When it comes to looking more toned, this can achieved by building muscle tone. By making your muscles stronger and leaner they become much more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
But how is muscle tone achieved, especially for women?
I’m sure we are all aware women’s bodies are genetically different to men’s in many ways so how women physically build muscle tone is also a little different.
Generally speaking, muscle tone improves when the muscle fibers become larger, which is usually the result of regular weight training. A key point to remember is muscle weighs more than fat so don’t be alarmed if the numbers on your scales increase a little if you are doing resistance training on a regular basis.
Here are the top 5 ways for women to build lean toned eye appealing muscle and improve your overall appearance.
1. More Repetitions When Weight Training
When you are training with weights you need to increase the number of repetitions that you are doing to stretch your muscles even more. A good workout routine would be to lift a reasonable weight for six to twelve repetition sessions.
2. Eat More Protein
Women can also get good body tone by eating a healthy and balanced diet. This includes eating a good amount of protein regardless of whether you are exercising or not. Protein is basically the building blocks for muscles. The more you have the more you can build your muscles. Protein is also fills you up so you'll feel fuller for longer and help you snack less between meals.
3. Reduce Carbohydrates
Even though carbohydrates are a necessary part of a healthy diet, you want to cut down the amount you eat if you are trying to build lean muscle tone. This is not saying to cut them out completely as they help your body release insulin, which is needed for energy and to help with muscle repair.
4. Eat More Vegetables
Eating vegetables are part of a healthy diet. Vegetables are typically low in calories and take a lot of energy to eat and digest. This helps with building muscle tone, particularly if they are eaten raw or just slightly cooked.
5. Limit Your Cardio Exercises
If you're concentrating on building a lean body tone then you need to limit the amount of cardio exercise you do. For example, long distance running actually encourages muscle wastage. Instead of stopping all cardio workouts, you can still build muscle tone by including very short bursts of high intensity runs or cycle workouts.