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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The word “toned” gets thrown around often, and seems to be a hot button word in the exercise community today. If you’ve experimented with different types of exercise and classes, it is likely you have heard about workouts that claim to make you “long and lean” or to “lengthen and tone.” Typically, these classes mainly comprised of Pilates and barre type movements, focus on bodyweight, low load and time under tension. While these workouts are excellent for many reasons, they may not be the best way to achieve that “long and lean” look in the long term. First, it’s important to note that there’s no way to make your muscles longer. You can stretch and strengthen through a full range of motion to help a muscle achieve optimal length, but there is no workout that will make you taller or grow the length of your muscles. Fortunately, you can achieve muscle tone by increasing the size of your muscles, and this is accomplished only with heavy resistance training.

What is heavy resistance training?

There are many types of exercise, however, most can be divided into aerobic or resistance. Aerobic exercise is movement with the goal of increasing heartrate for cardiovascular benefits. Resistance training, or strength training, on the other hand utilizes external resistance with the goal of building muscle strength and mass. The Current Sports Medicine Reports journal defines it as “a form of periodic exercise whereby external weights provide progressive overload to skeletal muscles in order to make them stronger and often result in hypertrophy.” Under the umbrella of resistance training, there are many subcategories depending on type of resistance, the intensity, speed of movement and the goal of training. This includes anything from yoga to powerlifting, from resistance bands to barbells. In order to increase how firm and toned your muscles appear, you have to increase the actual size of your muscles. As it turns out, the weight has to be pretty heavy for this to happen. Lower resistance workouts like Pilates, barre and yoga have numerous benefits and are excellent forms of exercise, but they may not “tone” as effectively as they claim to. This is simply because once your body adapts to the resistance of your bodyweight, you will not see significant gains in strength or muscle mass. “Heavy” is different for everyone and it can take some time to figure out what is considered enough weight for each individual. However, generally speaking this specific type of strength training involves moving weight that feels challenging to the athlete. There is more information on these specifics below.

The benefits of heavy resistance training

Moving heavy weights is not just for looks. The benefits of resistance training, and generally the heavier the better, are numerous. Below are just some of the most notable benefits that you can expect if you start to add in heavy weights 2-3 times per week.

Build muscle

Despite what many businesses are selling, the best way to achieve that “toned” look is by building muscle and reducing body fat. Eating a healthy well-balanced diet in combination with heavy lifting is the real recipe for that lean look.

Reverse muscle loss

After age 30, muscle mass decreases 3 to 8% every decade. Research has shown that 12-20 sets of resistance exercises two to three times per week is enough to not only stop this loss but to also reverse it. And these gains can continue up until the 10^th decade of life!

Increase bone density

Another unfortunate factor of aging is the loss of bone density. In addition to weight bearing exercises and proper nutrition, resistance training can help to slow or halt the loss of bone density, which is especially important in post-menopausal women who are at increased risk for osteoporosis.

Reduce fat

The greater your lean muscle mass content is (the type of muscle you’ll build with heavy weights) the better your metabolism will be. This can help you burn more calories at rest, keep you at a healthy weight and therefore make your muscles more apparent.

Build resilience

Appearance is cool and everything, but the best part of heavy lifting is how resilient it can make you. A stronger body is harder to injure, quicker to heal and overall happier.

Build self-confidence

Lifting heavy stuff in the gym can help you feel more confident in your everyday life. There is no better way to prepare for your 10am presentation than to spend the morning challenging yourself and moving weights you didn’t think you were capable of.

Build brain power

Studies have shown that resistance training helps increase production of the IGF-1 hormone, which can help the brain build new neural pathways and strengthen the pathways that are already in place. This means as you get stronger you may also be getting smarter!

How to lift heavy

With any new exercise it can be a little intimidating and confusing to start. Here are some guidelines on how to initiate a resistance training program and how to figure out what “heavy” means for you. First, make sure any health concerns are cleared by your physician, and then use this quick guide to help you get started!

Warm up

It is always important to warmup before initiating any exercise routine. The simplest way to do this is spend 5-10 minutes getting your heartrate up, and then spend another 5-10 warming up specific muscles you plan to train.

Start slowly

When starting out with resistance training it is important to make sure you gradually increase the weight. If you go too heavy too quickly, you may end up with an injury or intense soreness that takes you longer to recover from.

Repetitions for beginners

Start with 3-4 sets of 8-15 repetitions. This is a good way to introduce weight training and is actually the ideal prescription for increasing muscle size, aka hypertrophy. The weight should feel heavy but you should be able to get through all the sets. If you can barely complete the last repetition it is probably too heavy, if you could do another 5-10 reps it is probably too light. This is where bodyweight exercises like in yoga and Pilates can be enough to build muscle early on!

Repetitions beyond beginner level

Work up to 5 sets of 5 repetitions. This is the ideal prescription for building pure strength, and is good to progress to once you feel comfortable with your form and have built a solid base. While this may not be the best way to build muscle size (aka “tone”), you will likely see some increase in muscle size if this is a new way of training for you. Most importantly, this type of resistance training is the best way to help you get your very strongest.

Rest

When doing resistance training, rest is very important. Resting allows the muscles to recover, so when you go for your next set you have maximal energy to perform. The heavier the sets the greater the rest time. A good guideline is 60-90 seconds of rest in between higher repetition sets, and 3-5 minutes in between heavy lower repetition sets.

Get guidance

The best way to maximize results is to work with someone qualified to make a specific plan for you and your goals. So reach out to your local personal trainers and strength coaches to get started safely and effectively. If building strength, resilience and confidence while developing toned muscles is something that interests you, then it may be time to look towards the weights. The benefits are numerous, a toned appearance is just one of them. If you are looking for further guidance into initiating this type of training, reach out to your local personal trainer, strength coach or physical therapist to help you get started.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title="Featured Products" border_width="2"][vc_row_inner equal_height="yes" content_placement="middle" gap="35"][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="178375" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1727451388704{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/thorne-research-creatine-nsf-certified-for-sport"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="178374" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1727451411225{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/vital-proteins-vital-performance-protein-isolate-powder-nsf-certified-for-sport-informed-sport-certified-vanilla"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="178373" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1727451439778{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="#"][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]