If you've got a toned, fit body, be real with me!

[TruffleMonkey]

Is it a massive commitment?

I'm a healthy BMI but near the top, I'd love to have a firmer, less wobbly body but I never seem to get there. I do 2 x body pump classes and 1 x spinning class a week, as well as walking for at least an hour with my dogs.

My diet I'd say is good, don't really do much takeaway or junk food but we eat 'normally things like homemade curries, casseroles, pasta dishes that kind of thing. Plenty of fruit and veg. All good... I thought...

I've not got the time or energy for any more exercise as I work full time and have a toddler. I like food so I don't want to just exist off chicken and greens like I see on Instagram.

Is it possible to have a body like this and just live a normal life, or does it need a 'step up' in terms of lifestyle?

I've actually just answered that it definitely is for me. It must be as I do absolutely no other exercise other than yoga once a week!

However, no, walking the dog down the street or round the block isn't going to cut it. We live very rurally so I take them out on the Moors and up hills / over rough terrain. Usually for 1-1.5hours twice a day.

Walking the dog is more of a "bare minimum to not be living a sedentary lifestyle" thing.

I dunno. I put ‘outdoor walk’ on my Apple Watch, and always make sure my heart rate is above 100.

I did see a PT through both my pregnancies and learnt about form and technique for core exercises. Then I got into Caroline Girvan on YT. I train with her both at the gym and at home.

I don't any more but I did. I did powerwave and or circuits 6 days a week.

Do you enjoy it though? Because as much as I’ve tried over the years (and maaaaany different variations from weights to swimming to dance), I just don’t really enjoy exercise. So for me the amount you do would feel like a huge hassle and chore but maybe if it’s fun for you that’s different?

Those asking about getting in to weight training - I started with Caroline Girvan, but not her youtube vidoes! She has an app which is about £9 a month with a free 2 week trial and has loads of videos on there. I started with her beginner series, which is 20 workouts over 6 weeks. Each video just has a few different exercises but she goes into a lot of detail about the correct form and posture and how to do them properly. It starts out with all full body exercises, then gradually focusing on upper body sessions and lower body sessions. Her other series then get harder as you go on

Is it fun every minute while I'm doing it? Hell nooooooooo. Am I always, always glad I did it and feel great afterwards? Hell yeah. It's about having it in place as a discipline - making a decision to do it and not wavering from that decision. Once you're in a routine with it, I think it becomes its own reward. And when you're juggling so much mental load, there is something refreshing and rejuvenating in doing something so simple, where all you have to do is keep running/grinding through your reps.

Thank you to everybody who recommended Caroline Girvan, which inspired me this morning to do the EPIC Endgame day 2 (video on youtube). Hadn't used dumbells in ages. I feel I've used every muscle in my upper body. I started on day 2 upper body because my legs are pretty solid from walking. I couldn't believe she was doing the exercises with 17.5kg (I used 12.5kg and it was HARD going).

@EscCtrl Caroline is TERRIFYINGLY STRONG. After a year+ I can match her on legs a good proportion of the time, but not on upper body. It takes a fair length of time to build upper body strength in that calibre if you're female.

I am fit and toned with visible abs. I do powerlifting and also run 2 or 3 times a week. I intermittent fast but never track calories or macros. I eat what I want, I don't live on salads or greens. I'm early 40s with DC, a professional busy job and until 6 months ago was studying.

I'm 56-60kg at 5'9 to give you some reference of the type of weight you need to be to show muscle through body fat

I think this is the key point tbh.

I do similar amounts of exercise to the recommendations here, including weight training. However I do not have a gym bod, I am not toned or especially slim. Like you I have a healthy BMI but upper end. I am 56-60 kg but 5’3 not 5’9!

Yes weight training has been great at building muscle and improving my metabolism but I like to eat - normal family meals as you describe plus the odd snack/wine - and so I still have a layer of squidge over the muscle. When my exercise goes up I am hungrier so I eat more!!

I don’t think I will ever look toned and slim, no matter how much exercise I do, unless I am much more careful about food intake and tbh I can’t be bothered with that.

People with that toned slim look probably have a BMI of 20 or below I reckon (21 if very muscular).

Not if your body is postured and working correctly.

I can do a core workout whilst just standing brushing my teeth from just engaging my posture correctly and holding or pulsing my transverse abdominus (the corset muscles I was talking about earlier).

If your body is working correctly it will naturally work your ‘alive’ muscles groups whilst walking.

Problem is most people have a lot of dead muscles. They cant engage them. Not even manually if they try really hard to think about it; so it wont be happening automatically for these people.

I’m the same OP!

I run 3x per week, walk as much as possible (fast) and do yoga 2x per week as I am seriously inflexible and need to keep trying to improve this!

Can I briefly hijack the thread to ask a related question? I used to do weights in the gym but no longer belong to one (finances don’t permit) . I have decent form (used to have a good PT) so would like to try doing some weights at home. I have some 5 kgs but that’s not a lot of weight to add. Would some 10kg home weights be worth buying? I could add them to my squats and lunges for example. So much good advice on here I’m hoping one of you can give your opinion!!

Might this be possible for you too OP? Start lighter if you need? And maybe have a session with a PT to check your form/suggest exercises?

I think it depends a lot on how your exercising. I used to do two hour long hiit classes with a bunch of ladies who mostly did two or more classes a week too. Very few had gym bodies. I can only assume their diets weren’t great but I could see how they moved. While I was squatting and trying to get my bum low I could see out the corner of my eye people bobbing up and down a bit. I’d exercise to the last second, they’d give up with 5 seconds to go, I’d choose the heavier weights, they didn’t. I’d be groaning to push out those last reps while they’d given up. So attending a class won’t do it, you have to really push yourself each and every time.
You should be feeling DOMS after every session to know you’re changing your muscles.

Just discovered Caroline Girvan, not my aspirational body.

You can get toned and have great definition without bulking up (because she’s still heavy in the neck/shoulders and some leg areas, it works because she’s super tiny to start with but if you built that same muscle over fat or a larger frame, you’d get bigger)
And her 6-pack is too high and too focussed on the front abs (which thickens the waist) , haven’t seen any glutes pics in my Google search, which is worrying

I would do her exercises if I wanted to lose weight or become stronger on top of toning, but for toning only, nope, much better out there.

Not RTFT so apologies if I'm repeating everyone else!

I'm a toned size 8 with an hourglass type figure. No lumpy bits! I get a lot of compliments on my figure even at the gym (bit odd!). I don't think I look nearly as good as when I was younger/pre kids/worked out less but that's just life!

I do approx 1-2 hours exercise a day (50/50 cardio and strength). Strength I only do lighter weights or Pilates as I don't want a ripped look personally. Diet wise there is room for improvement but I eat small portions and am currently vegan.

For me exercise is my passion but if it wasn't spending 2 hours a day doing it would be crazy!!

I do think though that if you are only going to do 2 things these are the best 2. But do both lots!

I don't think there is a need to do more exercise, OP. The only thing I would suggest is that talking to an experienced personal trainer may help you train smarter in the time you have.

I am BMI 28* but not more than a 14 in dress size/measurements and normally a 12, very toned and muscular of limb and have a flat stomach and I only do 3 workouts a week plus yoga and walking. At least some of it is genetic, I would have muscly legs doing no exercise, just a bit more fat on top of the muscle, and even when I got down to BMI 19 in my 20s my legs were still solid.

*I am trying to lose weight but this is through eating less not exercise.

Sally Gunnell is more my inspiration, I know she used to be a professional athlete but at 58 she looks like a nice fit woman and like a leaner and bit older me, and seems to be quite sensible about exercise and diet. If I look anything like that in ten years I will be very happy.

https://www.facebook.com/sally.gunnellobe

@ShadesOfPemberley I have adjustable weights and these work for me take up less space in my house too. I can then easily add 0.5kg on gradually to build up

Interesting thread
I’m late fifties and take plenty of exercise; hill walking, running, yoga and racket sports. My BMI is about 22 and my VO2 39 but I still haven’t got a gym bod.
Not overweight but still have a wobbly middle.
Not sure what else I could do if I’m not prepared to restrict my already healthy diet.

How long have you had this and how many minutes/sessions do you do per week?
Do you just do the exercises in the app that comes as part of the package?

I'm seriously considering buying one as I'd love to do reformer Pilates but live rurally and nowhere within miles.

Heaven forfend that a strong woman look like a strong woman 🤔

And it is really fucking weird that you had to search the internet for pictures of her arse before you could decide if her workouts were acceptable, and that you think her abdominal muscles are in the 'wrong' place.

Nobody has to do CG or similar workouts if they don't want to, but Jesus as a society I thought we'd moved past toxic male-gaze ideas of what women were "supposed" to look like that precluded being too muscular and which actually hurt women's health.

Exactly this

I think having the lean & muscled look is FAR more about weight than exercise