The idea that lifting light weights for many reps instead of lifting as heavy as possible in the 8-12 rep range will get you toned, is perhaps the biggest myth in the entire fitness industry, apart from the thinking that doing crunches will enable you to get a six-pack.
Many people are under the impression that lifting light weights for high reps is going to get them looking toned. People want to look athletic and ‘toned’, but don’t actually understand the measures that they should be taking to get there.
Toning up is done by losing body fat and gaining muscle. Muscle is the one thing you want the most as it burns calories even when you’re asleep or sitting still.
To be fair, some women are scared to lift heavy as they are of the opinion it will eventually make them appear manly. That is also a myth. Unless you have one in a million genetics or take steroids you’re not going to look manly.
A woman has 20% of the testosterone of a man and simply cannot put on the same volume of muscle as a man.
Putting on muscle will end up making you look slimmer, firmer and you’ll probably end up weighing less in the process, although at the beginning you’ll probably look a bit bigger and weigh more for the first month or so.
So, ladies, do not waste your time with fat burners, high reps sets (10+) or silly exercises on a medicine ball or other fitness equipment. Learn to squat, deadlift, bench press and overhead press. Get strong at those, eat your protein, avoid liquid calories, junk food and thank me later.
Lifting light weights for high reps is not going to build as much muscle as lifting heavy would. And lifting light weights certainly isn’t going to help you burn more fat either.
The fact is that building muscle is a very, very slow process. No matter how hard you train, it’s a slow process, even for men. For women, whose bodies are biologically different, there is less ability to build muscle; this cannot be overstated.
Getting toned is simply a combination of building muscle and losing fat and should be treated that way. To get toned, simply put, all you have to do is build some muscle and the burn some fat off your body. If you can do this, you’ll look toned.