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Sign in17 October 2009
Exercise - Weight training and toning
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Is weight training the key to having the optimal body?
A combination of aerobic exercise, a calorie controlled diet and a degree of weight training is the optimal and most effective way to lose fat and tone up. Having a toned body is the ultimate aim for most people who are considering losing weight. People with toned body's look good in clothes, look good on the beach and generally are glowing with health.
So what do we mean by toning?
Toning is defined as the restoration of muscle and the simultaneous decrease in fat. The less body fat we have and the more we restore our muscles, the more athletic we look.
Restoring muscle tissue that has been lost through leading a sedentary modern lifestyle improves the aesthetics of the body and accentuates its curves and shape.
Given that our resting metabolism decreases with age (from age 20 onwards) due in part to natural muscle wastage, it is important to restore muscle to reverse this process.
Restoring muscles through a degree of weight training helps to, at least, maintain if not increase your basal metabolic rate, reducing your propensity to gain body fat over time.
Thus, a degree of weight training is highly recommended for all dieters as part of a healthy diet and weight loss regime.
Some unfounded and common concerns
A worry for some people, particularly women, is that weight training will make them too big......
......this is not really the case as to get much bigger, you would have to make a significant effort to consume many more calories than your TDEE (daily calorie requirement) whilst undertaking a very intense weight training regime.
Evidence suggests that fewer than 20 per cent of men, and even fewer women, can develop large muscles, even if they wanted to, regardless of what weight training program they follow.
Most large bodybuilders are genetically bigger and have a high propensity to gain huge amounts of lean body mass than other people, plus they are prepared to spend huge amounts of time at the gym. It is either that, or that this propensity to gain muscle mass to such an extent has been increased through the use of anabolic steroids at some point during their career.