My top tips for getting seriously toned

Do you want to get seriously toned? Then let me give you my top 10 tips for success:

When women say they want to get toned, what they mean is that they want to see definition and sculpt with little fat covering it up.

This requires two things to happen : Increase the size of the muscle cells and reduce excess body fat that may cover up the muscle.  Here is how you make that happen:

Lift weights

You won’t get bulky by increasing muscle but you will get sculpt and you will reduce your body fat.  Muscle increases your metabolism and helps your body burn fat by up to 93 percent.  Furthermore, your body can handle sugar better due to increased insulin sensitivity which results in managing your weight better long term.

Train the largest muscles in the body

Compound exercises such as squats, lunges, deadlifts, bench and overhead presses, chin ups and pull downs need to be incorporated into your workout. Work your upper and lower body; for instance, do a bench press followed by rows.  Maximise your time by reducing recovery and putting two exercises together.

Lift heavy

Lift weights that are between 65-80 percent of the maximum that you can lift.  For example, if you can squat 60 KGS one time, then your working sets or reps should be at least 40kgs.

Run fast

Sprints are amazing at improving body composition due to the afterburn effect.  Your metabolic rate increases for a full day afterwards which helps stimulate muscles and reduce body fat.  If you are a beginner try running at a moderate pace for 60 seconds with 60 seconds rest.  Intermediates can do five 30 second flat out intervals with three or four minutes recovery.

Don’t do ‘low calorie’ diets

When you drop calories too quickly below your resting metabolic rate , your metabolism becomes sluggish to preserve your fat stores. For example, the minimum calories a 5ft 5in woman aged 40, weighing 10 stones, needs is 1381 calories. This is just at rest, calories need to be increased when activity level is higher.

Increase protein

For me, protein’s greatest benefit is that it curbs the appetite whilst helping the body repair muscle tissue and increase its size.  Research shows that we should be eating 1.6 g of protein per KG of bodyweight.   If you’re not seeing changes in your body, you can go higher.

Carb timing

Aside from replacing bad carbs (bread, cereal, pasta, etc) with good ones ( vegetables, fruits, wholegrain) it’s also important to eat your carbs at certain times to ensure they are used as fuel and not stored as fat. For example, having your carbs post workout instead of having them at breakfast.  I find that cycling carbs by getting a higher intake on training days and eating less on lower volume training days or non training days can help you get leaner.

Consume healthy fats

Fats are not your enemy, stay away from low fat diets!  When you are on a low fat diet your body is not creating adequate hormones from the cholesterol in your fat.  Balanced hormones are also required for metabolism, muscle repair and fat burning. Balanced cortisol is also essential to reduce stress and keep the waistline slimmer.

Plenty of sleep

Not enough sleep can impair your ability to lose body fat.  It impairs muscle breakdown and increases hunger cues to the brain.  Sleep allows us to be more productive during the day and helps us deal better with stress.

If you want to get seriously toned with my help, please click the following link, which will allow you to access my training and nutrition programs online.  All workout videos supplied and full nutrition support: http://bit.ly/2f3AQvL

You can also contact me directly for more information at info@taragrimesfitness.com