Keeping Fit: The best way to tone up with exercise

Published 8:00 am Sunday, October 22, 2023

Very often people have the idea that high reps and light weight on exercise machines or with some pink dumbbells, along with some “cardio,” is best for toning up. A weight that feels heavy or creates a lot of tension is for guys who want bulk-up or gain muscle.

Often linked with this idea is the concept that if your muscles “feel the burn” with the higher rep ranges then you are burning the fat in that area. So men and women do lots and lots of repetitions for the waist with a light weight (or no added weight at all) and plenty of reps for the hips and thighs, etc. But is this really how to best create muscle tone and burn fat? Keep reading and you’ll see.

The definition of tone

Usually when people say they want to “tone up” they have an image in their mind of a body where the muscles are harder looking and not hidden so much under a layer of fat. This is really talking about two things. First, losing some fat to turn a thicker layer of fat into a thinner layer, and second, building up or hardening the muscle underneath. So what is the best way to achieve this?

The number one exercise for toning

Physiologically, “muscle tone” describes the readiness of a muscle to contract or do work, even when at rest. A muscle that lacks tone appears very slack or flaccid because the nervous system that turns on the muscle fibers has been largely disengaged from the muscles with inactivity. You have to “turn on” your muscles by flexing them in order to improve their tone. You could say that “tension equals tone.” Lack of exercise leads to poor tone, and while aerobic exercise and other forms of light activity improve tone a bit, progressive strength training with weights improves tone the most because it increases tension on the muscle the most.

Even more important, since tone is about fat loss as well as muscle hardness, a progressive strength training program will spare your muscle mass on a diet. If you don’t do strength training while losing weight you will likely lose muscle mass. You may think that doesn’t matter, but the more muscle you lose the slower your metabolism becomes and the harder it will be for you to maintain your weight loss.

Regular strength training increases metabolism. One study of 50- to 65-year-olds published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that a serious strength program done three times a week increased their resting energy expenditure by 8% in just 16 weeks. That’s the extra calorie burn of a two-mile walk every day — without the walking. Other studies at Tufts University and by strength researcher Dr. Wayne Westcott have found the same. Just recently, a 12-year study of 10,500 men found that in the long run strength training was more than twice as effective as vigorous aerobics for getting a slimmer waist.

Bottom line: If tone is the goal, regular strength training is the method

Unfortunately it is not the case that while doing those high-intensity contractions and “feeling the burn” you are burning the fat in that area. Spot reduction is by and large a myth. Most research and real world experience does not support the idea of burning off a significant amount of fat from an area by working the muscles directly below it.

Instead, fat loss seems to come off in a genetically-mediated pattern. In other words, you have no more power over where you lose fat than you do over where you gain it. The key is discovering a method of calorie restriction that you find enjoyable and sustainable and combining that with weight training and any other activity that you enjoy to burn some extra calories and your body will give up its extra fat stores in about the reverse order that you put them on.

Use your diet to take off the fat, and weight train to keep and tone the muscle.

Thomas Morrison is a fitness coordinator at the Bradley Wellness Center.