So I was browsing some of my favorite social media websites for my muse and found her where I least expected her. You see, I am friends with a lot of the forward thinkers in the health and fitness industry and usually find it between them, but instead I found it with two people who are not “in the know.”
Many times women come to me for training to look and feel their best. This is often related to weddings, bikini season, class reunions, etc. Probably the two most common requests are to lose fat and tone your muscles, which brings me to my story here.
Now this will probably go against what you have heard in the past and I will just have to ask you to trust me because almost everyone has the wrong concept of “toning” and that is what this article is trying to do. try. To learn, you must first empty your cup.
The first myth I want to dispel is all this “muscle toning” nonsense. This will go back to how I found my muse. My muse is an underweight girl who wants to tone her muscles. Her action plan is to do Zumba (a Latin dance-based cardio routine) to get it done. Sorry, cardio doesn’t work for toning. If you want proof, take a look at some of the marathon runners you see. Many of them appear to have come out of a hospital bed. Hardly the toned look you’re looking for.
Next up is this whole “high reps tone muscle, low reps build volume” myth. If low reps always produce volume and high reps don’t, why do bodybuilders have such big muscles? The rep ranges common to bodybuilders are typically between 8 and 12 reps. When you train with high repetitions, your muscles fill with something called “sarcoplasm.” It’s like a sticky substance that sits between muscle fibers, gives them a puffy look, and does little or nothing to improve strength. That is not tone.
“But I don’t mind being strong. I just want to look toned.” That’s something I hear a lot from my clients. The fact is that they are the same thing. They are not mutually exclusive.
So what is tone and how is it obtained? Tone is actually a function of your nervous system. It is the flow of ions through cell membranes. It is residual tension within a relaxed muscle. It’s like a relaxed state but ready for the muscle fibers to do something that requires strength. The way you do it is with heavy, high intensity strength training without burning your nervous system. Learn how to generate tension correctly and use it correctly in your program. Stop viewing workouts as invigorating exercises and think of them as strength training instead. If muscle tone is the destination, strength training is the way to get there. Keeping the reps low will prevent you from having unwanted volume, and of course you need to be slim enough to see the tone, but that’s largely a function of a proper nutrition plan.
Here’s a sample strength training session (to tone muscles).
Squats 3-5 reps
Rest 1 minute
Overhead press 3-5 reps
Rest 1 minute
Pull ups 3-5 reps
Rest 3-5 minutes and repeat 3-5 times 3 times a week.
Don’t forget to go heavy but not to muscle failure.
I know it’s not what you heard before. That’s a good thing because if you want to be like others, do what others do. If you want to look different, you have to train different (and smart, I might add).
Train smart, be strong, and look amazing.