It’s 2018 so let’s just get one thing straight.  If you’re a swole badass, you can’t be wearing around some tinker toy watch. By definition, if you’re a badass, that means you wear swole watches – and that’s exactly what a Gear’d watch is:  Swole! 

Now, let’s take just a second and talk about a Gear’d watch vs. the competition.  Compared to the competition… there really is no comparison. 

Some of you out there may be wondering where to buy swole watches, looking for swole watches reviews, or comparing Gear’d prices to swole watches price…

Ain't nobody got time for that because if you look closely… (actually, you don’t have to look that closely), you’ll see that a Gear’d Watch is heads and shoulders above the competition when it comes to quality, durability, and plain old awesomeness!  Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s get back to 2018 and how you’re going to get swoll this year. 

Priority number one for 2018: This is the year to swole up! 

What does swole mean? Here are popular Bodybuilder's Lingo You Should Know.

Every sport and activity has its own set of slang terms and lingo, and the same is true for bodybuilding. You will hear some whacky sounding words when you enter the wide world of weightlifting. In order to fit in, you should know what they mean.

Let's take a look at some of the popular bodybuilding terms and what they convey.

Gym Rats

Gym rats is a popular weightlifting term that refers to gym members who have less meat on their body as compared to most other bodybuilders. They don't exactly have much of a physique to work on.

Most consider gym rats to be bad news in the gym as they tend to give advice regarding weightlifting that they don't seem to follow. They love reading muscle magazines and enjoy conversation on esoteric topics such as 're-igniting' muscle gains or muscle confusion. Also, they tend to switch workout programs almost every week.

The 'glory moment' for gym rats occurs when they are able to spot a forearm vein or a bicep during a workout. They tend to specialize in

• Bench presses
• Half-squat reps
• Cheat curls

In addition, they have a nasty habit of dropping dumbbells on the floor at the end of the workout instead of putting them on racks.

Buff

A buff refers to a bodybuilder who is below a gym rat. Gym rats at least try to get in shape. Buffs simply don't deadlift or squat to get in shape.

If someone addresses you as a buff, you should take this term to heart and get your body in gear. Eat right and train hard to get rid of this name tag.

Beef Cake

Beef cake is a rather archaic term that needs to be used more often. A beef cake is a term for bodybuilders with a smooth, rippling muscles that seem somewhat erotic to the opposite sex.

The term was popularized by show box columnist Sidney Skolsk and is the counterpart of the cheese cake physique used for females. Carlson Twins who have adorned covers of different magazines are the best example of a beef cake physique.

However, the fact is that most powerlifters (especially 40+ men) don't have the metabolism nor the desire to fit in this 'hunky' category.

Smoothy

This is how the body looks due to high water retention. It masks muscle details due to which people don't believe you when you say you hit the gym 7 days a week.

Jacked

Jacked bodies are also the envy of bodybuilders, including buffs and gym rats. They are a more attainable version of beef cakes. If you achieve this physique, people will pester you and ask you questions about how you got jacked.

Being jacked is similar to getting gold in Olympics. It is a term of endearment that simply means that you are more muscular than an average bodybuilder.

People who are jacked usually train for years and have a complete understanding of the diet and exercise routine that will help achieve the shape they desire. However, one negative aspect of being jacked is that your ego will encourage others to push themselves like you did by adopting a high-protein diet and spartan exercise routine.

Dry Physique

Bodybuilders lose water to attain a dry physique before every contest.

Bodybuilders want to look 'hard' and macho. However, water masks muscle definition, which makes them look like just another bro from the block. Losing waters muscles look more 'detailed', and shows that you have put hours and effort in the gym.

Natty

Natty in the bodybuilding world refers to a person who does not use steroids or other muscle enhancing drugs. As you have guessed it by now, natty refers to 'natural'. The natty limit refers to the maximum muscle growth that you can achieve by hitting the gym.

Ripped

A ripped bodybuilder is similar to a jacked bodybuilder except he is smaller. Bodybuilders who are ripped usually weigh between 140 and 175 pounds and stay lean due to their fast metabolism.

Average joes with average metabolism can also remain ripped through intermittent fasting and hours of exercise. 

Cross Fitter

A cross fitter refers to a bodybuilder who is secretly part of the CrossFit revolution. Their daily activities include doing hundreds (yes hundreds!) of reps, including box jumps, running, burpees, squats, and Olympic lifts.

Body Fullness

Bodybuilders who join a contest aim for both a dry and full physique. Body fullness describes a physique where it looks like the muscles of a bodybuilder are about to pop out of the skin.

However, you should not confuse this term with the mind and bodyfullness technique that is intended to improve self-regulation and wellbeing. Remember bodybuilders hit the gym with the sole purpose of 'all brawn with no [focus on] brain.'

Flatness

The opposite of fullness is known as flatness. A body with a flat look appears small and depleted due to poor diet, over training, or sometimes illness.

Power Lifter

Power lifters have more endurance than the average bodybuilder in the gym. These singlet-wearing bundles of muscles can train with multiples of 45 lbs, and compete in multiple moves including bench press, deadlift, and squat.

Personal Buddy

Personal buddy (trainers) help their clients who are usually newbie bodybuilders achieve fitness goals in a safe manner. They can push you for at least 48 hours or until you say mercy out of exhaustion. They usually hold a certificate from one of the certifying bodies.

Make sure that you check their credentials before hiring one for yourself.

Shredded

Shredded means that you have eliminated fat from your body. These days bodybuilding magazines feature shredded bodybuilders in a natural setting — beach or in front of a mirror at home — seemingly to encourage people with high fat and subcutaneous water to slim down.

The term shredded originates from the popular cereal brand, Shredded Wheat.

If you are called shredded it means that you have lost weight due to bodybuilding and your glutes now look like pillow-like biscuits of the breakfast cereal, which is not always a good thing to be called for a male bodybuilder.  The term can also be used facetiously if your maximum deadlift is less than 135 pounds.

Mr. Varsity

Bodybuilding is just part of the Mr. Varsity's bulk up and pack on muscle routine. You can expect a variety of exercise routines including track work, plyometrics, and even yoga.

Dirty Bulking

Dirty bulking is a term that refers to a technique used by bodybuilders to bulk up by eating junk food items. It's about ordering a Big Mac and McFlurry and drinking sugar-loaded shakes. It involves smothering everything in Nutella and peanut butter and eating M&M's before going to bed.

The opposite of dirty bulking is clean bulking. This refers to gaining weight using high-protein, healthy diet. It's what Mr. Olympia Flex Lewis call the 'quality food for quality gain'.

Meathead

If you are an Archie comic fan, you will understand when we say that Moose Mason is the perfect meathead model. Meatheads are the reason that bodybuilders are assumed to be similar to the masculine version of the 'dumb blond'. 

Judging from their appearance, meatheads seem to know how to train muscles. They may even have a physique perfect for a magazine cover. But on close acquaintance, you will find them all brawn and no brain.

You can detect a meathead if you see someone with protein - or worse steroid - supplement in hands. Also, meatheads generally talk a lot about lifting to the point that it starts getting on everyone's nerves.

Bro-lifter

A bro-lifter has this crazy idea that muscles on the arms, abs, and chest is the sole purpose of bodybuilding. He usually has a pair of dumbbells next to the bed to do curls before sleeping and after getting out of bed every single day.

If you are called a bro-lifter, it means you have skinny legs or less muscular legs as compared to upper body parts. Your daily workout routine involves focusing on every part of your body except the legs.

A bro-lifter knows perfectly well the importance of full-body workout, but don't follow it due to a horrific experience of a knee injury. This could have occurred after an injury while playing football or doing more than 700 squats. Also, it could be that bro-lifters have the fear that working on the legs will pull blood out of the arms, thereby resulting in flabby arms. 

Swole

If someone says that you look like a swole, you shouldn't get your head all swelled up. The term swole can have different connotations. It can insinuate that you took a selfie from an angle that makes you look five times bigger than you actually are or makes you look larger than gym rats.

The term is also used for gym members who experience a temporary muscle pump due to 'accidentally' pushing their bodies to the extreme.

A legit swole is when you really look like you've been lifting weights. However, there are downsides to this as you will have to buy a bigger shirt or trouser that fits correctly.

Cut

Cutting up refers to the process of eliminating water weight — about 5 pounds of fat — that results in getting bicep and tricep definition in particular.

Bodybuilders who are able to cut up flaunt their six-pack abs. This usually requires hundreds of crunches and a skimpy diet throughout the year. 

Skinny fat

Skinny fat individuals look similar to ripped lifters but without any muscle mass. They appear to look normal when wearing clothes. But look pudgy without the shirt. They can't flex muscles since they don't have any.

Guerilla

You don't want to be called a guerilla, and for the right reasons. The one word that best describes this physique is 'hideous'.

Guerillas either take steroids or overwork on cosmetic muscles such as the front delts. They also seem to suffer from invisible lat syndrome and chicken legs. Here is a typical routine of a guerilla.

• Abs, Back, Biceps                | Friday
• Abs, Shoulders, Traps       | Saturday
• Abs, Chest, Triceps             | Monday
• Abs, Back, Biceps                | Tuesday
• Abs, Shoulders, Traps       | Wednesday
• Abs, Chest, Triceps             | Thursday

You can spot a guerrilla at your gym if you see a large bro with overdeveloped muscles. They tend to wear medium sized T-shirts and love taking selfies.

Huge

The term huge is used to describe bodybuilders who look monstrous, much worse than guerrillas. They tend to take supplements and train not once but several times in a day. They are a rare breed of bodybuilders that look like a freak of nature.

People who achieve this undesirable physique follow a 'get rich quick' scheme by taking steroids or other worse type of supplements.

Being huge should not be taken in a positive light. It's like trading your soul with the devil to get a muscular build. You should stick with the long and hard route to bodybuilding if you want to avoid being called huge.

Yoked

If you are called yoked, it means that you can work with a lot of weights without any strain. Being called yoked is a compliment since it is a mark of strength. It means that you have a lot of potentials to be jacked or beef caked.

But there is also a shortcoming for being yoked. You will have difficulty in finding shirts to drape around the shoulders and traps. Lifters who get yoked are never asked whether they hit the gym, it seems obvious just by looking at their physique.

The above list of popular bodybuilding lingo is by no means exhaustive. Some of the other terms you may come across when weightlifting includes:

• Tanked,
• Cornfed,
• Almond broca,
• Masster,
• Swole diesel, and
• Beef swellington.

There are a lot of different terms that describe physique of a weightlifter. Knowing about these terms will help you join in the conversations with your gym 'bruh' instead of feeling left out.

On a more serious note, you should remember that achieving an ideal physique requires a lot of patience, commitment, and endurance. Avoid making excuses, and stay committed to achieving a look that you desire through the right diet and exercise routine.

So, that’s what we’re all going to do here at Gear’d in 2018, and we hope you’ll join us.  We’re going to make sure that every hour, minute, and second counts. There is little time to sit on your ass when you have goals to accomplish, and if you don't have goals to conquer, it's time to change that! 

Time can be a cruel son of a bitch. Whether trying to finish a set in the gym or a project at work on a time crunch or simply watching the clock tick by towards 5 pm on a Friday, make 2018 count, and make sure your watch has your back (or wrist), and you're using your time wisely. No weakling wannabe watches… A Gear’d watch will get you to your goals!  Let’s do this!

Until next time, Gear’d Heads,

Matthew Lane

Blogger / Community Manager

Fellow Gear’d Head

Be on the lookout for my next blog: In 2018, Don’t Be Afraid to Offend Anyone