"Toning" is a deception
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ninerbuff
Posts: 48,583 Member
So a little background on the word "toning". The fitness industry constantly has to come up with new and fresh ways to entice people to exercise. Even today, you see exercise regimens that are many times, just variances of exercises that have been around for a long time, yet the new twist on it is a "revelation" to exercise. Don't always fall for the hype though.
In the 80's, exercise and gyms to the masses was in it's infancy. Since women spend more than men on personal improvement, it would make total sense to appeal to them by creating programs that generated increased profit. Weight lifting was the means by how many males put on muscle, so many women at this time stuck more to aerobics rather than lift weights. But the fitness industry KNEW it was missing out on this so they created the word "toning" as a way to disguise weight lifting and feminize it so it would be accepted and be easy to create classes to involve more females.
Today, there is no definition for "toning" that's entirely agreed upon, but many still use it to describe lifting weights without gaining any substantial muscle definition. The truth is there are no "toning" exercises. You don't do a "toning" curl or squat. You can do a barbell or dumbell curl or squat though.
So the truth is, one isn't really looking for "toning". A lean look with subtle definition is usually the goal.
Here are some other views on "toning" being substituted for weight lifting:
http://exercise.about.com/cs/weightloss/a/toning.htm
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/goulet5.htm
http://cathe.com/why-lifting-light-weights-isnt-best-for-building-muscle-tone
http://liftforlife.com/content/bodybuilding-fitness-diet-health-articles/womens-fitness/103-women-toning-and-myth-busting
http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/09/11/7-strength-training-myths-every-woman-should-know/
http://www.bettermovement.org/2012/some-myths-about-toning/
http://blog.pumpup.co/post/why-toning-does-not-exist-pumpup-bothgirl/
Doing this for almost 20 years, a female won't get muscular by accident or just doing heavy weight lifting on a calorie deficit. Ask any muscular looking female about how they attained their physique and the answer will be YEARS of training and strict attention to their personal diet.
So feel good about lifting moderate to heavy weights. You'll get stronger and along with a good diet, leaner and look more fit.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
In the 80's, exercise and gyms to the masses was in it's infancy. Since women spend more than men on personal improvement, it would make total sense to appeal to them by creating programs that generated increased profit. Weight lifting was the means by how many males put on muscle, so many women at this time stuck more to aerobics rather than lift weights. But the fitness industry KNEW it was missing out on this so they created the word "toning" as a way to disguise weight lifting and feminize it so it would be accepted and be easy to create classes to involve more females.
Today, there is no definition for "toning" that's entirely agreed upon, but many still use it to describe lifting weights without gaining any substantial muscle definition. The truth is there are no "toning" exercises. You don't do a "toning" curl or squat. You can do a barbell or dumbell curl or squat though.
So the truth is, one isn't really looking for "toning". A lean look with subtle definition is usually the goal.
Here are some other views on "toning" being substituted for weight lifting:
http://exercise.about.com/cs/weightloss/a/toning.htm
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/goulet5.htm
http://cathe.com/why-lifting-light-weights-isnt-best-for-building-muscle-tone
http://liftforlife.com/content/bodybuilding-fitness-diet-health-articles/womens-fitness/103-women-toning-and-myth-busting
http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/09/11/7-strength-training-myths-every-woman-should-know/
http://www.bettermovement.org/2012/some-myths-about-toning/
http://blog.pumpup.co/post/why-toning-does-not-exist-pumpup-bothgirl/
Doing this for almost 20 years, a female won't get muscular by accident or just doing heavy weight lifting on a calorie deficit. Ask any muscular looking female about how they attained their physique and the answer will be YEARS of training and strict attention to their personal diet.
So feel good about lifting moderate to heavy weights. You'll get stronger and along with a good diet, leaner and look more fit.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
16
Replies
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Very educational and informative post. Thanks0
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Bump. Great post.0
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yessssss mami- yes.0
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"Lean muscle" and make the muscles "longer" are a couple more that hurt the ears.2
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Thank you professor...it's always an interesting class...0
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So it's a matter of semantics2
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Excellent post!0
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Packerjohn wrote: »"Lean muscle" and make the muscles "longer" are a couple more that hurt the ears.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
0 -
So it's a matter of semantics
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
1 -
cosigned ….
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Awesome !!!! Thank you.
The industry is good at marketing to women by using a word toning. But if it gets them to lift weights, great.
Toning is weight lifting. (correct?)
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Awesome !!!! Thank you.
The industry is good at marketing to women by using a word toning. But if it gets them to lift weights, great.
Toning is weight lifting. (correct?)
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
2 -
Awesome !!!! Thank you.
The industry is good at marketing to women by using a word toning. But if it gets them to lift weights, great.
Toning is weight lifting. (correct?)
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
For some reason when I think of toning, it is marketed as using pretty little pink 2 pound dumbbells with 50-100 reps of bent over rows.0 -
Muscle tone does exist and it's a real thing but not the way 99%+ of people use it
muscle tone syn tonus (1) in skeletal muscle, a state of tension that is maintained continuously - minimally even when relaxed - and which increases in resistance to passive stretch. Pathologically, loss of tone (flaccidity) can be caused, e.g. by peripheral nerve damage, and exaggerated tone (spasticity) by overstimulation, e.g. when the activity of the relevant lower motor neurons is released from higher CNS control in spinal injury. The term is sometimes also used, incorrectly, to indicate general muscle strength. (2) In smooth muscle, steady tension maintained in the walls of hollow vessels; regulated mainly by autonomic innervation but influenced, e.g. in the walls of arterioles, by local variables: temperature, chemical factors or intravascular pressure, contributing to autoregulation of appropriate blood flow
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/muscle+tone1 -
Packerjohn wrote: »Muscle tone does exist and it's a real thing but not the way 99%+ of people use it
muscle tone syn tonus (1) in skeletal muscle, a state of tension that is maintained continuously - minimally even when relaxed - and which increases in resistance to passive stretch. Pathologically, loss of tone (flaccidity) can be caused, e.g. by peripheral nerve damage, and exaggerated tone (spasticity) by overstimulation, e.g. when the activity of the relevant lower motor neurons is released from higher CNS control in spinal injury. The term is sometimes also used, incorrectly, to indicate general muscle strength. (2) In smooth muscle, steady tension maintained in the walls of hollow vessels; regulated mainly by autonomic innervation but influenced, e.g. in the walls of arterioles, by local variables: temperature, chemical factors or intravascular pressure, contributing to autoregulation of appropriate blood flow
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/muscle+tone
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Another great thread @ninerbuff !0
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Awesome !!!! Thank you.
The industry is good at marketing to women by using a word toning. But if it gets them to lift weights, great.
Toning is weight lifting. (correct?)
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
I guess I see it more as description than action.
I want to be heavy, I want to be thin, I want to be tone.
eat more, eat less, lift weights.0 -
Awesome !!!! Thank you.
The industry is good at marketing to women by using a word toning. But if it gets them to lift weights, great.
Toning is weight lifting. (correct?)
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
I guess I see it more as description than action.
I want to be heavy, I want to be thin, I want to be tone.
eat more, eat less, lift weights.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
0
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