How the Tone It Up Effect is Changing the Way You See Fitness
Karena Dawn and Katrina Scott, the cool California girls behind the fitness phenomenon that is Tone It Up, are changing the entire landscape of fitness, one social media follower at a time (or a whopping 1.4M on Instagram alone).
If you love fitness and you haven’t heard of them yet, you’ve probably unknowingly walked past their signature kombucha flavor at Whole foods or their fitness gear at Target. You’ve likely been exposed to the less tangible influences of these fitness entrepreneurs too without even knowing it.
Have you ever been tempted to work out on the beach in your bikini with a bottle of rose kombucha in your hand? Yeah, that’s the Tone It Up Effect I’m talking about.
From their booty calls (TIU-speak for morning workouts) to their more recent Studio Tone It Up app launch, these boss babes have changed the entire face of fitness with their products and personalities.
Let’s look at a few ways TIU has influenced the entire fitness industry:
They’ve made fitness events a thing.
TIU holds exclusive retreats and nation-wide tours just like rock stars, only their mosh pits are filled with teal workout mats and Avocado pants. And unlike concerts, which you usually attend in groups, women go to these fitness events alone to meet other women from their shared community and leave with life-long girlfriends.
The day- or weekend-long fitness events might include goodies like celebrity workouts, braid bars, massages, dance parties, rose bars, and drool-worthy swag bags. Karena and Katrina have managed to turn these fitness events into big successful parties with backstage VIP access.
Instead of getting pushed around by the sweaty drunk guy behind you at a rowdy KISS concert, you can do something productive and healthy and take some life-altering memories home with you.
A few years ago, we never would’ve imagined events like this, but many other fitness celebrities are following suit with live events and world tours, a la Kayla Itsines’s Sweat Tour. The TIU Effect opened up a whole new world of entertainment opportunity, especially for women who want fewer popped eardrums and beer spills and more girl talk and QT with like-minded strangers-turned-friends.
They’ve made fitness fun.
Traditionally, fitness has always looked like hardcore bodybuilding splits, rough-looking iron, and broccoli-chicken-rice concoctions. Enter TIU who sprinted onto the sand in their bikinis and bare feet, shimmering through mermaid circuits in their fresh California tans. By doing so, they essentially gave us permission to be ourselves have fun while we work out! Oh, the novelty!
The Tone It Up Effect has changed the way fitness looks and feels and gives us a reason to giggle through our workouts rather than grunt and grimace. And we don’t have to wear the standard jock-stripe clothing or drink from brute-licious gallon jugs. Bikinis and pink-strawed coconut cups for workouts on the beach are so much more fun. You can be true to your own style and actually enjoy your fitness regimen. Who knew?
They’ve given us every reason to love our bodies.
Stretch marks and cellulite? How could we think of them as any less beautiful as they truly are when Katrina posts her regular post-baby encouragement on Instagram. These body-love sentiments are helping women shift their focus from a restrictive idea of body image to a nurturing approach focusing on total health and unique-to-you goals.
During every fitness challenge and nutrition plan update, they give you more ways to honor your body and do nice things for it. Whether it’s a motivational mantra on a sticky note or a journal prompt exploring how your body is amazing, Karena and Katrina urge women to love their bodies in all circumstances. Every woman’s body holds a one-of-a-kind story worth telling.
They’ve eliminated negative commentary from the conversation.
If you’re part of the TIU community, you know that only love vibes are allowed and the women in the community go out of their way to preserve the integrity of the conversation. This high-vibe preservation is one of my favorite parts of TIU. And the same reason I’m so drawn to the running community and their vigilant side-line cheering and limitless high-fives, no matter your pace.
For most of us, support is at the heart of self-improvement. We usually don’t learn to love our bodies or each other through negative criticism. We learn to love through support.
Karena and Katrina have spoken before about how they refuse to speak negatively about their bodies, especially online, and that’s something we can all learn from. We can all fuel this change in the athletic atmosphere alongside them by providing that same type of positive encouragement and support for the women next to us.
They’ve shifted the focus from fitness alone.
The medical community has started to recognize the importance of holistic health, mind, body and spirit, and the fitness community is following suit with influencers like K&K at the helm. It makes sense to treat your body as a whole unit, because what you do to your body affects your mental and spiritual states and vice versa. Achieving your fitness goals may give you more confidence from the board room and bedroom.
Focusing on diet and fitness alone will only get you so far, but factors like motivation, personal values, and social support give you even more momentum toward your desired outcomes.
Recently, Tone It Up started to include meditation and self-care routines beside their nutrition and exercise programs in their app and on their blog. They don’t just cover healthy eating and workouts anymore, they cover everything from mental to spiritual health, which is something we probably weren’t even aware was missing until we finally had it and everything clicked into place.
Tone It Up is changing the atmosphere of not only fitness, but also business and women’s issues. What started as an online fitness community has turned into a massive revolution.
Next time you grab a ginger and lemon ACV shot from the juice bar, raise your glass to the creators of the original health shots, the Bombshell Spell, and everything they’ve given to the health community. The Tone It Up Effect has paved the way for a brand of fitness that’s all about taking care of yourself, making new friends, and encountering life-changing experiences. Here, here!