Do you want to tone and shape or do you want to build muscle?
The other day, I was listening to a podcast and I heard an ad and it was talking about “toning” and “shaping” the muscle. I really dislike those terms because I believe marketing “geniuses” use those terms to mislead people into buying things that don’t work.
The truth of the matter is you can add muscle and you can reduce fat…that is about it. So, really it’s a trick question, you can’t do one without the other. The terms “toning” and “shaping” both describe building muscle, but that doesn’t sell very well especially to women who are afraid of getting big and bulking (which won’t happen, but that is another post entirely).
The point is, if you want to “tone” and “shape” you MUST build muscle and reduce the fat around it, the science is that simple.
All these half truths remind me of a guy named Jacob in the Bible. This dude acts like a used car salesman before there were cars. He cheats his brother Esau out of his inheritance by selling him a bowl of stew. Yes! A bowl of stew! Later he tricks his dad into giving him the blessing instead of Esau, which almost got him killed. Long story short, Jacob was a real trickster. But, despite his flaws God used him anyway. Which is pretty epic ;-).
Any way, don’t be fooled! This is how you really build muscle, aka “tone” and “shape”
- You need to challenge your muscles to grow. This means you need to use weight that is challenging and difficult. Doing 50 reps of leg curls is likely going jack squat. You need to progressively add weight, do more reps, do the same amount of work faster etc, to force the body to respond to the stimuli. If it’s easy, it likely isn’t working.
- There really aren’t any “super secret special exercises” that will magically and dramatically improve a certain body part…sorry. Stop Googling, “best butt exercise” and start lifting some heavy weights, do some Squats, Glute Bridges, and Lunges. What? They are hard…yep..you are right they are ;-).
- Don’t expect just doing Yoga or Pilates will help you build muscle. Sure, at the beginning any form of resistance training will help, body weight included.BUT…weight training will do it MUCH faster and no, you won’t get muscle bound and become inflexible with more muscle, but that is another entirely different topic and post lol.
- Lastly, your genetic build will greatly determine how your body responds to diet and exercise. So stop comparing yourself to other people ;-). I can get two people and have them do exactly the same things and eat the same things, but one will respond differently then the other, which is why a customized tailor made training plans are so important…just saying. You should have a plan built for Just YOU!
Go be awesome!
Kellen Lake – Don’t fall for the shiny words ;-).
PS – Last day to order Just 4 You Meals, go to www.just4youmeals.com closing orders are 12:00 PM.
