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10 Ways to Avoid Losing the Thrill
  15 Rules of Muscle Building
  30 Day Challenge
  5 Star Arms workout - 1
  5 Star Arms workout - 2
  6 Muscle Building Tips
  7 Beginner Bodybuilding Tips
  7 Second Ab Workout
  8 Sets of 8 Muscle Building 1
  8 Sets of 8 Muscle Building 2
  8 x 8 Muscle Building Routine
  Abdominal Exercises
  Aerobic Exericse & Muscle Loss
  Attention to Muscle Pain & Injury
  Basics of Strength Training
  Beach Body Abs
  Beginner Leg Workout Routine
  Benefit of Flexibility Exercise
  Benefit of Strength Training Program
  Beginner Ab Exercise Guide - 1
  Beginner Ab Exercise Guide - 2
  Beginner Ab Exercise Guide - 3
  Beginner Body Building Workout
  Bench Press Blast Off - 1
  Bench Press Blast Off - 2
  Best Ab Exercise for 6 Pack Abs
  Best Compound Exercises
  Bicep Exercise Tip
  Bodybuilding Techniques
  Build Big Biceps In 3 Steps
  Build Muscle & Gain Weight 1
  Build Muscle & Gain Weight 2
  Building Strong Core Muscles
  Bulk up and Gain Weight
  Bodybuilding Race to the Top
  Cardio Boxing Fitness
  Cardio Exercise Safety
  Cardio Exercise Principles - 1
  Cardio Exercise Principles - 2
  Chest Muscle Building Secret
  Chest Training Technique
  Choose a Personal Trainer
  Choose a Health Club - how to
  Choose a Treadmill - how to
  Don't Want Muscle? - 1
  Don't Want Muscle? - 2
  Dealing with Sports Injury
  Effective Cardio Exercise - 1
  Effective Cardio Exercise - 2
  Exercising While Sick
  Factors Affecting Strength
  Full Squat Exercise
  Form - Weight Lifting & Bodybuilding
  Gain Muscle & Size
  Give the Gift of Fitness
  Gym Safety Basics
  Home Gym Equipment Buying Guide
  Heavy Bag Workout
  How to Build Pectoral Muscle
  How to Get 6 Pack Abs
  Increase Growth Hormone Tip
  Interval Aerobic Training
  Interval Training Workout
  Joy of Natural Bodybuilding
  Jumping Rope For Fitness
  Lose Fat and Build Muscle
  Lower Abdominal Exercise
  Machines Vs. Free Weights
  Mass Building Workout Secrets
  Maximum Cardio - 1
  Maximum Cardio - 2
  Measuring Progress
  Muscle Building from All Programs
  Muscle Gain Visualization Guide
  Natural Bodybuilding
  Natural Pain Mangement & Exercise
  Online Personal Trainer - 1
  Online Personal Trainer - 2
  Online Personal Trainer - 3
  Overtraining Syndrome
  Pay Attention to Muscle Pain
  Pack on Muscle Fast
  Perfect Rep
  Powerful Leg Workout Routine
  Principles of Effective Weight Gain
  Pushup Exercise Mistakes
  Shoulder Shrug Exercise
  Skull Crusher Exercise
  Sore Muscle Treatment
  Sprinting For Fitness
  Stomach Vacuum - Ab Exercise
  Stop Over Training
  Strength Training - Part 1
  Strength Training - Part 2
  Strength Training - Part 3
  Strength Training - Part 4
  Strength Training - Part 5
  Strength Training Routine
  Strength Training Strategy
  Stretching for Health
  Stretching Princples and Exercise
  Stretching - Why and When
  Superset Workout
  Teen Bodybuilding - Age To Train
  Time for Strength Training - 1
  Time for Strength Training - 2
  Time for Strength Training - 3
  Time for Strength Training - 4
  The Muscle Code
  The Truth About Exercise Needs
  Top 7 Outdoor Fitness Exercises
  Top 10 Reasons for Weight Lifting
  Top 10 Workout Mistakes
  Top Weight Gain Resources
  Travel and Fitness Tips - 1
  Travel and Fitness Tips - 2
  Tri-sets For Stubborn Triceps
  Unconventional Quadricep Training 1
  Unconventional Quadricep Training 2
  Underground Strength Training
  Warming Up Properly
  Weight Training and Manual Labor
  Weight Gain & Bodybuilding Myths
  Weight Gain Tips
  Weight Lifting For Kids
  Workout Without a Gym
  Why Calves Won't Grow

Diet & Weight Loss

10 Weight Loss Tips
  10 Rapid Fat Loss Tips
  13 Benefits of Green Tea
  16 Weight Loss Tips
  3500 Calories to Lose a Pound of Fat
  Alcohol and Belly Fat - Beer Belly
  A.M. Fat Burn - Morning Cardio
  Carb Cycling & Low Carb Diet
  Cardio Timing - Burn More Fat
  Clenbuterol for Weight Loss
  Diets Don't Work
  Eating Fat Makes You Fat
  Fast Weight Loss Tips
  Fat Burning Process
  Freshman 15 Weight Gain
  Holiday Weight Loss
  Hoodia Diet Patch
  Hoodia Gordonii Diet Pill Review
  Hoodia Gordonii Weight Loss
  How To Lose Love Handles
  Lift Weights to Lose Fat
  Lose Stubborn Belly Fat
  Low Body Fat Secrets
  Low Carbohydrate Diet
  Myth of Fast Weight Loss
  Oolong Tea Weight Loss
  Reducing Fat
  Repair Metabolic Damage
  Secret of Successful Weight Loss
  Stay Committed to Weight Loss Plan
  Stubborn Fat - New Ideas
  Super Sizing Dietary Displacement
  The Truth About Counting Calories
  The Truth About Body Fat -1
  What is the Glycemic Index (GI)
  When Weight Loss Stops
  Whey to Weight Loss

 

‘But I don’t want Muscles!’ - Part 1:

What Muscle is, and how to Build (or Avoid) it

Copyright Tanja Gardner

One of the common comments I hear from my female clients is, “Please don’t give me any weights work – I don’t want any muscle, I just want to tone.” The reasons differ from client to client, but it most often they seem to be based on a misunderstanding of what muscle is, how we build it, what it has to do with weight loss – or some combination of the above. There’s a lot of misinformation outside of the fitness world about muscles and what they do, so I’d like to spend the next two articles exploring the realities behind the myths.

WHAT IS MUSCLE?

When I was younger, I’d never really thought about what the ‘stuff’ between my skin and my bones was made of. I understood that muscles were what bodybuilders had, and fat was something that made you fat, and that I had some of each. I think, though, that I believed that they existed inside some kind of other substance that filled the space between my skin and my bones. Then, in secondary school, I learned that, in a healthy person, most of this magical substance was just muscle. In fact, I learned that, aside from my body’s networks of organs, blood vessels and nerves, and my skeleton there isn’t really much under my skin except for muscle and fat.

I learned that muscles were an incredible network of fibres that allowed me to move my limbs, to stay sitting or standing upright, to talk, breathe, and pretty much to translate any thought I had into action of some kind. I learned that if I didn’t use them, muscles would shrink and weaken, and if I did, they’d grow stronger. And I learned that as my muscles grew stronger, so did I.

All of this was quite a revelation for me at the time, so I can understand the initial confusion that exists amongst so many of my clients – why they want to tone without building muscles. The truth though, is that muscle is the only thing under their skin that can be toned, and that ‘toning’ often simply means that muscles become slightly more visible (which then makes the whole body look smoother and firmer). So without enough muscle to start with, there’s nothing there that can be toned.

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  • 34.3% increase in ten-rep max in full range of motion! (see above)
  • gained 9.0 pounds of new muscle (one subject gained 29 pounds of muscle!)
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BULIDING THE RIGHT SIZED MUSCLES

Often, the clients I speak to don’t have a problem with the idea of a little muscle. The problem is that many don’t realise it isn’t an ‘all or nothing’ thing. Unfortunately, because of the lack of clear information out there in the media, the only image they have to associate ‘women’ with ‘muscle’ is one of a female bodybuilder at the peak of her competition physique. Not that there’s anything wrong with wanting such a physique if that’s a client’s aim, but for most of the women I speak to, the possibility of developing such large, defined muscles is really quite scary!

Those kinds of muscles, however, don’t happen quickly or easily. Really large muscles require long, intense workouts over a period of time, and a base level of testosterone – a hormone most women don’t have in sufficient quantities (without the use of steroids, anyway) for size to become a problem. Granted, there are women with naturally high testosterone levels (and I’m one!), who will put on muscle more quickly. But even for me, muscles don’t suddenly appear, fully-formed overnight. So if I notice I’m gradually building size in an area I don’t want it, it’s not difficult for me to change my training in that body area to gradually reduce the size again.

Also, many people believe any kind of weights work will automatically increase muscle size. The truth is that not all training produces size increases. There are a number of variables you can play with in strength training – the heaviness of the weight, the number of repetitions of the movement, and the time you allow yourself to rest between groups of repetitions (or sets). Very generally speaking, training with a heavy weight and low repetitions in each set will increase strength; training with a medium-to-heavy weight and medium repetitions will increase muscle size; and training with a lighter weight with high repetitions per set will increase endurance.

In practice, it’s not actually quite this simple, and there are other factors to consider. The important point is that not all training will increase muscle size, that some muscle is necessary if you want to tone, and that working with a competent trainer will help ensure you get only the results that you want from your training.

In Part 2 of the article, we look at why muscle is so important for weight management and long- term health.

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>> Click here for Tom's Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle program

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About the Author

Optimum Life's Tanja Gardner is a Stress Management Coach and Personal Trainer whose articles on holistic health, relaxation and spirituality have appeared in various media since 1999. Optimum Life is dedicated to providing fitness and stress management services to help clients all over the world achieve their optimum lives. For more information
please visit check out http://optimumlife.co.nz, or contact Tanja on tanja@optimumlife.co.nz.

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