Welcome back to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays where we bring you one exercise topic, talk about it for two minutes, and give you three reasons why you should follow our advice. This week we are talking about toning. Specifically, if you are looking to tone up, three tips to help you get that nice toned look.
1) Stop Relying On Your Exercise To Lose Weight
When personal training clients come to us and say they want to be toned, generally they are saying they want to lose weight and be able to see their muscle a little bit, but not necessarily be big and bulky. The first tip we have if you want to tone up is you must stop relying on your workouts to lose the weight and lose the fat. Here’s the thing, when you rely on your workouts to lose weight and lose fat, you start doing excessive amounts of exercise. You are likely beating up your body, which means it is going to be harder and harder for you to keep returning to that exercise.
Action Step: Participate in an appropriate amount of exercise for your body, not an amount that is excessive. If you find that you are feeling sore, achy, or beat up at all from your exercise, you are doing too much. Consult with an exercise professional or certified personal trainer to have your body evaluated and learn how to appropriately exercise for your body.
2) Evaluate What You Are Eating
Our second tip to help you tone up is to look at your diet. You have to strictly regulate and control your nutrition. This is a topic that you should discuss further with a registered dietitian or licensed nutritionist. If you are looking to tone up, it would be a phenomenal investment of your time and resources to consult with somebody who has expertise providing nutritional advice. Fat loss comes from what you do with your nutrition, not necessarily all of the calories you burn while exercising.
Action Step: Connect with a registered dietitian or licensed nutritionist in your area to help dial in your nutrition. Remember, your nutrition will trump your exercise when it comes to fat loss, so be sure to consult with the pros about that.
3) You Must Lift Weights
Our third tip to help you tone up is to prioritize lifting weights when you exercise. So many people who want to tone up only want to do cardio because they think that is what brings about fat loss the quickest. However, you must lift weights so your joints stay strong throughout the process of toning up as well as to ensure you are not burning muscle while trying to tone up.
Action Step: Add in strength training for your entire body a minimum of two days per week if you want to tone up. Unsure where to start? Find a mastery level Resistance Training Specialist™ in your area to consult with!
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