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

30 Day Shred!

30 day shred is a good one.

Jillian Michaels Body Revolution!!!! 15 DVD's, 90 day workout, and it's intense!!! I just love it!

30 day shred is a good one.

def. pays off :-)

P90X, Insanity "The Asylum"

I will be starting ChaLean Extreme which is at home strength training program. I've seen good results from other women that have done it.

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)!

Over the years, people have taken the word 'tone' and redefined it to mean how lean we are--how defined our muscles appear. In fact, it's even a gender specific word. Women go to the gym to 'tone up' while men go to the gym to lift weights and build muscle but, the truth is, they are the exact same things. Becoming lean and building muscle requires lifting weights, the difference is in how much you lift.

While you can lift weights to change your body, you're limited as to what you can really change about your muscles. In a nutshell, this is what your muscles can do:

1. Grow larger and/or stronger
2. Shrink smaller and/or get weaker
You can't make a muscle longer (without surgery) and you can't etch it into a certain shape or look. If your goal is to see your muscles, your goal isn't toning--it's losing body fat. And, whether you're a man or woman, wanting to bulk up or slim down, you'll do the same kinds of exercises and training methods. The difference lies in the weights, reps and sets you'll do, as well as how many calories you take in (more if you're building muscle, less if you're trying to lose fat).

You may be wondering why it matters if you believe in toning or not. The problem with the idea of toning is that it leads to that other stubborn myth... SPOT toning

After all you've read here, you may be wondering exactly what to do to get more definition in your body. The answer is simple: Lose body fat. To lose body fat you need 3 key elements: Regular cardio exercise, consistent strength training for all your muscle groups and a healthy, low-calorie diet.

(about.com)

I'm curious. I often hear people talking on here about women 'lifting heavy'. For an average sized woman, what is 'heavy'? I mean in lbs or kilos, for free weights one in each hand say?

So many people swear by this, but I am totally clueless about what this would involve. My gym has some free weights in a corner, but the room with all the serious weights is just full of men who are serious about lifting. I would feel quite intimidated going in there.

Is it possible to still build muscle lifting the hand weights and doing things like bicep and tricep curls, and so on, or do you think that's a waste of time?

bumpin'