*** LADIES *** This is a MUST READ to help get you looking smoking hot! How to Get Toned I hate the term toned as it carries so many misconceptions. So here well assume here that, by get toned, you mean that you would like to achieve the popular, conventional definition of muscle tone, rather than the actual definition. To be more specific, you would like your muscles to be clearly defined and to have a firm appearance. And, if you are female, you also probably want to ensure that your muscles dont get too big. There are two things that can and should be done to acquire muscle tone. They are as follows: The first thing that you must to do acquire the popular definition of muscle tone, and this is an absolute requirement, is reduce your overall body fat. Reducing body fat thins out the subcutaneous fat layer under your skin, bringing it closer to, and pulling it tight around the contours of your muscles. After completing just this one fat reduction step, some people will find that theyve achieved the muscle tone that they desire, because they already have a well developed musculature hiding beneath their fat. The vast majority of people, however, will find that they arent entirely happy with the appearance of their muscles once they have reduced their body fat, and so step number 2 below becomes necessary. The second thing that can be done to develop muscle tone is strength training. For a lucky few people this step might not be required, from a purely aesthetic perspective, because they already have well proportioned muscles under the fat layer removed in step 1 above. But for most people a strength training program, in addition to body fat reduction, is necessary to develop muscle tone. The optimal training program for developing muscle tone must focus on improving muscle strength, as opposed to muscle size or muscle endurance. This type of training requires that you lift heavier weights for fewer repetitions. For Women - Getting Muscle Tone Without Getting Big Unfortunately, most women incorrectly believe that the best way to get muscle tone without getting too big is to lift light weights for a high number of repetitions. This is not the right approach. Your fears of getting too big are unfounded and without substance. Lifting light weights for a high number of repetitions builds muscle endurance, not strength, and very limited improvement in muscle tone, if any at all, can be achieved through muscular endurance training. You must increase muscle strength to develop muscle tone. The solution is to lift heavier weights for fewer repetitions and dont worry about getting too big. It simply wont happen because women are not physiologically disposed toward putting on muscle mass. Blood testosterone levels for women are typically between 15 to 70 nanograms per deciliter. Compare this to men, who have, on average, 300 to 1,000 ng/dL of testosterone in their blood. Testosterone is the key steroid hormone responsible for muscle growth, and women have very little of it. Increasing muscle strength does increase muscle size, theres no doubt about it, but even with a massive testosterone advantage it takes most men enormous amounts of time and dedication to acquire the noticeable levels of muscle mass that so many women are afraid of. For a woman, its true that lifting heavier weights for fewer repetitions will increase your muscle size, but the increase will happen very slowly, and the gains in size will be very small. In fact, the low testosterone levels of women create ideal circumstances for developing the muscle tone that you are looking for. It allows you to gradually put on small amounts of muscle until you have the toned appearance, without too much size, that you desire, at which point you can modify your strength training program to simply maintain the small amount of muscle mass that you have gained. There is absolutely no need to fear that you will get too big, because the size increases happen so slowly that you will be able to halt progress at any size you are happy with, without going too far. If you are a woman and your are still not convinced, just try it anyways. Look at yourself in the mirror every day to monitor your muscle tone and size. You wont get huge!! Now Go TRAIN!!!
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 23:26:18 +0000
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