The word TONING

frenchielover · June 2011

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 · June 2011

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 · June 2011

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 · June 2011

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 · June 2011

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 · June 2011

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 · June 2011

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 · June 2011

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

The word TONING

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