Toning is a word that gets used a lot in fitness and gym industry, but what does it actually mean and how do you tone?
First let’s clear one thing up, the scientific definition of toning is ‘The unconscious low level contraction of your muscles while at rest’ buuuuuut, that’s not what we are talking about here, we are talking about the much more generically used term of muscle tone relating to the definition and look of the muscle.
There is a 2 step process to muscle toning:
Step 1: You need your muscles to grow.
Most people who want to tone get scared off by the thought of muscle growth as they don’t want to get ‘Big and bulky’ but muscle tone and muscle growth go hand in hand. 👏🏼
If you want to tone you need to resistance train, if you are resistance training then your muscles will tear, repair and grow back bigger and stronger, the key word there being ‘bigger’ 💪🏼
Step 2: Fat loss
It’s all well and good resistance training and increasing muscle size, but if it is stuck under a layer of fat you aren’t going to see any change. By reducing body fat you are going to be able to see more of the muscle ‘definition’
Side note: Don’t get sucked into doing 20 reps of bicep curls with a low weight to tone. All this does is builds the muscles endurance and will produce very little strength and size. You need to work in rep ranges of 8-12 with a moderate to heavy weight, increasing said weight over a period of time 🏋🏻♂
I hope you have found this article useful. If you have any questions regarding this topic feel free to drop me an email. 👌🏻
Ryan Taylor – Strength Coach
Ryan.bodyclinic@gmail.com
@rjt_fitness