The Truth About Getting ‘Toned’ As A Woman
You’re a woman and you want to get ‘toned’.
That’s great!
But the question is how?
The sad part is that the fitness industry is filled with a ton of misleading information trying to complicate getting ‘toned’!
In fact, there is so much confusion that we are at a point where people themselves don’t know what ‘toned’ means.
In this article, I’ll lay down the simple things you need to do to get a ‘toned’ physique.
None of the BS.
By the time you reach the end, I want you to have a solid understanding of what you are going to do next to achieve the look you want.
Let’s go!
The Truth About Getting ‘Toned’
What does getting ‘toned’ mean?
The definition of the word ‘toned’ is:
Having firm and well-defined muscles.
But if getting ‘toned’ is all about building muscle, why is this topic so complicated?
Because it isn’t!
Just building muscle isn’t going to get you the ‘toned’ look most women desire.
This is because have “well-defined” muscle is a part of getting ‘toned’.
This means that if you plan on gaining a lot of weight with an expectation that you’ll get toned by just building muscle, don’t forget that not carrying excess fat is a part of the look.
On the other hand, if you think you’ll just strip down fat and reach your desired look, you’ll probably be disappointed because of the lack of muscle you carry.
Basically, what this means is that getting ‘toned’ requires two things:
1. Relatively low body-fat percentage.
2. Relatively good muscle development.
Here’s the part people fail to understand:
“Relatively”
The Spectrum Between The Extremes
When we say relative, we mean relative to average.
Having ‘relatively’ low body-fat percentage doesn’t mean getting shredded like a bodybuilder.
Having ‘relatively’ good muscle-development doesn’t mean packing on size like a powerlifter.
The problem is that most people think of things only as extremes.
You are either fat or shredded.
You are either skinny or hold too much muscle.
What they fail to realize is that these things lie on a spectrum.
You don’t go from fat to shredded just like that.
You go from fat to average to lean to ripped to shredded.
You don’t wake up with 10kgs of muscle on your body.
It’s a step by step process that gets you there.
What’s even worse is that people don’t understand that you have control over this process.
Just getting the right mindset about this by itself is powerful enough for you to not make the one mistake all women make:
Fear of looking like a bodybuilder.
The Fear Of Looking Like A Bodybuilder
This is by far the most common issue women have when they embark on their journey to getting a ‘toned’ body.
If you fear getting too ripped and muscular like a physique competitor, let me reassure you by telling you that you won’t ever get there ‘by mistake’.
Consistent training to maximize hypertrophy (size) and a diet to get shredded to extreme levels of body fat don’t happen ‘by mistake’.
Especially if you’re doing this naturally.
Rate Of Muscle Gain As A Natural Woman
Just to give an idea of this stuff works, natural women can expect to put on an average of 0.45kgs (1lbs) of muscle a month in their first year of training, given they do everything right.
This means that even if you eat in a surplus and train in a way to maximize muscle growth, you will put on at max approximately 6kgs of muscle in a year.
Not only that, every following year, you can expect to gain half of what you expected to gain the previous year.
Now again, these are averages and some people could gain slightly more and some slightly less based on genetics.
The point is to show you that building muscle is a very slow process as a natural woman.
Also, let me repeat that this is after you optimize your nutrition for growth!
If you are eating in a deficit (to lose fat), you can’t expect to grow muscle at this same rate.
Thus, whether you’re dieting or gaining, the last thing you need to worry about is getting “too big”.
What you should be worrying about is whether or not you’re doing your best to gain or maintain your muscle mass.
Making The Simple Confusing
By now, we’ve established that you need to be at a relatively low body-fat percentage and have relatively good muscle development to get the look you desire.
This is simple.
What makes it confusing?
The people who want you to be confused!
Here’s the truth.
People know the common fears and try to use it to their advantage!
They start complicating things with fat-burning foods and detoxes.
They start complicating things with fat-burning workouts and cardio circuits.
What’s worse is that they make you believe that you will never get results if you don’t “BUY” what they’re selling.
But what if I told you that getting ‘toned’ is simple?
What if I told you that you can get amazing results doing things differently?
I know that the advice you’ll find in this article going forward will be different from what you’ve heard about transforming your body, but follow the steps and you’ll see the power of keeping things simple.
We’ll split this into 2 big sections:
1. Training - How Should You Train
2. Nutrition - How Should You Eat
How Should You Train?
Put back the tiny dumbbells
There isn’t much to explain here.
You need to progress to get results.
If you keep using the same tiny dumbbells every time you hit the gym, you’re going to be very disappointed.
I’m not saying that bands and cables and small dumbbells are useless, but if you want to transform your body, keep in mind that you will have to get a lot stronger than you are right now.
As you get stronger, you’ll notice that your muscles get firm and you start appearing ‘toned’.
That’s how simple it is.
People love to complicate this with tons of workouts and exercises which can feel like your muscles are on fire.
You are wasting your time chasing the burn and pump if you aren’t getting stronger over time.
Let’s clear one thing.
You are lifting weights to build muscle and get stronger.
Not to burn calories.
Yes, lifting weight burns calories.
But that’s not the primary reason you’re going to lift weights.
This means the random ‘fat-burning’ circuit workouts that come up on your feed are a waste of your time if your goal is to build muscle in the most effective way.
Here are the key takeaways from this section:
1. Your goal is to get a lot stronger than you are now.
2. You are wasting your time chasing the burn and pump if you aren’t getting stronger over time.
3. You are lifting weights to primarily build muscle and get stronger and not to just burn calories.
Make sure you remember these points.
Once you understand this, you’ll understand that trying to get your heart rate up by hopping from one exercise to another is not the best way to build muscle.
It doesn’t allow you to get strong fast (since you’ll be tired with the low rest periods) and it primarily focuses on burning calories, both things being sub-optimal for building muscle.
‘Muscle Confusion’ Is Confusing You
Another common mistake is trying to switch things up to ‘confuse the muscles’.
This is a myth.
You don’t need a new program every month.
Yes, you can rotate an exercise every 4-6 weeks if you plateau, but you don’t need to change the entire program to ‘shock your muscles’.
Guess what happens when you change things?
You have to relearn the movements before you can start getting stronger on them.
If you keep changing things often, you will spend your time learning the movements again and again instead of spending it on getting stronger, which is why we’re training in the first place (remember?).
The takeaway here is that you should stick to your program for a few months and keep getting stronger instead of changing workouts every session.
Why Proportions Matter?
Now that you know you have to get stronger, you can just hop onto any routine, right?
Not completely.
Don’t get me wrong, any program will get you results as long as you get stronger on it.
But there is more to it than just that.
You see, while most of how your physique turns out to be is genetic, how you train can affect your proportions.
This means that if you want to get a ‘toned’ body, you probably want to train in a way that enhances your proportion.
For example, a taut waist, well-developed glutes, proportionate quads and hamstrings, along with slim, yet ‘toned’, arms and shoulders are often desired by most women.
This is the same proportion I talk about in my article relating to transforming your physique to look like an Instagram model.
In this case, running a program primarily designed for men (with more focus on emphasizing the upper body) is not the best approach.
The underlying principles stay the same irrespective on gender, but we can vary things like exercise selection, volume and frequency based on muscles you want to prioritize
Now I know this might seem overwhelming if you’re new to it, which is why I have a routine you can run for the next 24 weeks (or longer if you like it).
Again, any program can work if you focus on progression, but if you’re interested in keeping stuff simple and getting in shape, give this a shot!
The Routine
The training routine here is simple.
It requires you to train 3 days a week.
You have to perform just 5 exercises in each session.
Nothing complicated here.
Everyone loves customized routines, but truth be told, as a novice lifter, you can make tremendous progress on a generalized template focusing on the basics applying the key principles.
That said, if you find some exercises too difficult or technical to perform as a beginner to training, I’ve included a list of easier variations you can use.
You can download the routine and the list of exercises below!
About The Routine
1. Rest Times
As you see, the rest times are longer than usual.
This is to help you recover and perform well in the following sets.
Again, the goal isn’t to just get your heart rate up and sweat.
It is to get strong to build those muscles!
2. Intensity
We’ll measure intensity with proximity to failure.
Failure means you fail to perform another rep on an exercise.
The intensity I want you to train at is 1-2 reps shy of failure.
This means that I don’t want you to push to a point where you cannot do another rep while running this routine.
This will allow you to progress smoothly and not generate extra fatigue.
Based on the current literature, we know that training to failure is not required to grow muscle.
That said, if you do fail a lift occasionally, it isn’t a big deal.
3. Progression
This is the most important part!
Progression is what will bring you results.
Just going to the gym and lifting the same weight every time will not grow your muscles.
Progressive overload is what builds muscle.
Simply put, you need to get stronger over time.
There are many ways to progress, the most popular being by increasing weight or by increasing reps.
I recommend you use a Double Progression model in this routine, which will incorporate progression in both reps and weight.
In this model, you increase reps till you hit the upper limit of a rep range, after which you increase weight.
This sounds confusing so just see the example below.
Here’s an example of what progress with Goblet Squat for 3 sets of 6-8 reps with 3 minutes between sets could look like:
Week 1 - 20kgs x 8, 7, 6
Week 2 - 20kgs x 8, 8, 6
Week 3 - 20kgs x 8, 8, 7
Week 4 - 20kgs x 8, 8, 8
Since you hit the upper limit (8 reps) of the rep range on all sets, you can increase weight the next workout.
Week 5 - 22.5kgs x 7, 6, 6
This cycle continues and you’ll keep getting stronger over time.
Obviously, in reality, the rate of progress won’t be linear.
That said, you should intend to get stronger every workout!
This model of progression helps you lift a weight that is heavy enough to cause growth and get your stronger over time.
Keep in mind that your form should be your priority at all times.
There is no point in cheating or swinging the weight just to tell yourself you progressed.
Stay safe and train hard.
Tracking Workouts
One of the most important things you need to do is track your workouts.
This can be as simple as writing;
Week 1 - Squat - 20kgs x 8, 7, 6
in the notepad app of your phone.
Do this for each exercise.
This will help you see what you have performed the previous week and will help you make progress by trying to push for an extra rep or increasing weight.
If you don’t track your workouts, you won’t know how much you did the last time, which is the biggest mistake most people training make.
5. Deloads
A deload is just a period where you train a little ‘easier’ in the gym.
This helps fatigue dissipate and helps you get stronger in the following weeks.
Here’s a simple outline for deloads.
You can choose to take them every 4th or 6th week.
During your deload week, you’ll perform each of the three workouts once.
When you perform them, perform only 2 sets for each exercise instead of 3.
Also, perform at the lower limit of the rep range.
For example, if your Goblet Squat for 3 sets of 6-8 reps with 3 minutes between sets looks like this;
20kgs x 8, 7, 6
During your deload week, it should look like this;
20kgs x 6, 6
Obviously, this will feel easy, because you have already done more before.
But that’s the point.
These occasional deload weeks can help you recover better and get stronger over time, so don’t ignore them thinking they’re a waste of time.
If you are on a fat loss phase, you can sync your deload weeks with your diet breaks (more on this later)!
Cardio and Abs
1. Abs
Doing ab work will not melt belly fat.
Doing side crunches will not burn love handle fat.
Getting visible abs primarily comes down to reducing your body-fat percentage which comes down to your diet.
That said, developing the core muscles is important too.
For that reason, here’s what you can do for abs:
Option 1:
At the end of each workout, do 3 sets of ab work:
End of Workout A: Plank x 3 sets - Max Time
End of Workout B: Leg Raise x 3 sets - Max Reps (perform the Reverse Crunch if Leg Raises are too difficult)
End of Workout C: Side Plank x 3 sets - Max Time (each side)
Option 2:
Perform 3 sets of abs on your rest days:
Rest Day 1: Plank x 3 sets - Max Time
Rest Day 2: Leg Raise x 3 sets - Max Reps (perform the Reverse Crunch if Leg Raises are too difficult)
Rest Day 3: Side Plank x 3 sets - Max Time (each side)
These exercises are just recommendations and you can perform any exercises you like.
Just make sure you are tracking and progressing on them over time like you should be doing with your other muscles.
2. Cardio
Cardio isn’t necessary to lose fat.
In fact, you can lose weight without any cardio at all.
That said, adding in some cardio can help you make the progress slightly faster.
The type of cardio you perform doesn’t matter.
You can read more about that here.
You don’t need to do HIIT or Fasted Cardio to lose stubborn fat.
Select a form of cardio you enjoy and do it consistently on your rest days.
I recommend going for 45-60 minute walks on your rest days.
Unlike HIIT, this isn’t taxing on your body and will not interfere with your recovery.
If you don’t like running and sprinting, this will be the best option for you.
Read more about it here.
Takeaway: If you’re on a fat loss phase, go for a 45-60 minute walk on rest days.
Set Goals
Set goals related to your training.
Here are a few ideas!
Do 5 push-ups.
Do 3 chin-ups.
Squat 1x your bodyweight for 6 reps.
Hip Thrust 2x your bodyweight for 6 reps.
The 1x and 2x multiples just mean that you should be lifting a bar with that much weight on it.
An Olympic barbell (the long barbell) in the gym weighs 20kgs!
Example:
For a girl weighing 50kgs, squatting 1x her weight would be squatting with 50kgs on her back.
(Since the bar is 20kgs, she’ll need 15kgs plates on each side to total 50kgs)
These strength goals are examples and you can create whatever goals you like for yourself.
The point is, if you can’t even do one rep of these exercises right now, getting stronger on them will build muscle and get you the ‘toned’ physique you want.
Nutrition
Weight Loss
Losing weight comes down to a calorie deficit.
No matter what anyone tells you and what you feel about your weight, height and hormones, a calorie deficit will be how you lose weight.
Of course, this isn’t to say that everyone has the same metabolism.
But no matter who you are, you will have to create a calorie deficit to lose weight.
The people who say can’t lose weight despite eating anything either don’t track everything accurately, or just end up compensating for an aggressive deficit with binge eating or overboard weekends.
If you want to start losing weight, here are the two things you need to do consistently.
1. Eat at a calorie deficit.
Bodyweight In Kgs x 2.2 x 10-12
Lean towards 10 if you want to go more aggressive and 12 if you want to go slower.
2. Eat sufficient protein.
Bodyweight In Kgs x 2.2 x 0.8
If you are overweight, this might give you a very high number.
If you aren’t a fan of eating too much protein, aim for at least 100g a day!
These numbers are generalized as a starting point and you will need to adjust them on your rate of weight loss.
You can read more about setting up your nutrition for fat loss here.
Once you have this in place, it doesn’t matter if you eat high-carb or low-carb.
It doesn’t matter if you eat chocolate or carbs at night.
It doesn’t matter if you fast or not.
You will get results.
Tips:
1. Instead of cheat days, use refeed days.
2. Take periodic diet breaks.
You don’t have to lose all the weight at once.
Taking 2 week breaks at your maintenance calories (Bodyweight In Kgs x 2.2 x 15) every 6-8 weeks along the way can help you lose weight in a more sustainable manner.
Also, you can sync your deload week (from the training section) with your diet break to get better physiological and psychological recovery.
3. Manage your expectations.
Aim to lose 0.5%-1% of your bodyweight per week (up to 1.5% of bodyweight per week if you’re overweight).
Slow progress which can be sustained is better than fast progress and rebounding!
4. Track your waist measurement.
The weighing scale will fluctuate based on various factors from hydration and sleep all the way to hormonal reasons.
Thus it is always important to focus on fat loss and not just weight loss.
A good way to ensure you’re progressing is to measure your waist periodically.
5. Focus on getting stronger in the gym.
If you can’t go to the gym, check out this article about training at home.
Weight Gain
Gaining weight comes down to creating a calorie surplus.
That said, there is no point in simply gaining weight faster if all you’re gaining is fat.
Since we went over the fact that you can gain approximately 0.45kgs of muscle a month as a woman naturally, it doesn’t make sense to gain weight aggressively.
I recommend gaining 0.5kg-0.75kg per month in your first year of serious training.
This rate of weight gain requires just 100-200 calories over your maintenance.
This is a very small surplus which is why here’s what I recommend:
1. Eat at maintenance for a month
Bodyweight In Kgs x 2.2 x 15
This number is generalized as a starting point and you will need to adjust it on your rate of weight gain.
Once you see how your weight responds to this number, you can make changes the following month.
If you gained no weight, increase 150 calories the following month.
If you gained extra weight, drop 100 calories the following month.
Do this till you are in the sweet spot of gaining around 0.5kgs a month on average.
This is a good approach instead of going with an aggressive surplus and packing on extra fat from the get-go.
2. Eat sufficient protein.
Bodyweight In Kgs x 2.2 x 0.8
Tips:
1. Enjoy the process and be patient.
2. Build a healthy relationship with food.
3. You will slowly be able to increase your maintenance, eat more calories and look better.
4. When you increase your calories, they should primarily be from carbs, since they’ll help you get stronger in the gym.
5. Focus on getting stronger in the gym.
Think Why!
You’ve almost made it to the end.
I told you that the advice in this article will be different from what you’re used to hearing.
Let me tell you something!
Along your fitness journey, you’ll come across a ton of people with different approaches.
Whenever someone tells you something, think why!
Think of the logic and reasoning behind why an approach works.
For example;
If someone tells you that cutting out carbs works, instead of jumping onto the bandwagon, think why it works!
Answer: It could help create a calorie deficit.
If someone tells you that adding butter to coffee works to burn fat, instead of doing the same thing, think why it works!
Answer: It increases the feeling of fullness which could help with creating a calorie deficit.
If someone tells you fasting works, instead of skipping breakfast, think why it works!
Answer: Eating fewer meals could help create a calorie deficit.
If someone tells you HIIT will flatten your belly, instead of doing it every day, think why it works!
Answer: It burns calories which could help you create a calorie deficit.
If someone tells you that lifting weight 6 days a week works, think why it works!
Answer: Because it still has the underlying principle of progressive overload.
Once you start thinking why, you’ll stop following fads and you’ll start doing what is right for you.
Maybe you prefer fasting and putting butter in your coffee.
Maybe you prefer eating chocolate and doing low-intensity cardio.
Once you understand the basic principle of how these things work, you’ll realize something;
The best approach is the one you enjoy!
Conclusion
This is it!
Thank you for reading this entire article.
I hope you got some helpful information out of this.
If you have jumped to the conclusion just looking for spoilers, here’s a summary of the entire thing.
Summary
Getting ‘toned’ requires two things:
1. Relatively low body-fat percentage.
2. Relatively good muscle development.
Having ‘relatively’ low body-fat percentage doesn’t mean getting shredded like a bodybuilder.
Having ‘relatively’ good muscle-development doesn’t mean packing on size like a powerlifter.
What people fail to realize is that these things lie on a spectrum.
Fear of getting too big?
Just to give an idea of this stuff works, natural women can expect to put on an average of 0.45kgs (1lbs) of muscle a month in their first year of training, given they do everything right.
This means that even if you eat in a surplus and train in a way to maximize muscle growth, you will put on at max, approximately, 6kgs of muscle in a year.
Not only that, every following year, you can expect to gain half of what you expected to gain the previous year.
This means that you have no reason to worry about getting ‘too big’.
Training
1. Your goal is to get a lot stronger than you are now.
2. You are wasting your time chasing the burn and pump if you aren’t getting stronger over time.
3. You are lifting weights to primarily build muscle and get stronger and not to just burn calories.
4. Trying to ‘confuse the muscles’ is a common mistake. You don’t need a new program every month.
5. You see, while most of how your physique turns out to be is genetic, how you train can affect your proportions.
6. Set strength goals and achieve them with the three day routine that’ll get you ‘strong and toned’.
Nutrition
Losing weight comes down to a calorie deficit.
No matter what anyone tells you and what you feel about your weight, height and hormones, a calorie deficit will be how you lose weight.
Gaining weight comes down to a calorie surplus.
Nutrition To Lose Weight
1. Eat at a calorie deficit.
Bodyweight In Kgs x 2.2 x 10-12
These numbers are generalized as a starting point and you will need to adjust them on your rate of weight gain.
Lean towards 10 if you want to go more aggressive and 12 if you want to go slower.
2. Eat sufficient protein.
Bodyweight In Kgs x 2.2 x 0.8
Nutrition To Gain Weight
1. Eat at maintenance for a month
Bodyweight In Kgs x 2.2 x 15
This numbers is generalized as a starting point and you will need to adjust it on your rate of weight gain.
Once you see how your weight responds to this number, you can make changes the following month.
This is a good approach instead of going with an aggressive surplus and packing on extra fat from the get-go.
2. Eat sufficient protein.
Bodyweight In Kgs x 2.2 x 0.8
Once you understand the basic principle of how these things work, you’ll realize something;
The best approach is the one you enjoy!
If you have any questions, drop them in the comments below!
Want a guide on how you can achieve your goal physique as a woman with a different workout template? Click here!
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*This is just educational content and not medical advice. Please consult a medical practitioner before starting a new diet or exercise regimen.
