faq >> tone muscles without bulk


I am often asked can muscles be toned without them necessarily looking bulky. The short is no. Toning is just a word that we have made up. We like to use it so that when we do weight training we won't bulk up our muscles.

Technically it's not possible to tone your muscles. The muscle doesn't have a little voice inside that says "we won't build we will just tone!" If it is trained hard enough with all the right elements to assist it, like sleep, nutrition etc, it will grow to its maximum capability. If the frequency of training isn't there it can't grow to the maximum.

It's harder than you think to increase muscle size - just ask the guys who sweat it out in the gym for an hour a day 4-5 times a week. Women will find it harder than most to gain any bulk or size. This is because they do not produce enough of the hormone, testosterone.

For example, women can only produce 7-10mg of testosterone a week whereas men produce this same amount (7-10mg) per day. Accordingly, men find size and strength easier to come by than most women.

Under ACSM guidelines lifting a weight to maximum failure between 8-12 reps through one set will produce great gains, almost as good as lifting that weight through 3 sets.