"Toning" is a deception

ninerbuff
ninerbuff Posts: 48,489 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
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
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Replies

  • EbonyGemstoneHealth
    EbonyGemstoneHealth Posts: 249 Member
    Very educational and informative post. Thanks
  • AsISmile
    AsISmile Posts: 1,004 Member
    Bump. Great post.
  • oh_happy_day
    oh_happy_day Posts: 1,138 Member
    cwt17hg0v12x.gif

    Yes! Even the word toning gives me an eye twitch.
    amen.gif 431.2K
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    yessssss mami- yes.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    "Lean muscle" and make the muscles "longer" are a couple more that hurt the ears.
  • Pinnacle_IAO
    Pinnacle_IAO Posts: 608 Member
    Thank you professor...it's always an interesting class... :)
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    So it's a matter of semantics
  • piperdown44
    piperdown44 Posts: 958 Member
    Excellent post!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,489 Member
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    "Lean muscle" and make the muscles "longer" are a couple more that hurt the ears.
    Deception is a great way to get a lot of followers and the fitness industry is knows how to ear strings.

    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
    9285851.png

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,489 Member
    moyer566 wrote: »
    So it's a matter of semantics
    Not really. "Toning" doesn't exist. It's a made up word. Semantics would be something like "bulky" and "muscular" when describing a physique.

    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
    9285851.png

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
    cosigned ….

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
    moyer566 wrote: »
    So it's a matter of semantics

    nope, because there is no such thing as toning…

    maybe you should re-read the OP….
  • rushfive
    rushfive Posts: 603 Member
    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?)
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,489 Member
    edited August 2015
    rushfive wrote: »
    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?)
    So it's better to deceive them then tell the actual truth? That's like saying do crunches to flatten your stomach. It's great that they're doing crunches now, but it's not going to flatten their stomachs. Deception shouldn't be used to entice people to make the right decisions.

    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
    9285851.png

  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    rushfive wrote: »
    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?)
    So it's better to deceive them then tell the actual truth? That's like saying do crunches to flatten your stomach. It's great that they're doing crunches now, but it's not going to flatten their stomachs. Deception shouldn't be used to entice people to make the right decisions.

    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
    9285851.png

    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.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    edited August 2015
    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
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,489 Member
    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
    +1. "Toning", "toned", etc. seemed to be used first by aerobics instructors (again in the 80's) then eventually drifted over to yoga and pilates and then to weight lifting. Again, mostly to feminize a view of lifting weights so that females didn't think that by doing it, they would gain any substantial size or muscle.

    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
    9285851.png

  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,089 Member
    Another great thread @ninerbuff !
  • rushfive
    rushfive Posts: 603 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    rushfive wrote: »
    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?)
    So it's better to deceive them then tell the actual truth? That's like saying do crunches to flatten your stomach. It's great that they're doing crunches now, but it's not going to flatten their stomachs. Deception shouldn't be used to entice people to make the right decisions.

    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
    9285851.png

    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.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,489 Member
    rushfive wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    rushfive wrote: »
    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?)
    So it's better to deceive them then tell the actual truth? That's like saying do crunches to flatten your stomach. It's great that they're doing crunches now, but it's not going to flatten their stomachs. Deception shouldn't be used to entice people to make the right decisions.

    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
    9285851.png

    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.
    I hear ya, but what is "tone"? How about just being lean and 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
    9285851.png

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