This is kinda a stupid question but I have never been exactly clear as to what a rep or set is? I do mostly abs and cardio but wanna get into the weights more. So can someone tell me what a rep and set are? TOld ya it was a dumb question.

No dumb questions; we've all started somewhere.

A rep refers to "repetitions" of a set. IE: While bench pressing, moving the weight from top to bottom and then back constitues 1 rep; doing 8 reps would constitute 1 set.

Above set would be "muscle group." So you might here someone say, "For chest I do 3 exercises - 4 sets - 6 to 8 reps."

Adler is correct... No dumb questions. We all have to start as a uneducated newbie! Question and curiosity are key to improving your knowledge.

-Rip

oK SO A SET IS WHAT MUSCLE GORUP YOUARE WORKING AND A REP IS HOW MANY TIMES YOU PERFORM AN EXERCISE ON THAT MUSCLE? SO IF I DO 30 ARMS CURLS ON EACH ARM WHAT IS THAT? THIS WORK OUT STUFF IS SO CONFUSING AND I DONT WANT TO DO THE WRONG THING AND HARM MY BODY IN ANY WAY.

yeah if you do 30 arm curls on each arm thats 30 reps for each arm? but 30 ?!?!?!?!

Let's start from the beginning:

If I said you should do 3 exercises - 4 sets - 10 reps for your biceps, it would breakdown like this:

Bicep Workout
==========
Exercise 1. Dumbbell curls (single arm) - You would do 10 reps on your left arm, then 10 reps on your right arm. Next you would rest for 60-90 seconds before starting again. The 20 total (10 reps for each side) constitutes a set. So, you would repeat this exercise 3 more time to have a total of 4 sets of this particular exercise.

Exercise 2. Curl bar curls - You would do 10 reps of curls using an ez-curl bar. Next you would rest for 60-90 seconds before starting again. The 10 reps constitutes a set. So, you would repeat this exercise 3 more time to have a total of 4 sets of this particular exercise.

Exercise 3. Straight bar preacher curls - You would do 10 reps. Next you would rest for 60-90 seconds before starting again. The 10 total reps constitutes a set. So, you would repeat this exercise 3 more time to have a total of 4 sets of this particular exercise.

Make sense?

-Rip

if you do 30 all @ one time w/o a break, that's a set. then you put the weight down, wait for about 1 minute, and do another set consisting of ~25 reps.

a set is just how many reps you did before resting.

Sometimes you'll see workout's where they say: Bench press 3x12 - that means do 3 sets of the exercise, aiming for 12 reps per set. Thus a total of 36 reps.

If you're new to weight training, I say start with 1 set per exercise, no more than two exercises per muscle group, and aim for 8-12 reps per set. Do this for a few weeks until you're not wickedly sore the next day. Then you could add a second set to some exercises.