"Toning" is a deception
ninerbuff
Posts: 48,984 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...
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So it's a matter of semantics2
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Excellent post!0
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Deception is a great way to get a lot of followers and the fitness industry is knows how to ear strings.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
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Not really. "Toning" doesn't exist. It's a made up word. Semantics would be something like "bulky" and "muscular" when describing a physique.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
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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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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.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 -
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.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 -
+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.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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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.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 -
I hear ya, but what is "tone"? How about just being lean and fit?
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.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
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bump0
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Great post.0
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Awesome post, thank you!!0
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Great post. Thank you!0
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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.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.
I totally agree. When someone wants to "tone", I take it to mean they don't want to jiggle when they wiggle.
I have no doubt that the industry turned it into marketing drivel, but "toning" as a description or a goal does exist. Toning comes from the word for "tension", you want to firm your body up without increasing size aka build muscle+lose fat.
The real myths are the "toning" and "lengthening" exercises which fool people into thinking muscles can magically be shaped to do something other than get bigger or smaller.
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I hear ya, but what is "tone"? How about just being lean and fit?
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.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
Well I think " tone" is less made-up and more derived from the idea of muscle tone.
I think the distinction was probably sought out when dieters and aerobicizers ended up flabby and with little muscle tone and then sought to be more muscle toned, truncated to wanting to be more "toned" and then morphing into the verb desiring exercises that would result in "toning".
I do agree its a bit of an insult to use it to market to women almost insinuating that women are or were incapable of understanding the concept of muscle building etc. However, I'm not sure that's how it was derived. Etymology is full of examples of where/how words evolve to end up in our vernacular and I suspect the word " toning" probably came about as a seeking out of a term to describe a woman's desire to have a more firm physique post dieting than the flaccidity resulting from sheer dieting alone.
Just a guess, though, no idea where to look for such an explanation.1 -
Nope because the description doesn't exist. "Toning" originated from "muscle tone" which actually is a legit definition in the dictionary.I have no doubt that the industry turned it into marketing drivel, but "toning" as a description or a goal does exist. Toning comes from the word for "tension", you want to firm your body up without increasing size aka build muscle+lose fat.
Think about it: If I was deemed muscular, I wouldn't be "muscling" to get it. Or if I was deemed fast, I wouldn't be "fastering" to achieve it.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Absolute marketing ploy. Even today fitness magazines and instructors use it to attract female attention. They now even have "toning" Zumba with "toning" sticks.MyChocolateDiet wrote: »
I hear ya, but what is "tone"? How about just being lean and fit?
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.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
Well I think " tone" is less made-up and more derived from the idea of muscle tone.
I think the distinction was probably sought out when dieters and aerobicizers ended up flabby and with little muscle tone and then sought to be more muscle toned, truncated to wanting to be more "toned" and then morphing into the verb desiring exercises that would result in "toning".
I do agree its a bit of an insult to use it to market to women almost insinuating that women are or were incapable of understanding the concept of muscle building etc. However, I'm not sure that's how it was derived. Etymology is full of examples of where/how words evolve to end up in our vernacular and I suspect the word " toning" probably came about as a seeking out of a term to describe a woman's desire to have a more firm physique post dieting than the flaccidity resulting from sheer dieting alone.
Just a guess, though, no idea where to look for such an explanation.
You are on track though with many aerobics workouts not addressing the "firming" up of muscle especially in the upper body. There actually was an attempt at offering women's strength classes, but back then hardly any attended because the thought again (and still exists today), that a woman lifting weights would get a man looking body. Change the terminology so it doesn't sound like lifting weights (when it actually is), it sells. Profit is really what matters most so I can see why, but it's still deception.
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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Meanwhile women turned to different types of surgeries like lipos and lifts to get the results they demanded that pink dumbbells and toning sticks....etc could not achieve.
Absolute marketing ploy. Even today fitness magazines and instructors use it to attract female attention. They now even have "toning" Zumba with "toning" sticks.MyChocolateDiet wrote: »
I hear ya, but what is "tone"? How about just being lean and fit?
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.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
Well I think " tone" is less made-up and more derived from the idea of muscle tone.
I think the distinction was probably sought out when dieters and aerobicizers ended up flabby and with little muscle tone and then sought to be more muscle toned, truncated to wanting to be more "toned" and then morphing into the verb desiring exercises that would result in "toning".
I do agree its a bit of an insult to use it to market to women almost insinuating that women are or were incapable of understanding the concept of muscle building etc. However, I'm not sure that's how it was derived. Etymology is full of examples of where/how words evolve to end up in our vernacular and I suspect the word " toning" probably came about as a seeking out of a term to describe a woman's desire to have a more firm physique post dieting than the flaccidity resulting from sheer dieting alone.
Just a guess, though, no idea where to look for such an explanation.
You are on track though with many aerobics workouts not addressing the "firming" up of muscle especially in the upper body. There actually was an attempt at offering women's strength classes, but back then hardly any attended because the thought again (and still exists today), that a woman lifting weights would get a man looking body. Change the terminology so it doesn't sound like lifting weights (when it actually is), it sells. Profit is really what matters most so I can see why, but it's still deception.
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
Not really a good thing its taken over two decades for the current acceptance of actually lifting something heavy to begin to take hold and be looked to for those results. For the fitness industry to think women are capable of understanding weights and muscles as well as that our uteruses (uteri?) wouldn't fall out if we lifted a weight or that we'd be less attractive to men if we stopped bouncing around at the gym in favor of hip thrusts and squats motions. ;-)
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Which is part of why I started the thread. Hopefully some actually read it if they are thinking about "toning". Nothing wrong with truthfully answering questions.MyChocolateDiet wrote: »
Meanwhile women turned to different types of surgeries to get the results that demanded thatbpink dumbbells and toning sticks....etc could not achieve.
Absolute marketing ploy. Even today fitness magazines and instructors use it to attract female attention. They now even have "toning" Zumba with "toning" sticks.MyChocolateDiet wrote: »
I hear ya, but what is "tone"? How about just being lean and fit?
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.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
Well I think " tone" is less made-up and more derived from the idea of muscle tone.
I think the distinction was probably sought out when dieters and aerobicizers ended up flabby and with little muscle tone and then sought to be more muscle toned, truncated to wanting to be more "toned" and then morphing into the verb desiring exercises that would result in "toning".
I do agree its a bit of an insult to use it to market to women almost insinuating that women are or were incapable of understanding the concept of muscle building etc. However, I'm not sure that's how it was derived. Etymology is full of examples of where/how words evolve to end up in our vernacular and I suspect the word " toning" probably came about as a seeking out of a term to describe a woman's desire to have a more firm physique post dieting than the flaccidity resulting from sheer dieting alone.
Just a guess, though, no idea where to look for such an explanation.
You are on track though with many aerobics workouts not addressing the "firming" up of muscle especially in the upper body. There actually was an attempt at offering women's strength classes, but back then hardly any attended because the thought again (and still exists today), that a woman lifting weights would get a man looking body. Change the terminology so it doesn't sound like lifting weights (when it actually is), it sells. Profit is really what matters most so I can see why, but it's still deception.
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
Not really a good thing its taken over two decades for the current acceptanxe of actually lifting something heavy to begin to take hold and be looked to for those results.
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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