Tonique Premier and massive thighs!

[beyond.omega]

Originally Posted by koolio

(What is more when I tried Buns of Steel by Greg Smithey in between Tonique I still find there were muscle groups that were weak and ached a lot that were not covered in Tonique Premier.

Although I have done neither of these workouts, my understanding is that Tonique is a standing workout while BoS is a mat workout? If so this result you have is not surprising since they would work your muscles differently.

Originally Posted by koolio

Trouble is I love the cardio aspect of Premier as a great side effect! Gymabstics 3 is great cardio as well just very little in the way of lower body exercises..

If a strength workout that also develops cardio and that slims the bulk in your thighs is what you are looking for, you should do T-Tapp.

[Helen S]

Originally Posted by koolio

Nice to hear another opinion from the other side.

I'm happy it's hard but it's hard for the wrong reasons in my book which is endurance rather than high cardio mixed with low (10-20) rep conditioning. The amateur gymnastics conditioning we did was hard, really much harder than Premier, but there was not the repeat targeting of a specific area, you'd switch from situps for example to pressups then back again but we never did endurance. I just wish I knew what I had at the time and video'd it all

Just wish there was 30-40 minute tonique without the high rep endurance while keeping the cardio high.

I'm going to keep at it for a week or two more and see how I feel about it.

Maybe, you could try Cardio Sculpt 1 and 2. They're downloads that are less than 30 minutes each. They are also only about $5.99 each. Sylwia still does lots of reps but at least she switches legs more often. I also think she might do less reps in the express wos than in her regular wos. I recommended these two downloads because Sylwia also put some new moves in them. You could just buy CS 1 to see if you like it before purchasing the second one.

There isn't a preview of these two downloads. However, if you go to www.totalfitnessdvds.com and search for Tonique, you will find a clip of Addicted To Movement. Then you will see some of the newer moves.

If you want an express wo that has more upper body and core exercises than her previous wos, then look at the preview of Hampton on Sylwia's site. It is also less than 30 minutes and $5.99.

[desie]

high cardio mixed with low (10-20) rep conditioning.

Hmm. Maybe you would love a Crossfit workout?

[koolio]

Are you just looking at Sylwia's body from Premeir, which she filmed 6 years ago? Have you done or have you seen any of her recent workouts? I am asking this because I have been doing Tonique for 6 years and have watched Sylwia's body transform to where she is today.

I think in Premeir she had more of a pear shape and even had some jiggles her and there, but that has totally changed over the years.

Ah I see that could be it, I've only really seen her in Premier other than trailers I forget.

I have found my magic bullet and it is Tonique, but for other people, it's not for them. If you bulk with Tonique, then I would move in to something that will work for you.

At the moment Premier is the itch I can't scratch because it's so nearly perfect for all my lower body mixed cardio requirements! Just the endurance i.e. non-stop with the same reps!

Some of the side and front kicks with squats are really great, and I have no problem with a boring work out.

If I was a runner I would be in heaven with Tonique Premier, in fact I'd highly recommend for that!

I forget the difference between fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers, but we all have different amounts of each type. Maybe you have more of the type that causes bulking with high reps. Also, how often are you doing the workouts? I know that my muscles swell up after a weight workout, and I am 4 lbs heavier on the scale. It takes a few days for the swelling to go down again. I think this may be the problem when many women say they can't get into their jeans after weight workouts.

So how often are you doing Tonique? Another thing about all those high reps is the effect on your joints. You don't want to wear away all the cartilage in your knees and hips.

I've been doing it 2-4 times a week for 3-4 weeks so far and I've plateaued at around 51 minutes (not far off the stretching which is a part of the video I don't want to do). While I never really look in the mirror, I noticed how massive my thighs looked when coming out of the shower! I'm convinced much bigger than before I started with it.

It's been a while since I studied sports physiology, (I didn't do a degree in it just spent an inordinate amount of time studying several books). As far as I remember in general very high reps without rest or very low reps with heavy weight/resistance will induce two different kinds of hypertrophy and hence bulking, with regards to hypertrophy cardio on its own is actually irrespective of the two although high reps/fast movement will raise cardio and the oxygen deprivation in the muscles will cause sarcoplasmic hypertrophy if there is enough of a load and you go past the point of exhaustion i.e. marathons don't make you bulky, but doing a 1000 pressups non stop will (and such endurance is pointless for what I'm after)

As for cartilage actually high rep low load will recover cartilage in your knees and hips, it's the heavy weights people who have to watch out, studies have now proved it with arthritic people.

Maybe, you could try Cardio Sculpt 1 and 2. They're downloads that are less than 30 minutes each. They are also only about $5.99 each. Sylwia still does lots of reps but at least she switches legs more often. I also think she might do less reps in the express wos than in her regular wos. I recommended these two downloads because Sylwia also put some new moves in them. You could just buy CS 1 to see if you like it before purchasing the second one.

I will try these for sure at a later date.

I'm going to continue with Premier for a bit and see how I go, just wanted to hear from anyone else about the bulking issue! If I get too big and it's obstructive for Yoga I will stop but want to give it a bit more of a run in.

I do have chubby thighs so I'm counting on them getting burned up and I'll see how they fare after that.

(Just wanted to hear if anyone else was having this issue! and whether or not you'd class your thighs as slim after Tonique Premier!)

[koolio]

Right well I just managed to conquer Tonique Premier. Finished it in one go.

With the exception of the reps just before the "Brazilian Butt" where Sylwia decided as a switch from doing straight sets of Squats then Lunges to vary it a little and do a set of squats combined with lunges! At this point I'd had enough endurance so switched to going on all fours and doing leg kicks.

Ok don't get me wrong it's wonderful for runners and endurance, but I just checked my thighs in the mirror and there is serious hypertrophy going on, the kind I remember when I did weighted squats when I was younger (which is why I stopped this as it made me too big for gymnastics).

So I just had to conquer Tonique Premier to say I could do it, shame as its really good, I have no issue with the total sets (although 45 minutes is optimal for an intensive sweaty cardio workout in my opinion) just that they are in series making it so endurance heavy, not for me I'm afraid. Would just be great if each section was cut down by a third at least I wouldn't hit the endurance zone then.

Such endurance leaves me really exhausted as well which is annoying because I have Yoga and other activities I want to do later as well.

The great thing is I'll be able to take some of Premier's squat and lunge exercises and do them on my own after another work out.

I have the Tonique Matt which I'm going to have a crack at.

I'm going to finish up on this thread and go back to my searching for a lower leg work out one!

[Jane P.]

If you find a vigorous non-bulking workout, please post it here. I'm sure there are many who would be interested. Good luck.

[desie]

There is Hamelin D'Abell on you-tube.

[koolio]

Originally Posted by Jane P.

If you find a vigorous non-bulking workout, please post it here. I'm sure there are many who would be interested. Good luck.

I think I'm going to stick to the Gymabstics series and then just do some lower body exercises afterwards... seems to be the right load...

I did Tonique Premier yesterday and I am still exhausted today. Perhaps it is just overload for me as I am doing other exercises/Yoga later etc.

[Scorpio6]

koolio --

"As for cartilage actually high rep low load will recover cartilage in your knees and hips, it's the heavy weights people who have to watch out, studies have now proved it with arthritic people."

So if I have missing cartilage in my L hip, would doing lying side leg lifts with 2-3 lb ankle weights help recover the cartilage?

Thanks!

[koolio]

Originally Posted by Scorpio6

koolio --

"As for cartilage actually high rep low load will recover cartilage in your knees and hips, it's the heavy weights people who have to watch out, studies have now proved it with arthritic people."

So if I have missing cartilage in my L hip, would doing lying side leg lifts with 2-3 lb ankle weights help recover the cartilage?

Thanks!

Hi Scorpio,
I'm not a physiotherapist and just before I go on I've never had or studied missing cartilage so I don't know exactly what the work around is (isn't cartilage then transplanted in such cases?), by recover I meant rehabilitate cartilage that is severely damaged or very thin but still present.

However I know this much for joint rehabilitation from reading about osteoarthritis and from my own considerable experiences with injuries (I was a competitive breakdancer a while ago) so I know the following works with inflammed or injured joints.

You should be doing only open exercises where the limb is free, by that I mean exactly what you've indicated so for example side lifts, a closed exercise is for example a squat since your leg is locked and closed by the ground. A pressup is a closed exercise for example.

You should be using no weights at all! Your leg is enough! (I do need to double check this, it has been a decade since I immersed myself in sports injuries and rehab reading but I believe at the beginning it's best omitted, certainly with soft tissue you start with no weights and then progress up)

Side lifts are good but I would be trying to do as many variations as possible to get the joint moving in as many directions as possible. for example small circles in the air and then wide slow circles with my foot, knee to the chest then extension out etc. etc.

The idea is you want the joint moving as much as possible so high reps and not too fast either, but you want as little stress, impact, wear or weight on the joint itself as possible. Your surrounding muscles etc. do the work and the joint just gets massaged so to speak.

This also works for soft tissue injury but again depends on the nature.

I really can't tell you what to do if the cartilage is completely gone since this raises an issue outside my knowledge/capacity. Although the above approach has shown good results with osteoarthritis where the cartilage is badly damaged and/or very thin.

Hope this helps, I wish you the best and a speedy recovery!