The word TONING

frenchielover

Hi all,
Small rant, and I'm not trying to offend anyone, but I wanted to touch quickly on the word used a lot on these forums. The word TONING is not correct. You cannot tone muscles, you can only build them up or break them down. I do believe that when people say they are "trying to tone up" what they really mean is to "shed fat to expose muscle." Toning is a gimmick and a word tossed around by a lot of fitness companies to make it seem like you muscles were once flabby and not they not. Your muscles were never flabby, your fat is flabby. You have to remove the fat over the muscle using cardio or the like to show off those hard-earned muscles. Perhaps we can start a "revolution" on this site and ban the word toning? Instead, we could use phrases like......"I want lean muscles", or "I want to build or make my muscles stronger", "I want my muscles to be more visible", or "how can I shed fat?"

If someone says they do "X" reps a week to tone their muscles, what they are really doing is building strength and endurance in those muscles. However, you won't see them as "defined" or "toned" as it has been called until there is body fat reduction.

kbw414

I totally agree with you that the word "toning" is not correct. I believe that most people use the word "toning" to mean that they don't want to necessarily "bulk up." Instead, they want to build up their muscles only slightly. I think women use this term a lot because of the negative, "masculine" connotations associated with muscle building.

frenchielover

Absolutely agree. It makes us women look mis-informed and that is not good!

Arizona_JR

that's been a peeve of mine as well. Great topic.

Schwiggity

I second this, though "tone up" can sometimes just be used as shorthand for losing a small amount of body fat and slightly increasing muscle mass.

lulusmom

"tone up" can sometimes just be used as shorthand for losing a small amount of body fat and slightly increasing muscle mass.

I agree with this. If I say I want to "tone up" I mean that I want to build a bit of muscle and reduce a bit of body fat. I think it is a term of art, not a sign of ignorance.

frenchielover

"tone up" can sometimes just be used as shorthand for losing a small amount of body fat and slightly increasing muscle mass.

I agree with this. If I say I want to "tone up" I mean that I want to build a bit of muscle and reduce a bit of body fat. I think it is a term of art, not a sign of ignorance.

Well sure, if you understand the meaning...but unfortunately, most people have no idea. Same thing goes for those Tone-up shoes are supposed to work....they don't. Just another gimmick.

kenzietea

World English Dictionary
tone (təʊn)

— n
1. sound with reference to quality, pitch, or volume
2. short for tone colour
3. ( US ), ( Canadian ) another word for note
4. (in acoustic analysis) a sound resulting from periodic or regular vibrations, composed either of a simple sinusoidal waveform ( pure tone ) or of several such waveforms superimposed upon one main one ( compound tone )
5. an interval of a major second; whole tone
6. Also called: Gregorian tone any of several plainsong melodies or other chants used in the singing of psalms
7. linguistics any of the pitch levels or pitch contours at which a syllable may be pronounced, such as high tone, falling tone, etc
8. the quality or character of a sound: a nervous tone of voice
9. general aspect, quality, or style: I didn't like the tone of his speech
10. high quality or style: to lower the tone of a place
11. the quality of a given colour, as modified by mixture with white or black; shade; tint: a tone of red
12. physiol
a. the normal tension of a muscle at rest
b. the natural firmness of the tissues and normal functioning of bodily organs in health
13. the overall effect of the colour values and gradations of light and dark in a picture
14. photog a colour or shade of colour, including black or grey, of a particular area on a negative or positive that can be distinguished from surrounding lighter or darker areas

— vb (often foll by with )
15. to be of a matching or similar tone (to): the curtains tone with the carpet
16. ( tr ) to give a tone to or correct the tone of
17. ( tr ) photog to soften or change the colour of the tones of (a photographic image) by chemical means
18. ( tr ) to give greater firmness or strength to (the body or a part of the body)
19. an archaic word for intone


See entries 12 and 15. Words change meaning constantly, and the word tone in fact does mean to 'give greater firmness or strength to the body or part of the body.'

I don't mean to argue, just inform.

And you're right, those shoes are stupid and don't do anything, lol.

taso42_DELETED

Thanks for this. For some reason the word has always bothered me as well.

Schwiggity

"tone up" can sometimes just be used as shorthand for losing a small amount of body fat and slightly increasing muscle mass.

I agree with this. If I say I want to "tone up" I mean that I want to build a bit of muscle and reduce a bit of body fat. I think it is a term of art, not a sign of ignorance.

The difference is that there's a lot of people who try to say "well if you do more reps, you'll tone, but if you do more weight, you'll bulk up!" That's definitely annoying!

LonelyPilgrim

I happen to like the word, but then again, like you said. I understand its true meaning.

if I think of "toning up" what I'm imagining is losing some weight and strengthening my muscles so that they are visible/have definition.

For a lot of women, myself included.. we don't want to focus on bulking up muscles. My personal preference is that I like women who look lean and fit, with some muscle definition but I don't personally like the look of women with super muscular shoulders/arms. I know a few women who work out a ton and they have what I think of as "Manly" shoulders which isn't my goal for myself. I want to stay feminine looking.

I agree with you that you can never "tone a muscle" to suddenly give you great arms if you have some body fat to lose! no matter how "toned" the muscle is, it'll still be hidden under the layer of adipose tissue if you dont' incorporate cardio/weight loss

stacibuk

Calm down. I don't see how it affects your weightloss.

Schwiggity

I love how people seem to think that by doing more than lifting a 5 lb dumbbell on a stability ball, they're going to cause them to go she-hulk. *sigh*

TourThePast

You cannot tone muscles, you can only build them up or break them down.

OMG, someone with a clue! :bigsmile:

EVERY time I hear someone talking about "toning" muscles, including some fitness professionals, I begin to wonder about the rest of the information they're passing on. I find myself wondering whether they don't have a clue, or if they think I'm too stupid to understand anything other than an oversimplification.

Yes, you can "tone" your body, in the sense of the word as improving and smoothing it, but it's not done by toning muscles!

I wonder whether the confusion arose because of the similarity to the term honing?

Your muscles were never flabby, your fat is flabby.

Exactly!

Mixmode

Calm down. I don't see how it affects your weightloss.

Hahaha

Barneystinson

I love how people seem to think that by doing more than lifting a 5 lb dumbbell on a stability ball, they're going to cause them to go she-hulk. *sigh*

I'm well on my way to being the Incredible Hulk, then :laugh:

I think a lot of women underestimate their lifting potential and don't realize what they lift outside of the gym. Like kids, groceries, stuff around the house. It can be pretty heavy. Lifting it on a regular basis hasn't turned you into Thor has it?

You have to do A LOT to have the perceived heft or "bulk" of a powerlifter. Even if you are a female powerlifter, you may not even have the stereotypical lifter build. After looking at YouTube videos one day I was awestruck at how feminine and beautiful some SERIOUS female lifters were. My mind was blown. And then I started lifting heavier.

RCKT82

Calm down. I don't see how it affects your weightloss.

Hahaha

Agreed

taso42_DELETED

Calm down. I don't see how it affects your weightloss.

WUT? I'M TOTALLY FREAKING OUT!

It doesn't affect my weightloss, no. But other people, perhaps. Subscribing to wrong ideas can definitely hinder progress....

ajricketts

I usually hear it in reference to a part of the body rather than specific muscles i.e. "I want to tone my legs/arms/stomach."

In that use it actually makes sense right? The person is trying to bring out definition in that part of the body. I don't think that anyone really uses the term thinking, "I want to tone up the muscle fibers in my triceps. Those things are getting soft!"

Just my personal experience anyway. I have to agree with above that it doesn't really do any harm, so, no worries?

TourThePast

It doesn't affect my weightloss, no. But other people, perhaps. Subscribing to wrong ideas can definitely hinder progress....

Maybe I'm just OCD but ignorance, especially when spread on a grand scale, always annoys me.

And yes, I do regularly hear people talking about "toning their muscles" and not just "toning their body"

BigBoneSista

I love how people seem to think that by doing more than lifting a 5 lb dumbbell on a stability ball, they're going to cause them to go she-hulk. *sigh*

I'm well on my way to being the Incredible Hulk, then :laugh:

I think a lot of women underestimate their lifting potential and don't realize what they lift outside of the gym. Like kids, groceries, stuff around the house. It can be pretty heavy. Lifting it on a regular basis hasn't turned you into Thor has it?

You have to do A LOT to have the perceived heft or "bulk" of a powerlifter. Even if you are a female powerlifter, you may not even have the stereotypical lifter build. After looking at YouTube videos one day I was awestruck at how feminine and beautiful some SERIOUS female lifters were. My mind was blown. And then I started lifting heavier.

Yep.

frenchielover

Just trying to drop some knowledge on my calm journey through weight loss......

Saying you want to be lean and fit is the just as easy as say you want to be toned, you just sound smarter.

wsheaf82

Just trying to drop some knowledge on my calm journey through weight loss......

Saying you want to be lean and fit is the just as easy as say you want to be toned, you just sound smarter.

I don't know. Considering someone cited a dictionary where the word "toned" meaning fits how people use it.

To me, I don't care what they say. I know what they mean. Reality this just seems more like nitpicking to me.

Just my opinion.

RCKT82

You cannot tone muscles, you can only build them up or break them down.

OMG, someone with a clue! :bigsmile:

EVERY time I hear someone talking about "toning" muscles, including some fitness professionals, I begin to wonder about the rest of the information they're passing on. I find myself wondering whether they don't have a clue, or if they think I'm too stupid to understand anything other than an oversimplification.

Yes, you can "tone" your body, in the sense of the word as improving and smoothing it, but it's not done by toning muscles!

I wonder whether the confusion arose because of the similarity to the term honing?

Your muscles were never flabby, your fat is flabby.

Exactly!

Actually "you can only build them up or break them down" is also an oversimplification. I hope you're not thinking I'm too stupid or that I don't have a clue by telling me I need to break my muscles down and build them up. Because really it's Muscular Hypertrophy? No?



There are two different types of muscular hypertrophy: sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar.

Myofibril hypertrophy.

Myofibril hypertrophy occurs due to an overload stimulus that applies trauma to the individual muscle fibers. Your body treats this as an injury and as such overcompensates during the recovery process by increasing the volume and density of the myofibrils so that the “injury” does not occur again.

Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.
This occurs much in the same way as myofibril hypertrophy, through your body overcompensating during the recovery phase after your energy sources have been depleted during a workout. It therefore increases energy stores such as ATP and glycogen to prevent depletion during training.





I'll be sure to tell people I'm going to perform some muscular sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and muscular myofibrillar hypertrophy at the gym tonight.

We wouldn't want people to think I didn't know what I was doing because I needed to tone up my muscles. I wish I never made my journey by thinking I could tone up my muscles, because maybe I could have had an actual tranformation! Dang those people for telling me how to tone up!

edorice

I love how people seem to think that by doing more than lifting a 5 lb dumbbell on a stability ball, they're going to cause them to go she-hulk. *sigh*

THAT

TAWoody

It is kind of a rant and is quite pointless. Pointless rants are a pet peeve of mine. Anyways, the word toning has become a general slang for everything you pointed out in your post. I agree. However, it's much easier to get a point across using a widely used single word than trying to describe everything in a few sentences. End of rant.

TourThePast

I'll be sure to tell people I'm going to perform some muscular sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and muscular myofibrillar hypertrophy at the gym tonight.

:bigsmile: Well said, but I don't think I'll be doing that, thanks!

The point is though, people genuinely do think that they need to "tone" their muscles. As if it's weak muscles that are contributing to making them all flabby.

Whereas, as we both know, it is not "untoned muscles" that make people squishy, it's the layer of fat over whatever muscle they happen to have.

Obviously, working those muscles hard is a great way to lose the fat, as well as having other benefits such as increases in bone density, so you could argue that it doesn't matter what people "think" they're doing, as long as they're getting on and doing it. Same argument applies to all those "legs bums and tums" aerobics classes that women do, thinking they'll spot reduce those areas. Not possible, obviously they'll lose fat all over. But again you could argue that whether people realise that or not, they'll work because they're burning some fat. Just not specifically off their legs and bum.

So yes that's one possibly valid argument, and I have thought about it, but personally my view is still that knowledge is power. If I know what's going on with my body, that gives me the ability to better decide how to treat it. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm finding it all interesting.

fteale

I have always taken toning to mean staying the same weight but switching some fat for some muscle. Not that it's a word I would use, because, well. who really talks about this stuff in real life?

kenzietea

I happen to like the word, but then again, like you said. I understand its true meaning.

if I think of "toning up" what I'm imagining is losing some weight and strengthening my muscles so that they are visible/have definition.

For a lot of women, myself included.. we don't want to focus on bulking up muscles. My personal preference is that I like women who look lean and fit, with some muscle definition but I don't personally like the look of women with super muscular shoulders/arms. I know a few women who work out a ton and they have what I think of as "Manly" shoulders which isn't my goal for myself. I want to stay feminine looking.

I agree with you that you can never "tone a muscle" to suddenly give you great arms if you have some body fat to lose! no matter how "toned" the muscle is, it'll still be hidden under the layer of adipose tissue if you dont' incorporate cardio/weight loss

Ahhh I get what you are trying to say now