Tone up

Doman26

Hi,

I go to the men's site frequently to check out the bodybuilding information. I have a coworker who would like to tone up but I don't know much about the female physiology. The only thing that popped in my head would be circuit training. If anyone could direct me to where "tone up" plans would be on this site for females or if anyone had any of there own advice that would be great.

Thanks

Nath

Hello!!!

The term 'tone up' confuses the hell out of me. Hopefully someone might come and explain this term further. I assume when someone says they wanna tone up, they mean they wanna build a little more muscle while losing a bit of body fat in order give a harder look - am I close to the mark??
If it were me, I would combine some good cardio work such as swimming, running, rowing, cycling etc with some resistance exercises, the standard compound movements squats, bench etc maybe some additional tricep work for the bingo wings lol.
Brisk walk or jog before breakfast will help shed fat. Circuit training would be great, its personal choice really, some people I guess don't like the idea of training in the gym enviroment or by themselves so some of these classes such as circuit training etc might be better.

I'm not sure how a females training would differ to that of a male, the only dif may be goals i suppose but a womans training with the goal to build a little muscle and lose fat would be very similar to a mans training with the same goals.

Remember, a little more muscle will mean more calories are burned while ur idle so i personally would def add some weight lifting in the routine.

Hope that helps a little, hang about and some of the sites more educated gurus may give u some more guidence.

Doman26

I agree on "tone up" to be vague. But yes she wants to cut the fat, and firm up the muscles but not get bigger muscles.

emma6687

Hi,

I'm by no means an expert when it comes to fitness, but I find classess a really good way to stay fit and keep motivated. If your colleague is looking to burn fat and appear more firm a good combination of classes such as aerobics and legs, bums and tums are great for shaping up. In most classes like these there are both cardio and toning sections.

Another class I really enjoy is bodypump which is basically a full body resistence workout using weight choregraphed to music. Many women are scared of doing any weight training because they don't want to end up too big, but it really isn't this easy to build a substantial amount of muscle (if only!). I've had this exact problem when trying to convince my mum to do resistence training!

I find classes great for beginners because you get the support of a qualified instructor. Most gyms run classes like these.

Hope this helps!

Emma

xxx

Nath

Yep, I've heard good things about that bodypump malarky from a number of my female friends, seems to be the flavour of the month, tell ur friend to give it a whirl.

T

I don't see why a woman should train any different from a man. The only discrepancy would be the weights would be lighter for her. Otherwise no different. It is VERY difficult for a woman to get big. If it was so easy then there would be LOTS of BIG ladies walking around gyms. Fact is there aren't. Cardio and classes are all well and good to shed the fat but that will only leave her with a smaller version of what she is now. Weights shape, they lift things that have gone south that we wimmin folk like to have perky.

emma6687

TBH most women that don't train already and say they want to 'tone up' want exactly what you said - a smaller version of what they've got now!

I still think that classes like bodypump are great for encouraging women to consider weight training. They also show good form for a variety of lifts, which hopefully translates to when a beginner starts lifting independently.

As vague as 'tone up' is - I think when most women say this what they mean is they want a less soft look, but do not want any seperation of muscle.

All of my female friends want to 'tone up', and many are horrified by muscle seperation on women

x

T

When someone says to me they want to 'tone up' I ask them if they just want to get skinny or would they like some shape. I think alot of ladies do actually want shape. I know 'toning up' is they phrase bantered around and as you state it is very vague. I suppose it's about really finding out what each individual person wants. All horses for courses. I'm not into the classes thing but that's personal and I know some people love it.