Watch Your Tone

Tone...is NOT a Scientific Word...so speaks the Angry Coach

In popular health magazines and the all too misinformed gym rhetoric you’ll often hear people request a need for improved muscle tone.

How often do we hear someone say, "I don't want to get too big and I just want to tone up?”

When I hear this, I want to laugh hysterically. It would be the nutritional equivalent of hearing someone say, "I don't like apples so I'm going to turn this apple into an orange!”

To begin, tone is not a scientific word. It is a sales gimmick and any time a fitness professional uses the word tone, I only hope they are saying it to market to an uninformed consumer. If fitness professionals and consumers believe they can tone-up, they are sadly mistaken.

Let's get to the truth! No one, I repeat no one, should ever worry about getting too big. The reality is that the hardest thing to do as a personal trainer or strength coach is to get someone to gain muscle mass. Strength is easy, muscle mass is much more difficult. If we acknowledge the fear of "getting too big" is irrational and probably impossible, it is much easier to move on with the real process of training.

Getting too big should be put to rest with other foolish statements. For example imagine a client suggesting,

"I'm not going to concentrate on nutrition. I'm concerned I'll get too lean."

"I'm not going to exercise regularly, I'm afraid I'll develop too much consistency."

"I'm not going to do any cardiovascular work; I don't really want to live past 60 anyway.”

All of these statements are as foolish and inane as,

"I don't want to lift heavy weights; I don't want to get too big".

In all my involvement in sport, health and fitness I have never heard a coach say to his chargers,

“Stop lifting weights because you’re getting too STRONG!”

Or have you ever heard of a medical professional suggest to their client,

“Stop performing your resistance training because you’re developing too much lean muscle...your metabolism is too high and your bones are too strong.”  

We need to stop perpetuating this fraud of "too big". The "too big” mindset is flawed on so many levels and is engrained in the gym psyche as a result of genetic freaks with a multitude of performance enhancers pictured on magazine covers. It has nothing to do with real life.

The unfortunate reality is the person who usually doesn't want to get too big is a soccer mum or corporate executive who has never picked up more than a ten-pound dumbbell. This takes the thought process from inane to absurd.

Do yourself a favour and acknowledge the truth. The key to improving a bad physique is simple. Consistent and physically challenging activities. Lose the mindset of light weights and walking. The reason we look like crap is that people try to convince themselves that gardening and walking constitutes training!

Gardening is something you do as a hobby. The only people who should just walk and lift light weights are those that can't do anything else. Yes, something is better than nothing. But, an activity that is challenging is far superior to something easy!

Here’s an appropriate quote from the book “Raising a Team Player”

"When all is said and done, a lot more is said than done."