Ask ten coaches to write "Romanian deadlift" and you'll get RDL, DB RDL, Romanian Deadlift, Single Leg RDL and probably one in Norwegian. None of them is wrong. But every variation lands in a client's app, in your exercise library and in your training history, and the differences add up fast.
We read every exercise name behind the workouts logged on QuickCoach in September 2026 to see how far that drift goes. This page answers the naming questions online and group coaches actually ask: what the abbreviations mean, which names are the same exercise, and how to name your own library so clients never have to guess.
The short answer
A lot. In September 2026, coaches on QuickCoach wrote 1,175 common movements 14,129 different ways. The row alone appeared 770 ways, the lat pulldown 293 and the Romanian deadlift 268. Those multi-spelled movements cover 86% of every exercise logged, so naming drift touches almost every program.
What this is, in one paragraph
Coaches type exercise names as free text. To count what coaches program, we group every spelling of the same movement into one canonical exercise, the same method behind our monthly what coaches program page. This report looks at the grouping itself: how many spellings each movement collected in September 2026, what kinds of variation they show and what the common abbreviations mean. Every example below is a real spelling from the data.
How many ways do coaches write the same exercise?
Often dozens, sometimes hundreds. In September 2026 the typical multi-spelled movement had three spellings, but the staples ran far higher. The row was written 770 ways and was logged 8,063 times, roughly one new spelling for every ten logs. Thirty-two movements passed 100 spellings, and 257 passed ten.
How many ways coaches write each movement
Distinct spellings per movement, the 12 most varied, September 2026
Each bar counts the different ways coaches typed the movement in a month. Capitalisation, plurals, equipment, variations, typos and other languages all count as separate spellings.
The pattern is simple. The more popular a movement, the more ways it gets written, because more coaches write it for more kinds of client and kit. The row covers cables, machines, dumbbells, bands, suspension straps and single-arm work, and every one of those ends up in the name. Our long-tail report found the same habit in rarer drills like the Copenhagen plank.
Why does one exercise end up with so many names?
Mostly because coaches put useful information into the name. Equipment, side, grip and progression level all get written in, along with plurals, capitals, typos, machine brand labels and other languages. Only some of it is mess. A lot of it is coaching, written into the one field every client reads.
Equipment in the name
Bench Press, Barbell Bench Press, DB Bench Press, BB Bench Press
Variation in the name
Close Grip Lat Pulldown, Single Leg Hip Thrust, Deficit Reverse Lunge
Plurals and capitals
Push Ups, Push-Up, Push ups, Dead Bugs, Dead bug, LEG PRESS
Spaces and hyphens
Lat Pull Down, Lat Pulldown, Hipthrust, Deadbug, Facepull
Typos
Golbet Squat, Leg extention, Hyper extencion 45
Machine brand labels
Row (Med X), Hip Abduction 3 (Nautilus), Pulldown (Super Slow Systems)
Other languages
Rumenske markløft, Benkpress, Knebøy, Sentadilla bulgara, Жим ногами
The first two rows carry real coaching information. A client needs to know whether that bench press is a barbell or a pair of dumbbells. The middle rows carry none: "Push ups" and "Push-Up" are the same instruction typed twice. The brand labels sit in between. They help a client in one specific gym and confuse everyone else.
What do RDL, DB, BB and KB mean in a workout?
RDL means Romanian deadlift. DB means dumbbell, BB means barbell and KB means kettlebell. They're the abbreviations coaches lean on most in exercise names on QuickCoach: DB turned up in the sampled spellings of 102 different movements in September 2026, KB in 45 and BB in 14.
| Abbreviation | Meaning | As coaches wrote it |
|---|---|---|
| RDL | Romanian deadlift | DB RDL, Sumo KB RDL, Single Leg RDL |
| DB | Dumbbell | DB Bench Press, Lying DB Pullover |
| BB | Barbell | BB Bench Press, BB Deadlift |
| KB | Kettlebell | KB Clean, KB Clean + Press |
| SL | Single leg | SL RDL, SL Calf Iso |
| SA | Single arm | High Plank + SA Row |
| BW | Bodyweight | Air Squat-BW, BW Cook Hip Lift |
| EZ | EZ bar, the cambered curl bar | EZ preacher curl, Skull Crushers - EZ bar |
| SB | Stability ball (Swiss ball) | SB Hamstring Curl, SB Roll Outs |
| MB | Medicine ball | MB Slam, Tall Kneeling MB Chest Pass |
| OH | Overhead | OH Carry, OH Triceps Press |
| Alt | Alternating sides | Alt Lateral Lunge, Alt Reverse Lunges with Rotations |
| w/ | With | Side Plank w/ Rotation, Single Leg RDL w/ Reach |
| TRX | Suspension trainer (a brand name used generically) | TRX Row, TRX Pop Squat |
Abbreviations save a coach time and cost a new client some. A lifter knows "SL RDL" on sight. Someone three weeks into training may not. If you use them, define each one once, in the exercise note or your onboarding message, and keep the meaning fixed.
Is it a push-up or a press-up?
Both, and they're the same exercise. "Press-up" is the usual name in Britain and Australia and "push-up" in North America. Coaches on QuickCoach wrote the movement 208 ways in September 2026, including Push Ups, Press Up and Push-Up, and it was logged 2,393 times. Pick whichever your clients say out loud.
Which exercise names mean the same thing?
Several common pairs do. Shoulder press and overhead press, bicep curl and biceps curl, and leg curl and hamstring curl usually describe the same movement. Coaches use both names almost equally: in September 2026 the shoulder press was logged 2,156 times and the overhead press 2,133 times, under separate names.
| Usually the same movement | Logs under first name | Logs under second name |
|---|---|---|
| Shoulder press / overhead press | 2,156 | 2,133 |
| Bicep curl / biceps curl | 1,406 | 2,241 |
| Lat pulldown / pulldown | 4,046 | 1,770 |
| Leg curl / hamstring curl | 2,315 | 573 |
| Triceps pushdown / tricep pushdown | 2,110 | 154 |
| Rear delt fly / reverse fly | 441 | 533 |
| Back extension / hyperextension | 1,207 | 335 |
| Farmer's carry / farmer's walk | 526 | 35 |
Logged exercises under each name, September 2026. Some coaches use one name for a machine and the other for free weights, so "usually" is doing real work here.
Split names cost you in two places. A client sees "overhead press" one block and "shoulder press" the next and wonders whether the plan changed. And your own records split in two, so a client's pressing progress sits under two headings instead of one. Pick one name per movement and use it everywhere.
Which exercise names look alike but are different exercises?
A handful get mixed up often enough to matter. A hip thrust is not a glute bridge, a Bulgarian split squat is not a plain split squat, and a chest press usually means a machine rather than a bench press. When names this close sit in one program, write the difference into the name or the note.
| Pair | The difference | Logs, Sept 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Hip thrust / glute bridge | Upper back on a bench vs shoulders on the floor | 2,548 / 2,213 |
| Bulgarian split squat / split squat | Rear foot raised on a bench vs both feet on the floor | 1,656 / 1,366 |
| Bench press / chest press | Free weight on a bench vs usually a machine | 3,294 / 2,520 |
| Pull-up / chin-up | Overhand grip vs underhand grip | 1,270 / 307 |
| Romanian deadlift / stiff-leg deadlift | Soft knees and hips back vs straighter knees | 3,724 / 47 |
Differences are general coaching definitions; coaches and gyms vary. Our grouping keeps each pair separate, which is how the logs above are counted.
Does it matter what I call an exercise?
Yes, for three practical reasons. Clients follow the name, so a vague or changing one causes wrong exercises and questions. Demo videos attach to a name, so a new spelling can mean a missing video. And training history groups by name, so two spellings split one lift's progress into two records you can't easily compare.
The cost is small per program and large across a roster. One coach writing "DB RDL" on Monday and "Romanian Deadlift - Dumbbell" on Thursday won't notice. Forty clients and a year later, that coach has a library full of near-duplicates and a client history that can't answer "is her hinge getting stronger?". For the bigger picture of what coaches assign, see what coaches program.
How should online coaches name exercises?
Use one consistent pattern: equipment, then variation, then movement, in the singular, such as "Dumbbell Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift". Keep sets, reps, tempo and side out of the name and in the prescription or the note. Spell abbreviations out or define them once, and give each movement exactly one name in your library.
| Instead of | Name it | Put the rest in |
|---|---|---|
| DB SL RDL 3x8 slow | Dumbbell Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift | Prescription: 3 x 8, tempo 3-1-1 |
| Push ups (knees if needed) | Push-Up | Note: regress to knees if form breaks |
| Hip Abduction 3 (Nautilus) | Machine Hip Abduction | Note: seat setting 3 |
| Lat Pull Down - Cable Machine | Cable Lat Pulldown | Note: grip and cue |
Then reuse rather than retype. Build the exercise once with its demo and cue, and pull it into every program from your library. Our guides to writing coaching cues and writing client programs faster cover the notes and the templates.
How do I keep exercise names consistent in a group program?
Name everything once, in one shared library, before the program goes out. In a group, every member sees the same exercise names, so a vague or changing name becomes the same question from twenty people. One clear name per movement, each with a demo, answers it for everyone at once.
Pick names your whole group will recognise, and spell out abbreviations if the group mixes beginners and experienced lifters. When you add a regression, add it as its own named exercise (Incline Push-Up) rather than a note in brackets. Our guides to group coaching at scale and client groups in QuickCoach cover running one program across many clients.
Do coaches write exercise names in other languages?
Yes, often. September's spellings include Norwegian (Benkpress, Knebøy, Bulgarsk utfall), Spanish (Dominadas, Sentadilla bulgara), Italian (Curl martello con manubri), Russian (Жим ногами) and more. Coaches write in the client's language, which is exactly what a client needs. The trick is keeping one name per movement within each language.
If you coach in more than one language, keep a separate, consistent set of names for each rather than mixing them inside one program. Our report on the languages of online coaching maps how much coaching happens outside English.
Methodology and limitations
How we got these numbers
Source. We sampled September 2026 logging data anonymously from QuickCoach, a platform used by more than 40,000 coaches and fitness businesses worldwide. The spelling analysis covers the 1,175 movements written more than one way, which between them collected 14,129 distinct spellings and 173,183 logged exercises, 86% of the 201,022 logged exercises analysed. September runs on Australian Eastern Standard Time. No individual coach, client or plan is identifiable in anything published here.
Definitions. A spelling is a distinct exercise name as typed, so capitalisation, plurals, spacing, typos, equipment, variations and other languages each count separately. Spellings are grouped into canonical movements using the same method as what coaches program. Some near-synonyms (bicep curl and biceps curl, for example) remain separate canonical names, and we report them as grouped rather than guessing at the overlap.
Abbreviations. Abbreviation counts come from a sample of example spellings for each movement, so they show how widely an abbreviation is used across movements, not its exact frequency. Meanings in the glossary and differences between look-alike exercises are general coaching definitions.
Privacy. Everything is aggregated and reported as counts of spellings or logs. No personal data, client information or individual plan is exposed.
Frequently asked questions
What does RDL stand for in a workout?
RDL stands for Romanian deadlift, a hip hinge where you push the hips back with soft knees and lower the weight along the legs. Coaches write it as RDL, DB RDL, Single Leg RDL and many more. On QuickCoach in September 2026 the Romanian deadlift had 268 different spellings.
What does DB mean in an exercise name?
DB means dumbbell. BB means barbell, KB means kettlebell and SL means single leg. "DB Bench Press" is a bench press with dumbbells. DB is the most widely used abbreviation in exercise names on QuickCoach, turning up across more than 100 different movements in September 2026.
Is a press-up the same as a push-up?
Yes. Press-up is the common name in Britain and Australia and push-up in North America. Coaches on QuickCoach wrote the movement 208 different ways in September 2026, from Push Ups to Press Up, and it was logged 2,393 times.
Is a shoulder press the same as an overhead press?
Usually, yes. Both describe pressing a weight overhead. Coaches split almost evenly between the names: in September 2026 the shoulder press was logged 2,156 times and the overhead press 2,133 times on QuickCoach. Some coaches use shoulder press for a seated or machine version.
What is the difference between a hip thrust and a glute bridge?
A hip thrust is done with the upper back on a bench, which allows a bigger range of motion and heavier loading. A glute bridge is done with the shoulders on the floor. Coaches program both often: 2,548 hip thrust and 2,213 glute bridge logs on QuickCoach in September 2026.
Why do coaches spell exercises differently?
Mostly because they write useful detail into the name: equipment, side, grip and progression level. Plurals, capitals, typos, gym brand labels and other languages add the rest. In September 2026, 1,175 common movements on QuickCoach collected 14,129 spellings between them.
Published October 2026 from September 2026 logs. The movements behind these names are ranked monthly on what coaches program, and the rare drills get their own report in uncommon exercises coaches program. For naming the programs themselves rather than the exercises, see how online coaches name their programs. Questions about the data? Reach us at support@quickcoach.fit.
