Are You Wondering How To Get Toned?
How to get toned is a long standing question that many people think is easily answered. While there are certainly some obvious components of the answer that are universal, such as eat properly and workout, there’s plenty that isn’t so obvious. In this essay, I will uncover some of the finer points for you, as well as attempt to offer a few suggestions that may be interesting to the uninitiated.
Wondering how to get toned? Let’s start with what getting toned really means. For either gender, getting toned simply means having a low enough body fat percentage so some muscle tone is visible. That is the definition of toned. It doesn’t involve bulky muscles or athletic achievement. It simply is a way to refer to someone who looks like they are healthy and in shape without being an extremist.
How to get toned is naturally going to vary person to person. For someone who has only a few pounds to lose, it will be presumably easier as there is less weight to lose and we can likely assume that a tremendous lifestyle change won’t be needed to see results. For someone with considerable girth, the challenges are that much more. They will need to lose the weight as well as build the muscle (the tone). For someone coming from the opposite end of the spectrum, being underweight, that can be every bit as difficult as the significantly overweight person. People have mental associations, anxieties, and body image issues, and some people are prone to be emotional eaters, as well as emotional non eaters. Either way, there’s quite a obstacle to overcome just from that perspective alone, much less putting on muscle, etc.
I can answer the question of how to get toned far more easily if we speak in general terms for the sake of this essay. Let’s assume you are in moderate to decent shape and you want to lean up a little and put on a little muscle. You will of course need to be mindful of what you eat, but also when you eat. For example, it will behoove you to consume complex carbohydrates as opposed to simple processed ones, but you don’t want to ingest them before going to bed when you’re not going to be burning the fuel they provide. That’s pointless. You would want to ingest those good carbs earlier in the day. As the day progresses, switch more to fibrous carbs such as broccoli, asparagus, etc. Your body requires fats, but getting too many of even the good ones, will have you storing them as fat. Therefore, as with carbs, you’ll want to have them earlier in the day, and in moderation. I usually recommend people get in the vicinity of 10% of their caloric intake from good fats per day. Obviously, this is only a generalization that I can make for the sake of a blog entry for the masses, as opposed to a one on one personal training scenario where your individual needs are met. Protein should come from good sources and in the right amount as well. For the sake of a generalization again, I’ll recommend that 40% of your daily calories come from good sources of protein such as lean meats, fish, eggs, sprouts, beans, chicken, and so on.
Another consideration of how to get toned is water. It isn’t quite as easy of an answer if you don’t consume adequate amounts of water. Just as too much sodium can promote water retention, so can inadequate water intake. If there’s a bunch of subcutaneous water, you’re going to look flat and washed out, no matter how much muscle you have built.
The above scenarios, as stated, are simply guidelines for people who don’t have complicating issues such as hypothyroidism, IBS, ankylosing spondylitis, etc, etc. Anytime we add complicating factors such as medical issues, or psychological ones, such as the aforementioned emotional eating problem that many people suffer from, it becomes that much harder to meet your goals. Far from impossible, just more challenging and you may seriously consider enlisting some professional help, such as a personal trainer.
Exercise is the last remaining area to consider if you’re looking at how to get toned. Obviously, you’ll need to build the muscle in order for it to be visible so getting a gym membership wherever you feel comfortable, is a logical next step. If you are unsure of what to do, consult a qualified and experienced personal trainer for help. You won’t have to lift a million pounds in order to gain muscle and remember that the whole ideology of heavy weights make big muscles while lighter weight lifting promotes toning, or smaller muscles is utter nonsense. These are just fitness myths that float around aimlessly for the uneducated to pass along to one another. No matter what route you take, be it with an Austin personal trainer like myself, or going solo, just be consistent and honest with yourself and you’re going to find your results in time. How well you succeed obviously depends upon how much you know, and how much effort you put in to the endeavor.
Andy is a top notch trainer for fitness novices to seasoned body builders. He has a breadth of knowledge matched only by very few in the fitness industry today.
