, or declining over the selected time window. A clear deadband around equality avoids reading meaning into noise.
Strength trend by muscle group. A summary of per-exercise trends grouped by muscle, showing median percentage change with a range covering all the exercises in the group.
Progressive overload rate. The rate at which load and set work are increasing across your training. Surfaced per muscle group with fastest-progressing and most-stalled callouts.
Where to read next
- How programs are structured - the layered model behind microcycles and mesocycles.
- How the workout logger works - the surface where the logging vocabulary applies.
- Strength trends - how the insight metrics are computed.