Getting toned & equipment?

[Roosky]

So I recently lost about 20kg from just walking and eating right but now I want to start lifting but I have a question.

Do I need a lot of equipment to get toned not massively ripped, all I have at the moment is some dumbbells and a weight machine, and of course my own body weight to do exercises with.

Any and all help is appreciated as well as any exercises you can recommend using dumbbells.

[Antheris]

First off, congrats on losing the weight and starting to exercise and eat better. Secondly, you do not need a ton of equipment to lose weight and tone. Might suggest something like p90x (where you can get by with using pretty much ONLY your body weight -- though having some extra weights will definitely help) and a place to do chin-ups/pull-ups.

Good luck with the getting fit, and congrats again on taking the first steps down the path of healthier living! =)

[Roosky]

Yeah I just started doing some small reps using dumbbells between queues when gaming now so i'm not always just sitting at my pc like I use to all the time, already have my cardio stuff figured out just didn't left many weights when I lost the 20kg but now I'm getting a bit closer (like 10-15kg) away from my goal weight I want to also tone up for when I hit my goal.

[Ginantonicus]

You don't need any equipment, just a gym membership. My personal view however, is "Why pay someone else to cause pain to myself when I can just do it at home". Personally I find if I just eat right and use body weight exercises then equipment isn't needed but everybody is different. Still haven't found a good body weight hammy exercise though.

[Nzx]

"Toning" is a lie.

[Ginantonicus]

"Toning" is a lie.

Care to elaborate?

[Deleted]

"Toning" is a lie.

Thank you for a very informative post Nzx.

There's tons and tons of different exercise DVDs out there (Insanity, p90x, Body Revolution to name a few) and also some websites you can use to build your own workout routines for free, like WorkoutLabs. On that website you can just pick whatever equipment you're using and it'll give you a list of exercises with them. Good luck and congrats on all the weight loss!

[gismo7354]

Care to elaborate?

Nzx is basically correct. Toning is lowering/cutting bodyfat so your muscles show better. If you're wanting bigger muscles then you're bulking.

Roosky use this link. http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/ You can select different muscle groups. Then the next page lets you select the equipment you have available to you (body weight, medicine balls, etc). Then it will show you exercises available with the equipment you selected. I also suggest P90X or insanity programs. I've had some friends do them and receive good results.

[Roosky]

wow that sites good, thanks!

[Grand Crusader Absalom]

What you have is fine. Just make sure you're doing heavy compound movements at least 3x a week, hitting your protein intake (1-1.5g per lb of LBM) and are still in a sensible calorie deficit so you don't end up looking like a starved PoW.

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Care to elaborate?

You're either losing fat or adding muscle. Doing low weight at high reps isn't going to miraculously "tone" that muscle to looking better.
If you wanna look "toned" eat less. If you wanna add muscle eat more.

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[fishface]

P90X and similar programs are gonna cut some body-fat and give you an okay strength base to work with but the results are pretty mediocre. Could you perhaps show us a picture of your goal body so I can assess whether it's appropriate for you.

Also absolutely invest in a pull-up bar. One of the most cost-efficient pieces of exercise equipment you could own.

Edit: please straight up remove toned from your vocabulary. It's a pet peeve of like 90% of people involved in fitness.

[Roosky]

mostly not comfortable atm until I get closer to my goal weight to lift at the gym, I sometimes do when I go and its empty but most of the time its literally completely full in the weights area and all the machines are full so I usually just do my cardio at the gym atm and weights at home, have machine and dumbbells and i think an old bench press in storage id have to check that but yeah.

[Velaniz]

Toned, but not massively ripped? That basically means "ripped" to a small degree. People think there are specific methods you can train which are aimed at "toning" you. Most of these methods are complete and utter bullshit.

You can essentially do two things to get "toned". You can gain significant amounts of muscle. The more muscular you are, the more defined you will be as compared to someone with the same body fat but less muscularity. The other thing is cutting down on your body fat percentage. The less fat you have obscuring your muscularity, the more toned you will look. Since you don't want to be "massively ripped", I'd suggest not going below 6-7% body fat if you're cutting.

[Orestes21]

http://liamrosen.com/fitness.html

If you are serious you will read all 7 parts. I did a year and a half ago, never looking back. Read, learn, gain.

[Deleted]

http://liamrosen.com/fitness.html

If you are serious you will read all 7 parts. I did a year and a half ago, never looking back. Read, learn, gain.

This. So much this.

[Snater]

Doing high reps at low weight actually is 'toning'. It's called sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. You'll look big, without actually being strong.

[Projali]

You can essentially do two things to get "toned". You can gain significant amounts of muscle. The more muscular you are, the more defined you will be as compared to someone with the same body fat but less muscularity. The other thing is cutting down on your body fat percentage. The less fat you have obscuring your muscularity, the more toned you will look. Since you don't want to be "massively ripped", I'd suggest not going below 6-7% body fat if you're cutting.

The lifestyle and amount of dietary precision it takes to hit sub-10% levels is probably not a concern for someone asking this forum about "toning."

<6-7% levels that an on-stage body builder are even less of a concern.

[Deleted]

Cleanbulking would be the way to go. Instead of a regular bulk, you eat the food you would eat in a cut, but more carbs and instead of the regular bulk 800-1500, you go between 400-800 above your maitenance. It's not for everyone, caus it will require you to eat a lot of shit thats low calorie which means you need to eat a lot more than you would in a regular bulk where you can just order the greasiest thing in the books.

Btw, anyone vouching for insanity is a d*ck caus that programme is very prone to joint injuries, which will set u back a lot more. Below picture is done with caligrapher, so a good reference.

[Deleted]

Sack off all that toning stuff.

Lift something, eat something, sleep, be happy.

Get yourself a barbell and some second hand plates, a squat rack or barbell stands and a bench. Pullup bar and dip bars.

Squat, bench, military press, bent over row, deadlift, pull up, dips, any ab work.

If you want to be toned just eat less and keep it clean.