5 Ways To Build More Muscle Tone

Muscle is one of the greatest assets on a successful journey in health and personal fitness. Some elements relating to how muscular we become are genetic, but there are things that you can do to improve your odds of building muscle.

Diet and rest have a significant impact on how your body is able to build more muscle tone. The way you lift weights, the frequency of lifting, and the amount of weight lifted also have an impact on your body’s ability to build muscle.

How To Build More Muscle Tone

1.Eat More Protein

High protein diets can seem like a fad, and if they’re done incorrectly, they can even put your body into a state of ketosis. However, consuming higher than the FDA recommended portions of protein, especially after completing resistance training has been shown effective in building and maintaining muscle mass.

Science Daily notes that doubling the amount of protein while dieting and exercising prevents the loss of muscle mass and promotes fat loss. Tripling the portions of protein however had no benefits for the participants in the study. Science Daily also noted, in older adults, that when building and maintaining muscle it was essential to double the recommended protein intake.

2. Do The Right Amount of Sets

There is a myth in the fitness culture that going to the gym should be a time-consuming affair. Serious results take a lot of time and serious effort. This may not be the case with resistance training when trying to build more muscle tone. The Mayo Clinic cites that, at the right weight, a single set of 12-15 repetitions can be enough to start building muscle. This method can actually be as effective as many sets of the same exercise. But there is a catch…

3. Lift The Right Amount of Weight

Lifting the right amount of weight can be tricky. In order for the one set theory to really work, the set has to cause muscle fatigue by the end. What is muscle fatigue? In this case, muscle fatigue is when the last repetition of the exercise is so hard that you can barely complete it with proper form.

4. Learn Good Lifting Technique

Speaking of proper form, making sure you know how to use the weights, bands, or machines is vital to making sure you’re building muscle. Imagine doing squats, but each and every squat in your set of 15 looks different. Really, you did 15 sets of random squat like activities at 1 repetition each. The reason that form matters is that you need to recruit the same muscle groups each and every repetition. This is why good form will lead to muscle gains even with only one set of an exercise.

5. Rest

Resting can almost seem like the opposite of what you should do in order to build more muscle tone. Typically, we think the harder we work the more we’re going to gain. With building muscle, this isn’t the case.

The American Council on Exercise states that 1 to 2 days should be taken off in-between the resistance training of major muscle groups. The Mayo Clinic only suggests 1 day. Why?

The muscle tissue is torn when we lift weights and perform resistance training. The time off between exercise sessions allows the body to make repairs to the muscle tissue. This repair process is what causes the muscle gain and not allowing the body adequate rest can result in a lack of muscle gains.

Choosing the Best Weights for Your Workout

Following these 5 tips, almost anyone can see significant improvements in their muscle tone. Remember that nutrition is just as important as exercise and keep in mind that sometimes the concept of “less done right is more” will get you further than killing yourself in the weight room.

Effective results come from using a variety of weights. To help you choose the right weights for your workout, download the free report, How To Choose The Best Weights so that you can perform the best weight training exercises to suit you and your goals.