The hot-word when it comes to fitness has been for years "TONE". Everyone wants to tone-up their body, not bulk-up, sometimes shape-up, but always tone-up. Where people screw up their program is when they say, "I don't want to lose weight, I just want to tone-up." There is no such thing as a tone-up workout. Learn why that confusion will stop you from getting you to your goal of the toned-up look.
What most people do not understand is what they are really asking for to be tone, so first let me describe what most people mean by it. Imagine lean arms where you can make out the muscle shape, but not so buff that you are veiny. Imagine shapely legs that have nice smooth transitions and show a slender ankle and look athletic, but not like an Olympic track star. Imagine abs that look nice and flat, and you can just make out the shape of the muscles but not so much that the ridges are like hand-holds when you are rock climbing. If that is what you think of as tone then this article is for you.
To get that tone look you need to know why you don't look that way now. First of all, you have muscle on that body. The problem is that it is hidden beneath body fat. No matter how weak you may think that you are you do have muscle that would look tone if only you could see it. Also, you may not have enough muscle to give good muscle shape so that as you do lose the body fat you may have to get extremely lean before you see much of the muscle.
The solution is to increase your muscle, and decrease your body fat. You need to lessen the distance between your muscle and your skin. You want, to some extent depending on your body, your muscles to grow out towards your skin. The you want your skin to move in towards your muscle. What lies between the two is body fat (lose weight). So never say that you want to tone-up but not that you don't want to lose weight because it is the fat weight that is keeping you from being toned. You know what it takes to lose body fat, eat less calories than burned. Next you need to improve the muscle. Give them shape and clarity. Combine those two and you will have the toned-up body.
So what you need to do is figure out why you aren't losing body fat or gaining muscle before you can get that elusive toned-up look.
DO YOU:
What most people do not understand is what they are really asking for to be tone, so first let me describe what most people mean by it. Imagine lean arms where you can make out the muscle shape, but not so buff that you are veiny. Imagine shapely legs that have nice smooth transitions and show a slender ankle and look athletic, but not like an Olympic track star. Imagine abs that look nice and flat, and you can just make out the shape of the muscles but not so much that the ridges are like hand-holds when you are rock climbing. If that is what you think of as tone then this article is for you.
To get that tone look you need to know why you don't look that way now. First of all, you have muscle on that body. The problem is that it is hidden beneath body fat. No matter how weak you may think that you are you do have muscle that would look tone if only you could see it. Also, you may not have enough muscle to give good muscle shape so that as you do lose the body fat you may have to get extremely lean before you see much of the muscle.
The solution is to increase your muscle, and decrease your body fat. You need to lessen the distance between your muscle and your skin. You want, to some extent depending on your body, your muscles to grow out towards your skin. The you want your skin to move in towards your muscle. What lies between the two is body fat (lose weight). So never say that you want to tone-up but not that you don't want to lose weight because it is the fat weight that is keeping you from being toned. You know what it takes to lose body fat, eat less calories than burned. Next you need to improve the muscle. Give them shape and clarity. Combine those two and you will have the toned-up body.
So what you need to do is figure out why you aren't losing body fat or gaining muscle before you can get that elusive toned-up look.
DO YOU:
- Have a willingness to change what you are doing to get results?
- Do exercises that burn the most calories that you can handle?
- Get in cardio exercise at least 4 days per week?
- Use the FITT principle to keep your body confused and those results coming?
- Lift some weights, at least 3 days per week?
- Have an expert and ask for help if you aren't getting results?
- Have a NO-QUIT attitude?
