What’s The Deal With Toning?

I Just Want To Get Toned

You’ve probably either said this or heard this at some point. The media and the fitness world have women convinced that what they want is to “get toned”. Not build muscle, not lose weight, but get toned. But what does toned even mean?

Biology Online defined muscle tone as,

(1) The muscle in a steady partially contracted state caused by the successive flow of nerve impulses.

(2) The amount of tension or resistance to movement in a muscle.

As you can see, the definition of toned doesn’t really mean what society thinks it means. In reality, “toning” is just a word that is often used for building muscle and losing body fat. But you don’t want to bulk up right? Don’t worry. You won’t. Bodybuilding is a sport and you won’t get bulky unless you try to get bulky. Just like you wouldn’t automatically become a pro WNBA player just because you picked up a basketball.

So How Do You Get That Victoria’s Secret Look?

The first thing that you need to do is lose any extra body fat that’s covering up the muscle. You do this by reducing the number of calories that you eat everyday. Your calorie intake should be less than the number of calories that you burn. Apps like MyFitnessPal can help you determine this number. The second thing that you need to do is build the muscle. In order to have definition, you must have muscle. The best way to build muscle is by lifting weights.

Getting that defined look that you want doesn’t take any magic. You need to eat less to lose body fat, and lift weights to build muscle definition. Don’t be afraid to push yourself!