Let’s talk about toning!  This is a popular buzz word in the fitness industry.  Everyday people say they don’t want to build muscle they just want to tone.  They want to look toned.  This look is synonymous with being fit, healthy, and aesthetic.  Building muscle is often associated with professional bodybuilders whose life centers around their diet and workout regimen.  People see these bodybuilders, and although what they do requires an incredible amount of dedication, discipline, and sacrifice, the average person does not want to look like this.  The reality of these bodybuilders is they tend to use performance enhancing drugs to get these larger than life physiques.  So where does this leave the average person?

In the past, the fitness industry has preyed on what women want, so instead of educating people on the benefits of building muscle, they use words like tone.  So you get a lot of women who are scared of building muscle but are ok with toning.  News flash:  toning does not exist.  The fitness industry rebranded the idea of building muscle to frame it for an audience that was afraid of looking manly or overly muscled.  Women trying to build muscle are not going to transform into men on steroids.  This is just not possible, especially given the fact that women have 90% less testosterone than men.  This basically means that building muscle is actually a good thing.  And with the age of internet and social media, there are good examples of normal people and women who are fit, athletic, build muscle, and look amazingly beautiful and jaw dropping at weights between 130-150.  There are even stupendous female power lifters that sit at weights between 140-160 that put up incredible numbers and have phenomenal strength.  

Sometimes, men fall prey to the lies of toning as well.  There are plenty of men who want to be strong, fit, athletic, look good, feel good, etc…  Instead of looking like bodybuilder Bob, they just want to be toned.  Bodybuilder Bob is probably using the special sauce; a normal man will use consistency, sleep, water, protein, and happy thoughts.  When we are consistent with our exercise program, diet, sleep, stress, and hydration, we will achieve great results!      

Now the other part of toning is people basically cutting their calories to drop their body fat.  When men drop their body fat down to 7-10 percent, and women 16-20 percent, these people are going to look impressive. Sometimes the muscles, with the right lighting and angles, might actually look better, bigger, and more aesthetic than if we are at healthier body fat percentages.  So the other way to look “toned” is to eat in a caloric deficit, do a cut cycle for 3-6 months, get your body fat percentage down, and you can look toned.  

I hope you can walk away from this article empowered to attack your health and fitness goals with a balanced and more logical perspective.  There is nothing scary about building muscle, so just do it!  Whether you’re a man or a woman, build some muscle!  At some point, maybe you are going to want to go into a cut and drop your body fat percentage.  Great!  Go for it.  Maybe you need to lose weight and want to look toned.  Dial in your sleep, deal with stress constructively, eat a balanced diet, lift consistently, and find a way to do cardio that is going to be fun and sustainable, and be patient.  You will get there.  We need to focus on the process and delay gratification.