So I was browsing through some of my favorite social networking websites looking for my muse and I found her where I least expected her. You see, I’m friends with a lot of the forward thinkers in the health and fitness industry and usually find it among them, but instead I found it with two people who aren’t “in the know.”

Many times women come to me for coaching to look and feel their best. This often relates to weddings, bikini season, class reunions, etc. Losing fat and building muscle are probably the two most common requests, which brings me to my story here.

Now this probably goes against what you’ve heard in the past and I’m going to have to ask you to trust me on this because almost everyone has the concept of “toning” wrong and that’s what this article is trying to do. prove. To learn, you must first empty your cup.

The first myth I want to dispel is all this “cardio tones your muscles” nonsense. This is going to go back to how I found my muse. My muse is an underweight girl who wants to tone her muscles. Her plan of action is to do Zumba (a cardio routine based on Latin dances) to achieve it. I’m sorry, but cardio doesn’t work to tone up. If you want proof, take a look at some of the marathon runners she sees. Many of them look like they just got out of a hospital bed. Hardly the toned look you’re looking for.

Next up is this whole “high reps tone muscle, low reps bulk” myth. If low reps always build volume and high reps don’t, why do bodybuilders have such big muscles? Common rep ranges for bodybuilders are usually between 8 and 12 reps. When you train with high repetitions, your muscles fill with something called “sarcoplasm.” It’s like a sticky substance that sits between muscle fibers, giving them a bloated look and doing little to nothing to improve strength. That’s not tone.

“But I don’t mind being strong. I just want to look toned.” That’s something I hear a lot from my clients. The fact is that they are the same thing. They are not mutually exclusive.

So what is tone and how do you get it? Tone is actually a function of your nervous system. It is the flow of ions through cell membranes. It is residual tension within a relaxed muscle. It’s like a relaxed state but ready for the muscle fibers to do something that requires force. The way you do that is with heavy, high-intensity strength training without burning out your nervous system. Learn how to correctly generate tension and use it correctly in your program. Stop viewing workouts as toning workouts, and instead think of them as strength training. If muscle tone is the destination, then strength training is the way to get there. Keeping your reps low will prevent you from bulking up, and of course you need to be skinny enough to see tone, but that largely depends on a proper nutrition plan.

Here is a sample strength training session (to tone muscles).

Squats 3 – 5 repetitions
rest 1 minute
Overhead press 3 – 5 repetitions
rest 1 minute
Pull-ups 3 – 5 repetitions
Rest 3-5 minutes and repeat 3-5 times 3 times a week.
Don’t forget to go heavy but not to muscular failure.

I know it’s not what you heard before. That’s a good thing because if you want to look like everyone else, do what everyone else does. If you want to look different, you have to train different (and smart, I might add).

Train smart, be strong and look amazing.