You can't tone a muscle

You can't tone a muscle.

It's just not true.

What you may have heard is,

"Higher reps with lower weights make the muscles more toned."

Or maybe the other way around.

Honestly, there's a lot of gym myths out there.

But that's exactly what they are.

Gym myths.

Do you know what the difference in the 2 photos above is?

Asides from 10 years, it's the amount of muscle mass and body fat that I have.

You see, a muscle is just a muscle.

It can't be toned.

It can't be untoned.

It's just a muscle with its shape and with it's fibres.

You may say that my muscles look more toned in the photo on the left.

But that would be a wrong statement.

Sure, I look more toned, but it's not because of my muscles being toned,

It's because of my level of body fat.

You see, the image of being toned is very simply having a low level of body fat.

A low enough body fat level will allow you to see more of the muscle and therefore making you more toned, but not the muscle itself.

The more recent photo, the one on the right, I've got more muscle mass, but I've also got a healthy amount of body fat.

If I dropped back down to the same level of body fat as in the first photo,

You'd see the same level of toning, but I'd look a lot bigger simply because I've got more muscle mass now.

If you want to "tone up", the best way of doing so is increasing your muscle mass and reducing your body fat.

That's going to allow for your muscles to be seen easier and therefore more toned.

That doesn't necessarily mean doing 100 push ups and dips instead of 8-12 reps of the bench press.

The best way to build muscle is to progressively overload your training volume over time.

Lift a bit more each week and stay consistent.

That may be loads of push ups for you,

It may also be 8-12 reps of bench press.

Whatever you prefer and whatever you'll actually stick with.

The best way to lose body fat is to be in a sensible calorie deficit and to try to increase your metabolism.

How do we do this?

Eat a little less and build more muscle.

Muscle mass requires calories just to exist.

If you focus on building a bit more muscle, you'll look more toned, but it'll boost the base amount of calories you burn day to day, and therefore increase the speed of your weight loss.

Ultimately, eat a little less, and move a little more with a set plan.