Do you have a goal to get more “toned”? What does that mean and what does it take to get there?

First, let’s talk about what tone is. Tone is the tension or the “stiffness” a muscle has all the time. Your muscles are slightly active to keep you standing upright. Tone also stores energy for release later and allows for fluid movement. If you have too much tone, or hypertonicity, in a spot, that’s a trigger point (a knot) or a cramp (charlie horse).

So you could say that you want more definition. You want to SEE your muscles. That further clarifies your goal to “gain muscle and lose fat.” And you do that with diet and exercise.

Diet: Eat in a way that supports your goals. You can eat up to 1g of protein per 1lb of desired body weight. So definitely increase your protein intake to support fat loss goals. Studies have shown that either low-fat or low-carb diets support weight loss. So that choice is up to you. You do need to eliminate processed foods so you’re getting healthy carbs (vegetables, grains, potatoes, beans, some fruit) and healthy fats (nuts, seeds, fish, coconut, olive oil, avocados).

Exercise: While cardio is necessary for the health of your heart and lungs, it’s not the most effective for weight loss. What is? Strength Training! Strength training will support both your goals of building muscles AND losing fat. You probably get that strength training builds muscle. But how does it help with fat loss? Well, when you increase lean muscle, you increase the amount of calories you burn all day long. And that’s where you burn the most calories: at rest, not in the 1 hour you’re at the gym. That means less calories get stored as fat. Double bonus!

Start by measuring where you’re at: body weight and body composition (body fat percentage). I suggest checking body comp monthly to make sure you’re losing fat and not muscle (eat lots of protein during fat loss). For myself and my clients, I use a hand-held bioelectrical impedance device. You could purchase this device or get a scale that also measures body comp.

Begin a strength training exercise routine based on your goals. Strength training can be done with weights (free weights or machines, but you know I’m not a fan of machines), bands (love these!), or body weight (including TRX). If you want my chart explaining the benefits, sets, and rest times associated with different rep ranges, drop your email in the comments or send me an email and I’ll send it to you. You can work in ranges from 1-5 up to 15-25. The ranges all have different benefits and applications. No matter what range you’re working in, always use the heaviest possible weight for the prescribed number of reps. If you’re picking up only 1-2lb weights, this will not support your goals of building muscles, increasing your metabolism, and losing fat.

Got questions? Post them in the comments.