What's best program which helped you to tone up?

MelissR75

In my opinion even better than 30 day shred is 'No More Trouble Zones' Its a killer but it works! You won't lose much weight doing it but you will lose all that unwanted fat! I swear by it (dropped over 2 dress sizes in 3 months)!

^^ This. I love it!!

contingencyplan

Dear friends I am very thankful to all your recommendations of programs But I am in strength training-lifting for 2 months already. I lift 3 times a week. One day it's very heavy I did squats with 80 kg on my shoulders on Sunday and pushed platform with 130 kg I lift from the floor 60kg usually I don't know how much in lbls it is but 61 kg is my body weight, so I train with weight equal to my body weight and even much more, two other times I do resistance/balance exercises with 14 kg weight, all the rest days pilates+ I walk a lot and don't miss any stairs. I was in fitness (including lifting actually) before I got sick for a year and before that it was dancing and yoga. Of course I am not even close to saying that I understand much in fitness, if I would I'd not be here asking for peoples advices. As for toning.... English is not my native language, I am Russian and I speak english, chinese and italian. Toningment for me building more muscles I don't understand why some men posted so negative comments...why do you think that I am one of those chicks with little pink stuff doing little exercises...I simply want to increase my exercise amount (between I eat also a lot and that's mostly good food so I have forces to exercise) I believe such men are just women haters, or maybe they just disliked me so much for some reason....whatever Thanks again for those who are supportive, feel free to add me to your friend list and please fly the kight t those who post negative comments here

I am sorry if I came across that way.

Here are some recommendations:

Toning really is nothing more than a combination of increasing muscle while lowering body fat. Many people find it difficult to do both at once due to the rather odd (and difficult) dietary needs involved which is why they go through phases where they first concentrate on building muscle and then once they have achieved a sufficient level of muscle mass, they then alter their routine to one that focuses more on fat loss and achieving definition. I think this might be the easiest way. Spend a good 2-3 months focusing exclusively on resistance/weight training in splits (working different muscle groups on different days) working with heavy loads allowing each muscle group MORE than 48 hours rest. Do not entirely stop cardio but keep duration and intensity to a minimum. 20-30 minutes a day of walking at a brisk pace is sufficient during this phase. After completing this phase when you have achieved the desired amount of muscle gain and functional strength gains you should switch your training style (and nutrition plan) to one that focuses more on fat loss. Switch from doing alternating muscle groups to doing circuit training style workouts with lighter weights or bodyweight exercises 2-3 days a week while doing high intensity cardio on your off days. Things like HIIT sprints and such. This is basically how pro fitness athletes train, although they spend much more time on it.

MashaSK

one more time here too I lift and lifted I work with weight at least equal to mine! but i can't lift every single day, so for days off that I need to increase my workout amount to something more then just pilates

contingencyplan

one more time here too I lift and lifted I work with weight at least equal to mine! but i can't lift every single day, so for days off that I need to increase my workout amount to something more then just pilates

During the muscle building phase I mentioned above most fitness athletes and bodybuilders don't do any cardio at all. They simply call it a rest day and leave it at that. They focus on those things more in the fat burning phase.

ninerbuff

one more time here too I lift and lifted I work with weight at least equal to mine! but i can't lift every single day, so for days off that I need to increase my workout amount to something more then just pilates

On the days you don't lift you can try doing Tabata Protocol (can be done with just about any type of cardio) or HIIT cardio. This are high intensity cardio sessions that will help to increase your VO2 max and endurance. That should translate also over to more endurance (less rest times) between lifts.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

waldo56

One where you have to lift some weights. While body weight exercises are good, as weight gets lost, the resistance lessens meaning that you're not increasing strength. It's like when people who were heavy try to do a pull up, couldn't, then lose 50lbs and now can. They didn't get stronger per se, they're just pulling up less weight.


A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

What?

Resistance is resistance. Work such that you reach failure in 5 reps or less or 15 seconds or less and you will get stronger, regardless of where the resistance comes from.

The fact that you are saying that pullups don't make you stronger, yet you post your credentials on every post, is one of the most laughable things I've ever seen.

Progressive calisthenics works. Do you think that gymnasts are a bunch of wimps?

Fact is progressive bodyweight work will have you working in the ultralow rep range; heavy singles, doubles, and triples, far more than most weight schemes (things like 531 excluded), weight people seem to be afraid of working really heavy, and that is where the strength gains are massive.

Wow, you really missed the point of what Niner was trying to say, didn't you?

I didn't miss the point at all. He said (paraphrasing) that you have to lift weights to get stronger, that BW exercises are too easy. That pullups don't make you stronger.

And this is a load of crap. As pullups get easier you can continue to modify the pullup or other closely related exercises without extenal resistance to extremely high strength levels.

thistimeismytime

Masha is my friend and she is NOT afraid of building muscle, even though she lives in a country where muscle on women is generally frowned upon, and there is a great amount of pressure for women to be ultra-skinny. Masha is braver than most women I know, and she's going against societal norms to try to achieve the body she desires. She is open-minded and takes constructive advice without being defensive, which is more than I could say for most people.

For those of you who've griped and judged her for using the word "tone"--shame on you. English is not her first language, and she was asking for advice, not looking to be critiqued on semantics. You guys are the reason people get discouraged instead of encouraged. I wish I could reach through my computer screen right now, but that wouldn't be helpful.

Masha--you're doing great, and I know without a doubt you'll achieve your goals. Keep lifting heavy, eating healthy, and don't let anybody or anything get you down. :flowerforyou:

contingencyplan

Masha is my friend and she is NOT afraid of building muscle, even though she lives in a country where muscle on women is generally frowned upon, and there is a great amount of pressure for women to be ultra-skinny. Masha is braver than most women I know, and she's going against societal norms to try to achieve the body she desires. She is open-minded and takes constructive advice without being defensive, which is more than I could say for most people.

For those of you who've griped and judged her for using the word "tone"--shame on you. English is not her first language, and she was asking for advice, not looking to be critiqued on semantics. You guys are the reason people get discouraged instead of encouraged. I wish I could reach through my computer screen right now, but that wouldn't be helpful.

Masha--you're doing great, and I know without a doubt you'll achieve your goals. Keep lifting heavy, eating healthy, and don't let anybody or anything get you down. :flowerforyou:

I really am sorry if I came across that way. Was not my intention.

thistimeismytime

Masha is my friend and she is NOT afraid of building muscle, even though she lives in a country where muscle on women is generally frowned upon, and there is a great amount of pressure for women to be ultra-skinny. Masha is braver than most women I know, and she's going against societal norms to try to achieve the body she desires. She is open-minded and takes constructive advice without being defensive, which is more than I could say for most people.

For those of you who've griped and judged her for using the word "tone"--shame on you. English is not her first language, and she was asking for advice, not looking to be critiqued on semantics. You guys are the reason people get discouraged instead of encouraged. I wish I could reach through my computer screen right now, but that wouldn't be helpful.

Masha--you're doing great, and I know without a doubt you'll achieve your goals. Keep lifting heavy, eating healthy, and don't let anybody or anything get you down. :flowerforyou:

I really am sorry if I came across that way. Was not my intention.

Thank you for saying that...so rare that anyone actually apologizes. I don't think I've ever even SEEN that on MFP before. I'm sure Masha will see this and sincerely appreciate it. There is a lot of good advice on this thread, including yours, so thanks for clearing that up. :flowerforyou:

ninerbuff

I didn't miss the point at all. He said (paraphrasing) that you have to lift weights to get stronger, that BW exercises are too easy. That pullups don't make you stronger.

To get stronger you have lift against resistance that the muscle isn't used to. You may build strength when you begin, but will eventually reach adaptation. Once you adapt to bodyweight exercise, explain how you get stronger doing the same exercise without increasing bodyweight? Notice I said "same exercise" and not changing it by angle, leverage, on fingertips etc.

And this is a load of crap. As pullups get easier you can continue to modify the pullup or other closely related exercises without extenal resistance to extremely high strength levels.

Yes you did miss my point. Read it again. If someone LOSES weight, then their resistance of bodyweight goes down, you DON'T get stronger using less resistance was the point.
And you just reaffirm it by saying that if a pullup gets easier you "modify" it. So if you don't modify it and continue to do the SAME pullup, explain how you get STRONGER if body weight goes down or even stays the same?

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

MashaSK

Wow thistimeismytime! Can I simply say you are my hero! And yes thank you everyone for your advices and I really appreciate that one of persons who criticized me not knowing me apologized.

contingencyplan

I strongly recommend you try the building/cutting phase idea I mentioned above. It works for the pros, it should work for you.

You may feel at some point like you're not doing "enough" because all you're really doing is weight training during the building phase. If your diet is good you will find that you have lots of energy to burn but your muscles are too sore to do anything about it which can feel frustrating. Go on walks to try to deal with this. During this phase it's a simple philosophy of lift & walk. That's pretty much the bulk of your training here. You start getting into the complicated forms of cardio and mixing up your exercise routines during the cutting/leaning phase.

Topsking2010

I lose 27 pounds doing P90X and feel great!!


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slade37

First of all never be intimidated. Thats silly. Lift based on a percentage of your maximum. Then compare to your body weight. If you weigh 100 and can comfortably lift 50 then "heavy" would be 80 pounds. And measure your max by what weight you can lift 3 times.

1DayAt_aTime

Bump - for some ideas!

Goal_Seeker_1988

any of jillian michaels!

cariandy

P90X and Insanity

cindaboo1

bumpin for later

themommie

thanks for sharing

PeterThompson

weight lifting is the best it will help you tone up your muscles if you dont have a dumbbells yt you look at this to find what suites you http://bestadjustabledumbbellsreviews.com/