I'm getting old and grumpy

A question about : I'm getting old and grumpy

I actually growled at someone at gymnastics class for saying they didn't want to build muscle, just tone up.

ARGHTHEREISNOSUCHTHINGASTONING!!

...sorry. I feel better now. Maybe I should have put this in the Vents section?

Anyone else got a fitness pet hate?

HBS x

Best answers:

• I get irritated when people talk about toning too, especially when I see exercise classes advertised with names like "trim and tone" or that guarantee to "tone you up in time for summer".
  Toning is not a thing, (unless you're talking about toner cartridges in your printer...) and gym's, run by professional fitness trainers should know better.
  There's also a personal trainer near me who advertises his boot camp programme on Facebook with the tag line "lose up to ten pounds in ten days!" which is a ridiculously unhealthy and unrealistic expectation, and totally misleads people about what they can sensibly achieve.
• I am old and grumpy and I love it!
• Lots of fitness pet hates but given there are people in the industry who look down on people like me, Im a gym and exercise to music instructor working towards a personal training qualification, because in their view I dont have enough experience to work with people effectively, I dont get myself too worked up about fitness myths because I know plenty of instructors who do classes such as body pump and body combat because they think they are going to get ripped, people in the industry also buy into myths and therefore if someone who comes along to my classes talks about getting toned, the way forward is just with a bit of conversation and hopefully education.
  Similarly with the I'll eat what I want and burn it all off later, plenty of exercise instructors also believe that as well.
• People who don't wipe down equipment after they use it. Especially treadmills.
  Deeesgusting!!
• Yeah, I hate the Office of Engineering and Technology with a passion.
• I'm old and grumpy as well but i do like going the gym, my favourite machine is the one in the foyer that sells Mars Bars.
• um, as the uneducated (and I genuinely don't know)
  why cant you tone up?
  When i have got fit i have been toned, when i am not fit (like now) i am not toned...?
• i wouldn't necessarily call this so much a pet peeve than just a disappointment, but every time i see anyone doing a "serious" workout with those tiny pink dumbbells for every. single. workout, i die a little on the inside. i'm sure in their heads, they're just using them because they just want to "tone up".
• Urghhh so the fitness trainer who runs the boot camps with very unrealistic targets is advertising his latest programme, this time the adverts state "LOSE UP TO 15 POUNDS IN TEN DAYS!!!"
  I can't see any way that can be achieved, unless he literally amputates body parts...
• ok this may sound petty but i have now got a peeve.
  You get set up in class everyone is equidistant from each other a neatly laid out. everyone can see the mirrors (eek!) and the instructor. warm up starts...
  The same latecomer arrives every time and chooses to put her stuff down right next to someone almost touching their mat and clearly encroaching on their space so she has a prime spot.
  Makes the rest of the class have to shuffle about.
  i find it really irritates me.
• HBS - A great bb.com article on this very topic:
  https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wome...ds-to-die.html
• That article illustrates exactly why the word toned exists. The images are all of women who are into body building and have rather masculine physics. That's not the beach body the "toned" aspirer is often trying to attain.
  People looking to be "toned" generally want to drop the fat and not build muscle. Dropping the fat is what really gives them that definition.
  That article is preaching to the converted. Build muscle and be strong and healthy, but it fails in that what its trying to sell isn't what many want. Its like a running article telling people who have no interest in running to go run a marathon to show how healthy you are and how much stamina you have for endurance events.
  The article completely misses the point if it's attempting to reach an audience that isn't already body building minded.
• Someone gave me a leaflet the other day that they got through their door from a PT, he spoke about helping people tone up. Many fitness professionals sell their products by spouting stuff they know is a load of crap.