Toning

[Beaver]

Toning is where you do like 15 reps and it burns the fat around the muscle right?

ps. Im not quite sure thats what I made the thread. :confused4:

 

[Karky]

You can't spot reduce. Working a muscle won't cause the body to burn fat around that muscle. If you want to get more defined (toned is really something else, defined is low body fat so muscles show) you should eat a calorie deficit so you lose fat all over.

 

[Chillen]

Toning is where you do like 15 reps and it burns the fat around the muscle right?

ps. Im not quite sure thats what I made the thread. :confused4:

You can decrease your body fat - through dietary manipulation and exercise and you can lose the portion you desire---->but you dont have the choice where it comes off as you move forward with your goal, but it WILL come off--from the place you want most--if your faithful with diet and excercise.

The lower the body fat, the more the "shape and definition" of the muscle will be shown.

I am going to post this article for you to read to give you a "general idea" why we cannot spot reduce. This is followed by a very good post by Wrangell on his view on toning.


Source:

Why cant we spot reduce?

This is an important question and one I'm frequently asked. You need to know a little bit of biology to understand the answer. Here's what you need to know. Fat is stored in special cells located all over your body called adipocytes. Adipocytes grow and shrink as they store and release fat, much like a balloon grows and shrinks as air is blown in and released. You gain weight when you pump up your adipocytes with fat by consuming more calories than you burn (excess calories can get stored as fat). You lose weight when your adipocytes release fat into the blood stream and shrink, either in response to exercise (exercise sends a signal to adipocytes to release fat) or when you reduce your calorie intake to the point where you are burning more than you consume. Fat released into the blood stream by adipocytes circulates to the muscles where it is burned for energy. (A car burns gasoline for energy; your muscles burn fat and carbohydrate.)

Exercise stimulates adipocytes to release fat by increasing circulation of hormones like norepinephrine (adrenaline). When norepinephrine reaches an adipocyte, no matter where in your body it's located, it signals special chemical messengers inside the adipocytes to stimulate fat release, and just like the balloon that shrinks when you let out the air, adipocytes shrink when they release fat. You will keep the fat off as long as it gets burned by the muscle and does not return to the adipocyte for storage. That's one of the reasons why exercise helps control body weight.

The reason that you can't spot reduce during exercise, which is what you are really asking, is that you don't have any control over which adipocytes release fat. Norepinephrine and the other hormones released during exercise do not discriminate. That is, they stimulate adipocytes to release fat wherever they are located. We all have patterns of weight loss and weight gain that tend to repeat (you typically gain and lose weight in the same pattern over and over), and we don't have any control over this.

Just to add to what Steve said about " tone " and my thoughts on it's relevance in weight training within the context of describing the look you want for your muscles.
*
There is a difference ( or shall I say ' distinction ' ) I think should be made between some of the terminology used to describe " building muscle " mass and " toning " your muscles.The term " tone " is thrown around a lot and seems to mean different things to different people. Exercise with weights can build muscle mass and or " tone " your muscles. What does it mean to " tone " your muscles ? Muscle " tone " has to do with how contracted your muscle stays when you relax. When you're out of shape, you have poor tone and your level of contraction when at rest is low...your abs and arms and legs look "mushy" even if they're thin. When you're in shape, you have good tone and your level of contraction when at rest is high. You can be toned without having to add a lot of muscle mass. And don't confuse looking " toned " with looking " lean " ( i.e lean as in where you muscles are very obvious) which is a matter of losing body fat. For example, having a 6-pack of abs is all about losing fat ( and toning ab muscles ) - not muscle mass.
*
This is why getting your body fat down is a key part of getting a " toned " muscle. Remember fat is not only just under you're skin but ( if you have a lot it ) it's riddled throughout your muscles like the ' marbling ' or fat you see in a steak. If you want your muscles to to ' taut ' and ' toned ' and you want nothing but muscle,you have to get rid of the ' marbling ' by burning the fat IN YOUR MUSCLES as well as the fat on top of your muscles ...and usually the best way to do this is via weight training , a good diet and some form of cardio.
*
*
*
Muscle loss from dieting usually occurs when the calorie deficit is significant enough such that your body thinks it's approaching some form of starvation period. In response, your body makes it a priority to actually conserve more fat and instead of burning fat for energy as it normally would, it turns to other sources of energy....namely, amino acids ( usually reserved for lean tissue synthesis - i.e building / maintaining muscle ) which are now being converted to energy.
*
Muscle loss from prolonged cardio over days/weeks can also occur in situations where glycogen stores are not replentished enough over time to meet training demands and - as in the other example - your body turns to cannibalizing muscle protein for use as energy. This is why you see some long distance runners who train with longer cardio sessions over time having very little muscle on their upper bodies, sporting that " emaciated " look.

Best wishes,


Chillen

 

[Beaver]

Ok thanks mate. I just want to build muscle but I have a fair bit of fat at the moment. I weight 242lbs and im 5ft 10. I do lift heavy and have been doing for 6 months or so now. 4x a week I go to the gym. I want some "pecks" haha. Ive been doing chest exercises with weights and my chest is slowly loosing fat I use the pectoral machine and I do chest press machines and dumbells I do incline chest fli. chest presses.