Toning?

What the heck is toning, anyway?

Actually, I'm not sure what people (women) mean when they tell me 'I just want to tone up'. I mean, I know what they mean but they still think lifting light weights is how to 'tone'. Toning is simply shaping the muscle and being able to see definition, right? You can't do that with light weights. I often wonder if those women really see themselves. I see scores of participants in weight conditioning classes that look exactly the same after 6 months of taking classes regularly. Guess what? They never increase their weights and, that's right, they are the ones that use 5 pound weights for their large muscle groups (legs, back and chest) and 3 (!) pound weights for everything else.

The other day one of my friends, who also happens to be a fitness instructor, ask me a great question. She asked me 'If you feel a burning sensation when you are lifting those light weights, isn't that working the muscle?' Of course she knows that you are working the muscle but she was asking why then do you need to work heavier weights, especially since you feel a burning sensation while lifting those light weights. The muscle will not change if you have been lifting the same amount of weight over a 3+ months. That burning sensation that you feel is your body's inability to process lactic acid (a bi-product of exercise) out of your muscle at the rate your are producing it. In reality you shouldn't feel a burn at all, your muscle should ultimately fatigue so you have to struggle to complete the last repetition. The discomfort you SHOULD feel is soreness within 24-48 hours. I am not saying that you should feel debilitating soreness, but you should feel your workout the next day, or the day after. If that's happening, you will get the results you are want.

To elaborate on when you should increase your weights, research now shows that the body adapts to a particular exercise or drill within 6-8 weeks, give or take a little bit. They used to think it took about 3 months for your body to adapt. That's a huge difference. What that means is that every couple of months you need to change what your doing. If you take a weight conditioning class, and your club has heavier weights then you are currently using, you need to increase the amount of weight you are using so that you can keep moving forward with your fitness goals.

If you aren't getting the results that you want, change up what your doing and see what happens.