Hell, maybe you want to tone up your entire body And that’s why you’re here
Cool Here’s the first thing you need to know…Everything You Hear About Tone Is Bullshit The point is: There is no such thing as muscle tone No one defines a muscle No one is drawing muscles or other silly adjectives that basically have the same meaning Confused?
In fact, let’s define it now What is Muscle Tone? In this context, muscle tone refers to having a sufficient amount of muscle mass, plus a low enough body fat percentage for the muscles to really show you have covered your muscles, the more “toned” and “defined” and “sculpted” you will look
The more fat you cover your muscles (or if there is simply not enough muscle present), your muscles will be less visible and less “toned” you will appear In a nutshell… Muscle – Fat = Tone, whenever a person says they want to “tone up,” they’re really just saying they want their muscles to be more visible than they are now How do you make this happen, you ask?
Their body fat percentage is too high and there is a layer of fat sitting on top of the muscle they want to see
This makes people look “soft” and “flabby” instead of lean and toned
I show examples of this type of body in my Body Fat Percentage Picture Guide Building more muscle Other times, people will have a fairly low body fat percentage, but they’re just lacking enough muscle mass
This makes people look “thin” and “skinny” instead of lean and toned
I also show examples of this body type in my Body Fat Percentage Image Guide as well
People who lack muscle and have too much body fat Most people are surprised to hear all this, because they are under the impression that getting a toned body is a special thing that happens in some special way using special workouts, exercises, methods , and technique But… it really isn’t like that To show you what I mean, let’s go over the 4 most common myth-based approaches that people use when trying to tone This is the idea that heavy weights build “big and bulky” muscles, while lighter weights that don’t really challenge you (eg 3lb pink dumbbells) build “toned” muscles
This is a myth Higher reps make you tonedThis is the idea that the lower rep range (eg 1-8) with heavier weights will make your muscles bigger and bulkier (fun fact: muscles can be built in each rep range [source] ), but the higher rep range (eg 10-30) with lighter weight will tone and sculpt your muscles
This is a myth Some kind of exercise makes you toned This is the idea that free weight training and / or compound exercises to build muscle, but certain machines, isolation exercises, and / or “toning exercises” specifically to burn fat and get toned
This is a myth Some kind of exercise makes you toned This is the idea that some workouts are special for men because they will make a person big, muscular, and manly, and other workouts are special for women because they will make them a lean, toned, and feminine person
And they are all nonsense Because in order to get toned, you need less fat and / or more muscle, and this type of crap based on myths is ineffective in both your appearance, the only thing you can do for muscles is to make them bigger or smaller That’s it You can’t tone it, or carve it, or shape it, or define it, or [any of] that There are different types or textures (large, lean, toned, etc) You can build
You can only increase or decrease how much you have, or increase or decrease how much body fat covers it And, like I explained before, getting “toned” is all about building enough muscle and losing enough body fat to become muscle You’ve built enough to see And since the items on the list above aren’t great for building muscle or burning fat, they’re usually just a waste of time in your quest to get toned Let me explain… How Muscles Are Actually BuiltResearch shows that building muscle requires a specific type of stimulus – specifically tension, fatigue, and damage (source) – and the typical “light weight, high rep, toning workout” nonsense is laughable in providing it Building muscle also involves gradually gaining stronger over time (aka excessive progressive), and using the same super light weight, not-all-challenging more and more for months / years on the contrary -a weight training program is designed that incorporates the optimal amount of volume, frequency, and intensity
The typical “toning workout for women” take none of this into consideration (Additional details here: How to Build Muscle: The 15-Step Guide for Men and Women) How to Really Lose Fat Losing fat has only one requirement: a caloric deficit, which means consuming fewer calories than you burn And what we need in the list from before is a collection of training methods that rely on “point reduction” to be possible
It is not You see, spot reduction is the idea that you can burn fat from a specific area of the body by doing exercises that target that area
For example, arm exercises are supposed to target the fat in your arms, and leg exercises are supposed to target the fat in the legs And this is supposed to burn the ugly body fat that covers your muscles, thus revealing those beautiful muscles and making them look toned Unfortunately, this is not really possible, because training targets muscles, not fat on top of those muscles Spot reduction is just another myth that has been disproven more and more in the real world, as well as in studies (sources here, here, and at here)
This makes every training method built around the same myth
is determined by your genetics and cannot be changed by workouts, training, or the number of sets and reps you do, or the amount of weight you lift So, How Do You Get Toned? Here’s a simple 4-step process… Step 1: Ignore The MythsIgnore all the myth-based “toning” nonsense you see so often
This is useful at best, and counterproductive at worst “Toning exercises” and “toning exercises” and “light weights / high reps” are all nonsense concepts marketed (mainly) to women that perpetuate various weight training myths that only prevent those women from getting the desired result
Don’t forget Full details here: Toning Workout Routine For WomenStep 2: Understand That Muscle – Fat = Tone Nothing magical or complicated here
It’s just a matter of building enough muscle and losing enough fat so your muscles have been built enough to be seen Step 3: Determine What Needs Improvement Why aren’t you as toned as you want to be?
Do you have too much body fat, not enough muscle, or a combination of both? Once you know the answer to this question, you will know what you need to focus on to move forward
In addition, I also recommend: How to Build Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time Should you build muscle or lose fat first? fat And being toned?
It’s just a matter of getting the right combination so there’s enough muscle built up + a low enough body fat percentage to allow that muscle to be visible So if muscle tone is your goal, you need to focus on it lose extra fat and/or build extra muscle
Everything else – like the typical myth-based “toning” nonsense most people do – will not help