When you’re lean, you have a lower body fat percentage. If someone says they want a “toned” look, what they most often mean is that they want to be lean. This has little to nothing to do directly with your six pack. Now, I say “toned” in quotations because “toned” is a phrase that the fitness industry and media made up as a catchier synonym to actually mean “lean.” Tone, or muscle tonus as per the textbook definition, actually describes the muscle fibers and the rate of muscle contraction at an internal, nearly microscopic level.

The more we force our body to adapt, the stronger and fitter we get in the process, and the leaner we can get when supported by a healthy, lean diet. Yes, it is true that lifting weights is scientifically proven to be one of the most efficient ways to promote fat loss while retaining muscle, which is a critical combination to looking lean or “toned.” Adding resistance to our workouts imposes (good) stress on the muscle, forcing it to adapt to the stress or load. This is something I am dedicated to as a trainer myself, and hopefully this post can serve as a tipping point for anyone who’s questioned the efficacy of lifting, but especially for all my ladies out there. I think the best way to remedy this fear is to educate – teach women how muscle is built, ways to maximize their training for lean goals, and how to eat for lean goals. So now we have a population of women who are not only afraid to lift, but afraid to admit they are afraid to lift. Shut up and go lift.” Or something similar to that. You’re a woman, you don’t have enough testosterone for that.

Yet so many women still cringe at the word “muscle.” While I do believe the conversation is changing drastically for the better and lifting is thankfully becoming less taboo, many women are still terrified by the common misconception that lifting weights will make them look “bulky” or “man-like.”Įven worse, I think there is a bit of shaming going on when fitness professionals quickly retort, “Lifting won’t make you bulk, that’s impossible. Muscle gives us a fit, lean look especially when eating a fit, lean diet. And carry our bottles of wine home from Trader Joe’s. But muscle also makes us look hot as hell and enables us to do really cool things at the gym. And muscle is darn right magical when you think about it! A muscle contracts or releases in order to pull our bones closer together or farther apart, which creates movement.

Bulking and cutting pictures