How to Stay Toned When Working Out

Whether you're training for a special event or you just spend a lot of time doing workouts that include cardiovascular exercise, you may find that you're starting to lose fat, but that your muscles are not achieving the toned look you wanted. Don't lose hope. A big part of getting that toned, muscular look involves burning the fat that's surrounding your muscles, so you're on the right track. To further your cause, however, you should also be taking some steps to increase muscle mass, including strength training and eating the right foods at the right time.

Instructions

    • 1

      Start a basic strength-training routine three days a week, doing it either just before your cardio workout or on opposite days of the week. If you've never done strength training before or it's been a while, start with weight-bearing exercises including squats, lunges, crunches, pushups and pullups. Do one set of 12 to 15 repetitions of each exercise, take a short break, and then complete a second set. If you can't do a "regular" pullup, find a low pullup bar that is about 4 feet high and rest your feet on the floor as you do a set. The same goes for pushups; put your knees on the floor if you need to do so.

    • 2

      Consume adequate protein at the right time. The average adult needs roughly 0.4 to 0.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight every day. For muscle building, though, you should pay special attention to when you consume it. Casein -- a protein found in milk -- is a good choice for a pre-workout shake, since it's slowly digested and causes amino acids, the building blocks of protein, to be released slowly, suggests Natalie Digate Muth, MD, MPH, RD, of the American Council on Exercise. Following your strength-training workout, consume a snack bar or shake containing whey protein, which has readily available amino acids, suggests Dr. Digate Muth.

    • 3

      Give your body the rest it needs. While you may be tempted to lift weights every day in order to get toned faster, that can actually elicit the opposite effect. When you strength train, your muscles get tiny tears in the fibers. That's where new muscle tissue will grow -- but it takes time. Your muscles need a minimum of 24 hours of rest in between sessions, and ideally more like 48 hours.

    • 4

      Progress to weight training after two to four weeks of doing body-weight exercises. This doesn't have to mean free weights such as deadlifts, squats, lunges, dumbbell curls and bench presses, but it certainly can. It can also include weight machines including the leg extension, leg press, biceps curl, triceps curl, butterfly, chest press and assisted squat. To really start building muscle, you have to work your muscles to fatigue at the end of each set. Set the weight plates to a weight that will cause your muscles to feel nearly exhausted at the end of a 12- or 15-repetition set, and complete one set. Add more weight as you get stronger, ideally adding about 10 to 15 percent every two weeks. Choose about eight exercises for each session, making sure your legs, butt, arms, chest, shoulders and back are each targeted in at least one of those exercises.

    • 5

      Hire a personal trainer -- or better yet, a strength and conditioning coach -- who can help you adopt a program tailored to your specific body type, lifestyle and overall goals. Starting out with the general suggestion to do strength training three days a week will get you started, but if you're still not making progress, a professional can help you get more specific.