PR

In the gym, a PR is a personal record: the heaviest weight, most reps or fastest time you’ve ever done. “I hit a PR” means you just beat your own best.

What PR means in fitness

Wiktionary lists PR as a sports abbreviation for personal record, and Dictionary.com includes “personal record” among the meanings of PR. It works as a noun (“a new deadlift PR”) and as a verb (“I PR’d my 5K”). Lifters, runners, swimmers and CrossFitters all use it, and “PR day” is the session when you go for one.

Lifters often say which kind: a one-rep-max PR is the heaviest single lift you’ve done, while a rep PR is more reps than ever at a given weight. Runners talk about PRs for each distance, so you can have a 5K PR and a marathon PR.

In British English the same idea is usually a PB, a personal best. Same meaning, different letters.

Examples

• “New bench PR today, 100 kilos!”
• “I PR’d my half marathon by four minutes.”
• “Not a great session, but at least I didn’t get hurt chasing a PR.”

PR’s other meanings

Outside the gym, PR usually means public relations, a press release, or (in software) a pull request. Wiktionary lists many more. If the sentence mentions weights, reps, miles or a stopwatch, it’s the personal record.

Related terms

• Beast mode: going all out.
• Gains: progress from training.
• Deload: an easy recovery week.
• Swole: very muscular.

See more terms like this in our gym slang guide.