By Aaron Boike, B.S. Kinesiology, A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer and Health Coach
One of the top goals I hear from new clients at the beginning of the year is the desire to improve muscle tone. There are several ways to measure muscle tone, aside from just looking in mirror. The first is your bodyfat percentage, or the proportion of fat mass to lean mass you carry. The second is lean muscle percentage, or the proportion of lean muscle vs. all other structural components and fat mass. Lower bodyfat percentages, and higher lean muscle percentages will result in a more toned and muscular physique.
With that said, there are some common misconceptions about how to build a “toned” physique. Here are my five rules for building muscle tone.
Tone=Size, Size=Tone
One of the most common misconceptions about building a toned physique is that if you over-do it, or lift incorrectly, you’ll end up getting bulky. In my experience, when someone complains about a routine making them bulky, it is because they are overeating or eating poorly, and gaining a considerable amount of fat mass along with a little bit of muscle. Muscle is inherently lean and toned; therefore, if you build more muscle mass without gaining additional bodyfat, you will appear more toned.
Don’t be Afraid to Lift Heavy
The key to gaining muscle is causing the muscle to overload to the point of hypertrophy. Hypertrophy is the process in which a workout or real world stress on the muscle causes micro-tears in the fibers. The muscle fibers are then built up thicker and stronger than they were previously. This leads to increases in muscle size over time. Lifting weights that challenge you in the 6-8 rep range have shown to produce the best results for muscular hypertrophy. Ideally, you hit the point of complete muscular fatigue or “muscle failure” by the end of your last set. Although, there is little research to show an ideal number of sets for hypertrophy, a program of 3-4 sets of 6-8 repetitions is generally accepted as ideal for muscular hypertrophy.
Focus on Big Compound Movements for Full Body Tone
One of the most common mistakes I see at the gym is individuals just focusing in a single joint movements and machine weight exercises that focus on one specific muscle. While these exercises have their place, they are not going to give you the best bang for your buck. The exercises that will help you build full body tone, and also help you maximize your bodies hormonal response to exercise (more growth hormone and testosterone) are going to be big compound movements. Examples include; squats, deadlifts, pushups / chest presses, overhead presses, pull ups, rows, kettlebell swings, and lunges. By engaging multiple joint angles, you recruit more muscle fibers and get a maximum benefit from your time at the gym. Isolation exercises can be done for target areas at the end of your workout, but should not be prioritized over compound movements.
Eat Right to Get Lean
Although much of the fitness industry would like you to believe otherwise, I’ll be the first to tell you that when it comes to getting lean and losing bodyfat, 80% of the work happens in the kitchen. Committing to kicking your junk food habits, and barring addictive foods like sugar and flour from your daily intake are two big steps in the right direction. Generally speaking, to get lean you want to reduce your overall caloric intake to stimulate the body to burn fat for fuel. That said, it is also important to avoid excess refined carbohydrates (added sugars, flour, white rice etc.), and base more of your diet on healthy fats and protein. Generally speaking, if you simply stick to a whole foods based diet, avoiding processed foods, you will be able to achieve this ideal balance without having to think too much about the details. You can use an app like MyFitnessPal or LoseIt, to track your calorie intake to ensure you’re eating in the correct range to stimulate fat loss.
Lift each Muscle Group 2-3x/week
Research on both strength and muscle tone indicate that a multiple time per week training frequency is best. I generally recommend to my clients that we fit a full body strength training routine in 2-3x during the week, with each session spread out by at least 48 hours to allow the muscles to fully recover. Starting each session with big compound movements (like those listen in paragraph 3), and moving on to smaller isolation movements will yield the best results.
Sources:
Tzur, Roberts, “Scientific Recommendations for Strength and Hypertrophy Training from 150+ Studies”, 2017, Accessed 1/9/18 http://sci-fit.net/2017/scientific-recommendations-1/