[ChunkyDunker]

Hi all
I'm (im)patiently awaiting my first session with my trainer on Wednesday. I'm assuming goals are going to be part of the conversation. I'm having a hard time distinguishing between the "look" of a woman who lifts to tone vs. a woman who lifts to bulk. Can you give me any real life (celeb) examples? I'm thinking maybe jessica Alba is "toned" and "our" Meg (who is a celeb to me!) lifts to bulk? My goal is to look like Meg (cut, defined) but not like the wrestler Chyna know what I mean?

Thanks!

[Sheila53]

Perhaps saying that you want to build muscle and lose fat would be a good way to phrase your goal. Have fun at your session!

[nelie]

I agree with Sheila.

There is no really building for bulk for a woman. If you build muscle and have a low body fat percentage, then your muscles can be visible but it takes years to get to that point. Our own Meg is a tiny woman although she certainly has muscles that show due to her low body fat.

[PhotoChick]

Unless you're taking steroids or protein loading and working hours per day (or more likely some combination of both) there's no way a "regular" woman is going to bulk up. We women just don't have enough natural testosterone in our bodies to accomodate that kind of muscle growth without taking unnatural interventions in the process.

Really the whole tone vs. bulk thing ... think about Linda Hamilton's character in Terminator 2. She worked out 4+ hours a day for 8 months and ate high protein/low carb the whole time to get to look the way she looked (I remember reading an interview with her in Entertainment Weekly). And although she was very defined and "cut" ... she wasn't bulky.

Really there's no such thing as "toning" per se. You build muscle or you don't build muscle. That's about it.

[PhotoChick]

Oh actually, here's another quote for you (I got curious and started researching on the net):

Hilary Swank from Million Dollar Baby
http://www.movieweb.com/news/92/6292.php

To portray a female boxer, she had to not only learn how to box, but mold her body into the guise of someone who has probably spent her whole life training. Swank had about 90 days to do it.

"My training was two and a half hours of boxing and approximately an hour and a half to two hours lifting weights every day, six days a week," Swank said. "The producers asked me to gain 10 pounds of muscle. I gained 19 pounds of muscle. I started at 110 and went to 129. And in order to do that, I had to eat 210 grams of protein a day. Now, your body can only assimilate so much protein, so I had to eat every hour and a half. So with a meal, I would drink my egg whites because I could never eat 8 to 12 egg whites in a sitting. It's just the worst thing ever. I had to drink flax oil. Flax is a really important oil for your brain and to also just keep everything moving when you're eating that much protein. It's a really important fat. Like one tablespoon of Flax oil has like 15 grams of fat in it."

Even her sleep was coordinated into her daily regimen. "The thing was, I needed nine hours of sleep a night because your muscles have to be able to rest in order to build or you actually reverse yourself. So I slept nine hours a night but I had to wake up in the night and drink protein shakes because I couldn't go that long without eating."

[horsey]

You'd have to work out hours a day to even come close to the "Madonna" look. Toned is HOT in Hollywood right now. Look at arms of some of the stars, you can tell they are lifting weights these days! Even skinny Cameron Diaz has buff arms. Think Kelly Rippa too. I love THAT LOOK. That's just lifting even hand weights at home three times a week, but not light weights, you'll have to LIFT.

[Ilene]

Originally Posted by PhotoChick

Really there's no such thing as "toning" per se. You build muscle or you don't build muscle. That's about it.

You said it all there.... I also love another quote: "If it were so easy to bulk up, why are we not all at least toned?" ... A member said that a long time ago, I can't even remember her name, but that's what her DH had told her when she started working out and was afraid to get bulky...

So, lift away, lift heavy, lift to failure and have fun ....