"Toning" is a deception

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Replies

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,452 Member
    bump
  • fernadele84
    fernadele84 Posts: 12 Member
    Great post.
  • kiki_anitoni
    kiki_anitoni Posts: 40 Member
    Awesome post, thank you!!
  • Debmal77
    Debmal77 Posts: 4,770 Member
    Great post. Thank you!
  • lemmie177
    lemmie177 Posts: 479 Member
    edited August 2015
    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

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    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.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    edited August 2015
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    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

    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.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,452 Member
    lemmie177 wrote: »
    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.
    Nope because the description doesn't exist. "Toning" originated from "muscle tone" which actually is a legit definition in the dictionary.
    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
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,452 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    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

    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.
    Absolute marketing ploy. Even today fitness magazines and instructors use it to attract female attention. They now even have "toning" Zumba with "toning" sticks.
    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

    9285851.png

  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    edited August 2015
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    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

    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.
    Absolute marketing ploy. Even today fitness magazines and instructors use it to attract female attention. They now even have "toning" Zumba with "toning" sticks.
    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

    9285851.png
    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.

    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. ;-)
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,452 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    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

    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.
    Absolute marketing ploy. Even today fitness magazines and instructors use it to attract female attention. They now even have "toning" Zumba with "toning" sticks.
    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

    9285851.png
    Meanwhile women turned to different types of surgeries to get the results that demanded thatbpink dumbbells and toning sticks....etc could not achieve.

    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.
    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.

    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

  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    Women's magazines barrage us with the "toned" ideal.

    For nearly all of us, we can't be "toned" without losing fat and adding muscle; or without CICO. For a smaller percentage of us, we don't need to lose fat, but we need WEIGHT LIFTING.

    Get over it, industry. Stop treating women like idiots.
  • Therealobi1
    Therealobi1 Posts: 3,261 Member
    the industry does need to stop treating women like idiots, but women need to do a bit more research before falling for the rubbish they read. The mis information is so wide spread not sure what can be done to change it. I have heard many people tell me they getting bulking lifting weights. i actually used to believe it was possible until i joined this site. I have been asked by a friend if i want muscles because i was using a pair of 4kg dumbbells doing a dvd. That actually really made me smile. there is no response to that one. And then i have also been asked by a man if i want to tone or get bulky because i said i need heavier dumbbells at home. I hear the word tone used all the time.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    ahhh but I like the word 'toning' :smile:
    we're just so used to hearing it nowadays, its just a term people use generally....
  • andylllI
    andylllI Posts: 379 Member
    I'm new to this and can only work out at home. I only have access to a rack, a barbell, and Dumbbells going up to 70 lbs. can I really get toned without a body pump class and regular pure barre? please advise!!!!!! ;)
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,257 Member
    edited August 2015
    Very nice!

    I find myself using the t-word as a last resort when talking to women about lifting, but there is so much resistance and I get the comment, "...but I don't want to look all manish". I try to explain that unless you are specifically dedicating the next few years to looking like a Greek God/Goddess - you won't.
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
    Agree. :)
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,662 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »

    So the truth is, one isn't really looking for "toning". A lean look with subtle definition is usually the goal.

    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.

    The first paragraph is actually why the word 'toning' doesn't make me cringe, especially if someone is describing the results that they want, because you basically know what they are describing. It is a myth or misnomer to describe a particular exercise as 'toning'... but if someone's talking about a look they want to achieve, idk if its worth brow beating them over.

    The second part is a much more real issue in my opinion. There are definitely women that avoid lifting because they erroneously believe that they will develop so fast that they will wake up with a huge body. I think the problem goes even deeper if you explore what the general public thinks can be/should be achieved 100% naturally... which is a similar but separate issue.

    But all in all I'm not sure why its worth brining up the toning subject
  • yusaku02
    yusaku02 Posts: 3,476 Member
    Sticky it.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,452 Member
    the industry does need to stop treating women like idiots, but women need to do a bit more research before falling for the rubbish they read. The mis information is so wide spread not sure what can be done to change it. I have heard many people tell me they getting bulking lifting weights. i actually used to believe it was possible until i joined this site. I have been asked by a friend if i want muscles because i was using a pair of 4kg dumbbells doing a dvd. That actually really made me smile. there is no response to that one. And then i have also been asked by a man if i want to tone or get bulky because i said i need heavier dumbbells at home. I hear the word tone used all the time.
    Lots of males use it too for sure. Like females who have limited knowledge on the subject, males who are also unfamiliar with how strength training and lifting weights work, use the term when they also don't want to add muscle while resistance training.

    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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  • Furbuster
    Furbuster Posts: 254 Member
    No don't sticky it. I use the words toning, building, strengthen, muscular... all of them and they all mean the same thing to me. I'm sure I'm not the only one who understand the ideas behind words.

    If someone wants to use the word 'tone' to get fitter and healthier then there is nothing wrong with that.

    http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/home-toning-workout.aspx