Toning (what is that?)
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You gotta love MFP toning threads!
"Everybody knows what toning means"
Cue 100 different definitions of toning.2 -
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I asked because if you don't know what your goal is you may have trouble choosing how to get there successfully.
We all have a certain level of vanity and I claim no immunity. At the age of 66, my goal is to go into my "golden years" with the functional strength and fitness to enjoy a healthy life. How I look matters but it is not my primary goal though it can be a side effect of pursuing my goal.
Getting toned and body building are similar in that the primary objective is aesthetics. The body builders just have to work much harder. Since it is actually not that easy to get "ripped" it seems like there is little to fear about achieving that if you aren't doing what it takes to achieve the goal.
My whole purpose in this was what is the goal and what do you need to do to get there? That seems like it should be important if that's what you want to achieve.0 -
Do you really not understand what they mean? Or just think it's impossible?
If I said I wanted to "tone up", as far as body, I would mean I wanted to be firmer, not bigger or smaller.
So my sister is about my dimensions but squishier, more skinnyfat but on the side of skinnyskinny. She would like to tone up, does not want to add much size but does not want to be as squishy, and wants to be stronger. She would call this "toning".2 -
I asked because if you don't know what your goal is you may have trouble choosing how to get there successfully.
We all have a certain level of vanity and I claim no immunity. At the age of 66, my goal is to go into my "golden years" with the functional strength and fitness to enjoy a healthy life. How I look matters but it is not my primary goal though it can be a side effect of pursuing my goal.
Getting toned and body building are similar in that the primary objective is aesthetics. The body builders just have to work much harder. Since it is actually not that easy to get "ripped" it seems like there is little to fear about achieving that if you aren't doing what it takes to achieve the goal.
My whole purpose in this was what is the goal and what do you need to do to get there? That seems like it should be important if that's what you want to achieve.
Agree.
Getting "ripped" is more a function of diet/CICO vs exercise IMO.0 -
I asked because if you don't know what your goal is you may have trouble choosing how to get there successfully.
We all have a certain level of vanity and I claim no immunity. At the age of 66, my goal is to go into my "golden years" with the functional strength and fitness to enjoy a healthy life. How I look matters but it is not my primary goal though it can be a side effect of pursuing my goal.
Getting toned and body building are similar in that the primary objective is aesthetics. The body builders just have to work much harder. Since it is actually not that easy to get "ripped" it seems like there is little to fear about achieving that if you aren't doing what it takes to achieve the goal.
My whole purpose in this was what is the goal and what do you need to do to get there? That seems like it should be important if that's what you want to achieve.
I think it's a good discussion topic. For the most part, I think that people who claim to not know what toning is are playing at being obtuse. Once in awhile I'll ask a poster exactly what they mean by "toning" or "being toned" just to be sure we're on the same page but I believe that most people have an idea of what it is. They might not like the concept of being happy to have enough of a fat layer that there is not a lot of muscle definition, but I find it hard to believe that they absolutely do not know at all what being "toned" implies. The term has been around for ages, as long as many people on this website have been alive or at least been interested in fitness.4 -
It's a term used mostly in media geared towards women and means less jiggly bits but without true definition or size increase. Basically, a tiny bit of size increase to look firm but not enough to create a new shape, and low enough body fat not to jiggle, but not low enough to reveal definition. Stomach and back are the only acceptable places to have definition if there absolutely needs to be some.
Something close to this:
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I think the fitness magazines should start saying: Get Hypertrophy in Just 4 Weeks!
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I know...it was funny...I just can see some of my "friends" grabbing a "woman's fitness" reading that headline and going WTF is that....being all confused n crap.0 -
really? I haven't picked one up in ages...even to flip through at the cash as I see "Tone up in just 4 weeks" or "lose 10lbs this week" and get ticked immediately.0 -
Take it out on the barbell.0
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tone up in 4 weeks, and the cover photo is a woman who has been working on her body for many years and all airbrushed and photoshopped. As if anyone believes they can have that body in 4 weeks.2
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tone up in 4 weeks, and the cover photo is a woman who has been working on her body for many years and all airbrushed and photoshopped. As if anyone believes they can have that body in 4 weeks.
you would be surprised at how many women and now men think that all they have to do is some crunches and they will have abs...or that losing 10lbs in a week is a "good thing"1 -
When I say I want to be "toned," I mean I want to be more shredded/cut but without the bulk of fitness/figure competitors or other moderately to heavily muscled female athletes. So, I want to strip down my fat to reveal muscle definition, which will also require some more muscle-building but not so much that I need to increase any of my clothing sizes to fit me comfortably. Rather, I'd probably be even slightly to somewhat smaller than I am now when I get to that point.0
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TONING was a word invented by the fitness industry to "feminize" weightlifting and the "hardening" of muscle. Back in the mid 70's to early 80's women basically just did cardio workouts because they didn't want to look muscular and attributed it to weight lifting (many still do today).
Females spend more money on personal improvement than males do, so the fitness industry needed to create something different to entice women to spend more. There were only so many ways back then to do cardio (step aerobics, jazzercise, running), but introducing "toning" made it BIG. All of a sudden women started lifting weights, just NOT the way they needed to to gain any additional muscle. IMO, it's was a scam and insults women's intelligence.
There is no such thing as a "toning" curl or a "toning" squat, so why would the hell would they be referred to as "toning" exercises?
What I like about MFP is that females who have heard this crap are now getting the real information on how muscle building actually works and that just lifting heavy weights isn't going to make you muscular looking.
I'll answer any more questions on this because it's something that kinda irks me being in the fitness industry myself.
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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