Most people who go to the gym on a workout program do so in order to develop muscle tone. The goal of good muscle tone is to have visible, well-defined muscle formation that makes you feel good and draws admiring looks from those around you.

What It Takes to Acquire Muscle Tone

To achieve good muscle tone, you need to ensure a couple of important steps. First, you must work hard and consistently in order to build a solid foundation of muscle mass. There are no easy, fly-by-night quick fixes that will get you ripped. You have to endure the pain to get the gain.

Second, you also need to reach and maintain a low body fat percentage since body fat will cover muscle tone, hiding it from sight. If your muscle gains are shrouded in puffy fat deposits and water retention then you won’t be able to fully appreciate the underlying muscle tone. 

Proper Weight Training

In order to develop good muscle tone, you need to first lay a foundation of solid muscle gains which can be fine tuned. You can’t achieve this goal if you tackle your workout program half-heartedly or only hit the gym once or twice a week. Beginners should start out with two workouts per week and add days as strength and endurance increase.

Muscle mass comes from a high intensity strength training program. Utilize circuit training, supersets, compound exercises and other techniques which maximize your workout time and effort. Once you build some mass, you can begin to utilize isolation exercises to fine-tune muscle definition.

Effective Fat Loss

Reducing body fat is not the same thing as losing weight. You may actually lose weight and still have a high percentage of body fat that will work to hide your muscle definition. Also, muscle weighs more than fat so, as you build muscle, you may not see a significant drop in weight even though you’re burning a large amount of calories through strength training.

In order to effectively burn fat, you should perform high intensity exercises during your weight training which means working out hard with short periods of rest between sets and exercises. You also want to add a couple of hours of high intensity aerobics into your weekly exercise program. The idea is to burn more calories than you consume and to elevate your metabolism to a stable position where your body burns calories more efficiently.

Nutritious Diet

Exercise alone will not help you lose fat and gain muscle tone. If you continue to eat junk food, wallow in fat-filled foods, or gorge on two or three large meals a day then your body will resist building good muscle form and it will continue to pack on the pounds.

Therefore, a balanced and nutritious diet is a key element in achieving good muscle tone as well. Foods such as lean meats, low or non-fat dairy products, fruits and vegetables, and whole wheat products will ensure your body gets the proper micronutrients required to build muscle mass and deter fat gains.

When planning a healthy diet, include foods that will optimize muscle growth and only supply you with the amount of calories necessary to maintain your fitness program goals. Create a healthy menu and stick with the diet plan throughout your weight training program.