'toning'

[Synpax]

I was talking to a girl about training and she said she didn't want to build muscle - she just wanted to get toned.

What I am inclined to do is tell her that's BS. What she thinks of visually as toning is really low body fat, and that you are either gaining or losing muscle, there is no 'toned' muscle.

Her routine consists of lifting light, unchallenging amounts that really just looks like stretching.

Am I right? I wasn't 100% sure so wanted to consult the great colllective mind that is EF.

 

[bigguns15]

You are correct, there is no such thing as "toning"

 

[Boulder257]

There is a difference between low body fat on one person, and low body fat on a person who is dense. She can work the muscles causing them to become dense and tighter. This will help her to look more "tones" as she puts it.
Low body fat is the majority of the battle, but low body fat on a person without muscle is still going to look soft.

 

[spatts]

Toning is what Cosmo magazine refers to as either gaining or maintaining muscle, and losing fat to expose that muscle. Basically she wants to "see" what's under her fat....so she wants to lose fat. She wants "lines" without size.

 

[sk*]

I want me some lines too.

-sk

 

[Synpax]

So...

what exactly does she achieve by lifting unchallenging weights?

 

[spatts]

Muscle endurance. Which is about the same as saying nothing.

If she worked on an assembly line lifting the exact same weight every day and needed to build up her ability to do that for hours, she's all set. Otherwise, she could be doing things that are a lot more productive....and good for her bones too.

 

[Synpax]

ok, thanks spatts!

 

[wlhosch]

Tell her that under every high tush and perky breast is a tight muscle--a muscle she will only develop with challenging weights.

 

[sk*]

If she worked on an assembly line lifting the exact same weight every day and needed to build up her ability to do that for hours

This would probably be a great form of cardio!

-sk

 

[d3track]

Tell her that under every high tush and perky breast is a tight muscle--a muscle she will only develop with challenging weights.

bingo

 

[casualbb]

Muscle is muscle, fat is fat...

There's not much to the idea of density... I mean if the average person dieted down to 3% they'd probably look pretty darn dense what with ass striations and all that.

 

[Synpax]

Try this one:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:s.01780: