Truth about toning
I hear this all the time when I am talking with a potential client about their goals, or when someone asks what I do for a living. If I had a nickel for every time I heard a woman say “I just want to tone up not get bulky like a guy” I could probably buy my own island. What do I do when I hear that? I laugh on the inside and just shake my head up and down and say Oh yeah I know!
So toning to the every day individual is “I want to see lines in my body that show the muscle definition” To your trainer this means, losing body fat and maintaining/growing muscle mass. If you are already working out then it would be maintaining muscle mass and focusing on fat loss. If you haven’t been working out and you are starting this is where you will grow muscle mass.
How does this work?
The first thing that I want women to know the muscle growth difference between females and males is hormones. Women’s hormone levels are obviously different than men, which plays a huge role in muscle mass size. The average woman won’t ever be able to look like a man even if they are in a bulking phase, the amount of testosterone the body produces in males & females is the key difference in appearance.
Strength training is going to be the fast way for you to see muscle definition. Now when it comes to strength training I am not talking about your low weight high reps type training. Once you have mastered the movements your trainer has programmed you then we need to be moving some heavy to you weight. I am talking about Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) of 6-8. RPE is on a scale of 10, this means if I am doing a squat and I get done and I have RPE of 8 then I could have only done 2 more reps of that weight. Once you are in your program and feel comfortable with movements progression is going to be key! There are many different ways to progress in training, which I love to do in my programs with my clients. You can change the timing of your moves, the angles of the movements, and add weight to the moves.
Developing strength is a huge way to gain muscle definition. Now if you are scared about getting bulky this is where nutrition comes in. If you are wanting to lose weight or fat then you need to be in calorie deficit. Which means you are burning more calories than you are taking in. Nutrition is the one thing many don’t understand is the biggest factor that can determine the speed of your results. To do a body recomposition, which is losing body fat and gaining lean body mass, you need to be eating high amounts of protein. Counting macros can help with this process.
Don’t know what macros are? Check out my Macros 101 article here.
I hope this helps you understand how to reach your goals.
