Episode 087: How To Look Toned & What That Even Means

Sep 29, 2015

I’ve been hearing a lot of things like:
“Oh, I don’t want to lose any weight, I just want to tone my muscles” or
“I want to lose some weight and get toned”

What does that mean? What does it not mean? Let’s talk about how to look toned. The reality is this: there’s no such thing as “toning your muscles”. That doesn’t exist. It’s crap.

Now, I know what you mean. I get it. You want to look fit, lean and not flabby. You want more muscle definition. When we talk about how to look toned, that’s what we’re talking about.

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How To Looked Toned

Burn body fat. Lowering your body fat percentage makes muscles and muscle definition more visible.
Build muscles. If you already have a low body fat percentage, you’ll have to put on muscle mass for that fit, lean look. Or, you can put on muscle mass while burning fat.

Most people feel like lifting light weight for higher reps helps you tone while lifting heavy weights for lower reps makes you put on mass. Both statements are untrue.

Putting on muscle = weight gain. Weight gain does NOT come from exercise (lifting or cardio). Weight gain comes from overfeeding and only overfeeding. Period. It doesn’t matter if you lift 10 lbs or 10,000 lbs. You cannot put on muscle unless you are overfeeding. You have to be giving your body more fuel than it needs for operations to put on muscle or fat mass. Muscle growth starts with stressing your muscles but can only be achieved with overfeeding.