pump iron

British  

verb

1. slang (intr) to exercise with weights; do body-building exercises

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pump iron Idioms  

1. Lift weights, as in She's started pumping iron three times a week. This idiom was born with the late-20th-century stress on physical fitness. [Second half of 1900s]

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Example Sentences

I walk to the gym so I can pump iron and sweat out the toxins of modern life.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 30, 2023

Nearby, men pump iron at an immaculate outdoor gym with rows of high-quality weight machines, exercise bars and even padded arm-wrestling tables.

From New York Times • May 7, 2023

“All these guys think: ‘Oh, pump iron, I’ll get a bicep this big and I can ride that bull.’

From The Guardian • Mar. 2, 2016

There’s new space for weight training and injury rehabilitation, too, which means no more golf-cart rides down the service road to pump iron at the minor league compound.

From Washington Times • Feb. 22, 2015

They chalk talk or pump iron when the weather gets wicked.

From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen

Related Words

• develop
• exert
• improve
• prepare
• train
• work out