Tone is a made-up word.

Yes, that’s correct. It’s a word the was created out of thin air to attract the attention of females that were trying to shape a leaner, tighter body.

There is not merit to the word, “tone”. But that doesn’t mean the idea behind it is worthless.

Creating a lean, tight, and sexy physique is something that can definitely be done, but it doesn’t happen through a “toning” process in our body.

Here is a four-step guideline on how to create that “toned” body you’ve always wanted.

STEP 1: BUILD YOUR STRENGTH

Strength is the foundation of it all. In order to build the muscle that you want to define and sculpt, you need to have a solid foundation of strength.

This is often the most neglected element of a training program, especially in women looking to build a tighter body. There is too much focus on feeling the burn and sweating, and not enough focus on building strength.

In order to become stronger, we need to send a strength signal to the body. We do this through our training program. The amount of weight we lift, reps and sets we complete, and rest taken in between sets tells our body to adapt and progress in different ways. Strength gains primarily come from our central nervous system (CNS). When we get stronger, our central nervous system commands more muscle fibers to do more work. The CNS is your amplifier to your muscles as an amplifier is to its speakers. The better the amplifier is, the better the speakers will operate. We absolutely need a strong signal from the CNS to command our muscles to lift more weight.

In order to build strength in the gym, you should focus on compound, bang for your buck movements. Compound movements are movements that involve more than one joint such as squats, lunges, deadlifts, presses, rows, and pull-ups.

While performing those movements, your intention should be on on moving as much weight as possible in lower rep ranges with good form. A traditional strength phase will include anywhere between 2-8 reps, 2-6 sets, and 90 second to 3 minute rest between sets.

As a general recommendation, perform 5 sets of 4-6 reps with 2 minutes rest in between sets, focus on maximum weight while maintaining good form.

Once you’ve established a good foundation of strength, it’s time to focus on building some muscle.

STEP 2: BUILD MUSCLE

I can’t stress enough how important this step is.

You simply cannot have a tight, defined, well-sculpted body if you do not have any muscle to show. Muscle is what we shape, build, and sculpt in order to allow our body to look a certain way. If you don’t have muscle, you won’t have anything to show off come beach time.

Muscle is what gives you the tight and defined look, so you absolutely need to prioritize it.

Building muscle has a little bit of a different focus than sheer strength does. Can you build muscle while focusing on strength? Absolutely. But once you’ve transitioned out of your strength phase, building lean muscle is top priority, so your intent in the gym needs to reflect that.

While lifting in the gym, your focus should be on the squeeze and contraction of your muscles. This is called mind-muscle connection. During each rep, your focus is on the squeeze of the muscle, feeling it work hard during each and every rep.

Mind-muscle connection can be a hard thing to establish, but describing it to my clients this way has seemed to help the most:

Don’t lift the weight to work your muscles, flex your muscles to move the weight.

Muscle building can happen in many different training protocols, but a general recommendation on how to structure your program for muscle building will give you a good start.

Aim for 8-12 reps, 3-4 sets, and 45-90 seconds rest in between sets.

After you’ve established strength, and increased your lean muscle, it’s time to shed some body fat and show off what you’ve worked so hard for.

STEP 3: LOSE BODY FAT

You need to have lower body fat percentages in order to create a lean and tight look. It is an absolute must.

Does that mean you have to be counting every calorie, every gram of carbs, and every milligram of sodium in order to get the look you’re striving for? Absolutely not, but it will take some commitment to change.

In order to lose body fat, we need have two things happening:

We need to be in a calorie deficit
We need to make sure our body is losing fat, and not muscle.

In order to lose weight, more calories need to be burned than taken in. We simply need to burn more calories than we eat and drink. That sounds super easy on the surface, but it’s much easier said than done.

If we take the above fact at face value, all we’d need to do is move more and eat less. The problem is, it’s not that simple. Eating less and moving more will help us lose weight, but it’s extremely important that we lose the right weight, which is body fat.

First you need to establish your deficit. Hopefully by now, you’ve figured out the amount of calories you need in order to maintain your current weight. If not, I recommend tracking your food intake as is, and see how that changes your average weight. Weigh yourself every morning, and use the average of those seven weigh-ins to make an assessment. If your average weight climbs after a few weeks, you’re likely in a calorie surplus. If your average weight stays, you’re likely at maintenance calories. If your average weight drops down, you’ve likely found your calorie deficit. If you haven’t found your deficit yet, you can use your maintenance and reduce from there. I recommend reducing 200-500 calories per day. So, if your maintenance is 1800 per day, you can drop down to 1500 per day and see how that affects your body.

I would take caution and remember that this is a tortoise’s race. Use the littlest adjustment to bring about the most amount of change.

Once you’ve established a calorie number that is less than you’ll be burning in the day, there are some other items you should address before putting things into action. These items have helped my clients lose body fat, maintain or even build muscle, and keep their metabolism roaring:

Keep protein high. Protein is a nutrient that our body needs to maintain and build muscle. Even if you are reducing calories, it’s important you keep your protein high in order to keep all the muscle you’ve worked so hard for. For relatively lean individuals, .8-1g of protein per pound of body weight works well. For those that are overweight or obese, .5-.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight is plenty. If you are obese, stay on that lower end.
Continue to lift weights. This is NOT the time to go balls to the wall with cardio to burn max calories. That will derail your long term progress. This is where you get to utilize all the time you spent building muscle and increasing your metabolism. Manipulate your weight lifting program to allow you to see the most amount of change with the least amount of work.
Use cardio as a last resort, short-term tool.

Now for step 4.

STEP 4. USE CARDIO AS A LAST-MINUTE BOOST

Cardio is one of the best things for fat loss only when it is used properly. And I mean it.

Cardio can either make you or break you.

Using cardio incorrectly can lead to a slower metabolism, and a much harder time losing body fat. But what does “incorrect” mean? In terms of fat loss, using cardio incorrectly means that you are using cardio as your primary driver for calorie burn. You are doing cardio chronically, every day, in the hopes to burn more and more calories.

Our bodies were beautifully designed to adapt to the environment we put them in. When we do tons and tons of cardio, we begin to adapt by burning fewer and fewer calories. When we do tons and tons of weight lifting and strength-building, we begin to adapt by burning more and more calories at rest. So it’s important we use the metabolism-boosting effects of weights to get the most results, and use cardio sparingly when our body is least adapted in order to burn the most amount of calories.

This is where we talk about doing cardio properly.

“Properly” in this context means that we are using cardio for a fat-loss boost as we approach the deadline of our goal. Remember, the less your body is used to cardio, the more effective the cardio will be for your fat loss. Use your weight training and nutrition to squeeze out the most amount of fat loss possible before introducing cardio.

When introducing cardio, I recommend implementing HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training.

HIIT has been shown to be effective for calorie burn during and even after the session.

I recommend 12-20 minutes of HIIT, starting on the low end and working your way up. Alternate between intervals of high heart rate, and low heart rate. Pick one of your favorite cardio movements, and implement the following format.

30 seconds as hard as you can go
1 minute at a moderate pace
Repeat until total time (12-20 minutes) is reached

If your body is only used to weight lifting at this point, you should see benefit from your HIIT workouts.

Again, start low, and build up. Get the most you can out of the least amount of work, and only add more once you’ve maximized your results at your current cardio “dosage”.

THE TAKEAWAYS

This is the tortoise’s race. Slow and steady wins the race. If you want to create a lean, tight, “toned” look, focus on the following steps.

Step 1: Build your strength. Lift weights with the intention to get as strong as you can. 4-6 reps is a good range.
Step 2: Build muscle. Once you’ve increased strength, focus on the connection and pump of your muscles, squeezing hard each rep, with the intent to build muscle. 8-12 reps should allow you to build some muscle.
Step 3: Burn Fat: Manipulate your nutrition and continue lifting weights to burn body fat while keeping and maybe even building some muscle.
Step 3: As your approach your goal deadline, use HIIT cardio as needed. The body adapts to cardio within 2-3 weeks, so don’t abuse it. Use it as a last-minute boost.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life.

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