When the women come here on this board and say: I want a toned body, but not muscular,what exactly do they mean by this? What kind of body is toned but not muscular?
Jennifer Aniston's? Isn't this a matter of genetics/fat distribution rather then specific training?
I know I might be taking this too seriously, but I cringe when I read this - "don't want to become too muscular". I had to work for every ounce of muscle that I got so far. And eat.
Women are expecting muscle gains when they are eating like birds - not going to happen.
And by working I mean lifting heavy and doing hard bodyweight exercises like pistol squats, handstand pushups, not the typical "girlie" toning workouts.
Anyway, sorry, I just had to rant today.
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Thread: Toned but not muscly
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02-01-2011, 07:58 PM #1
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Toned but not muscly
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02-01-2011, 08:24 PM #2
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I don't know about this board, but in gyms when they say that to staff, what they generally mean is that they want to lose fat and gain muscle. If asked, they deny they want more muscle. But when you ask them to describe what they'd like to look like, that's what they mean.
Unfortunately what often happens is that when they get their newbie gains and their weak muscles harden, they panic and stop lifting and rush to the treadmill. Or at best just stick with the same weight, reps and sets forever.
Often they'll express admiration for the women in the gym with larger muscles (often the triathletes), but they feel differently about muscles when they're on their own body.
This, thank god, is not universal.
Put it this way: my gym has 2,400 members. I know of only 4 women training there for serious strength. By "serious strength" I mean they have an open-ended idea of it. They're not just trying to get better posture or stop their back hurting or something, but if you talk about some woman deadlifting 100kg, they say, "wow, do you think I could ever do that?"
Of course, just across the sports oval from my gym is an Olympic weightlifting club, which has several women (overall not a high membership of either gender, ~30 I think). And down in Frankston there's a gym where 16 women are currently deadlifting over 100kg.
There are perhaps 12 men at my gym training for serious strength. Lots of half-squats and light touch-and-go deadlifts. The way you feel about women wanting to "tone up" I feel about men not training legs, wearing long track pants in the heat of summer while they do tricep pressdowns.
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02-01-2011, 08:48 PM #3
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crossfit?
I know what you mean by "girlie" workouts..
It's funny how every woman starting up at the gym says the DON'T wanna build any muscle yet all the wanna do is isolation movements who's primary benefit is building muscle. LOL..
"Can we do something for this jiggly stuff on my triceps?"
"Sure, It's called squats"
"Wait, I dont want my legs to get bigger!!"
*facepalm**Sept of Baelor was an inside job. Wildfire can't melt stone masonry.
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02-01-2011, 08:57 PM #4
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02-01-2011, 09:08 PM #5
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02-01-2011, 09:11 PM #6
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02-01-2011, 09:13 PM #7
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02-01-2011, 09:15 PM #8
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02-01-2011, 09:18 PM #9
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02-01-2011, 09:29 PM #10
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Pretty much when a girl says she wants to be tone, she wants her soft fatty skin to be a little more firm without any muscular bulge. Ab definition without a 6 pack, and usually just the want for firm arms without showing bis/tris/veins.
jpgs below example of skinny girl with no muscle, and skinny girl thats tone that most of the girls at gyms wish to be.
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02-01-2011, 09:43 PM #11
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02-01-2011, 09:45 PM #12
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02-01-2011, 10:18 PM #13
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02-02-2011, 05:30 AM #14
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02-02-2011, 05:50 AM #15
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02-02-2011, 06:03 AM #16
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02-02-2011, 06:44 AM #17
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02-02-2011, 06:54 AM #18
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02-02-2011, 06:56 AM #19
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02-02-2011, 07:09 AM #20
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02-02-2011, 08:09 AM #21
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02-02-2011, 09:23 AM #22
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02-02-2011, 10:28 AM #23
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02-02-2011, 11:28 AM #24
When women say this, I often think that what they really want is a more youthful appearance. They remember having that nice skin and firmness that comes with the teen years. Since that look also often comes with no real effort when young, I think this contributes to how they feel it should somehow require minimal effort even years later.
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02-02-2011, 11:33 AM #25
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02-02-2011, 11:47 AM #26
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02-02-2011, 02:12 PM #27
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02-02-2011, 02:38 PM #28
For sure. Any visible muscle=bulky to the average woman.
I know most women idolize the Victoria Secret model look, but this blew my mind: http://www.leighpeele.com/bulky-musc...the-definition
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02-02-2011, 02:40 PM #29
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02-02-2011, 02:50 PM #30
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