Working as a personal trainer for the past twelve years, the same questions tend to come up time and time again. There are endless diet questions of what food is good and what food is bad, as people try their best to eat right for their goals, while also balancing their healthy meals with enjoying their meals. 

As I discussed in the last article here, your diet comes down to figuring out your calorie needs and committing to them over time.

In this article, I just want to clear up the exercise side of things.

A big question that always comes up on the training side is ladies asking the question of:

“How can I get toned up?”

We hear this on almost a daily basis.

But what does that actually mean?

It means that most ladies want to lose weight and look healthy. They don’t want to just be skinny and look like they should be starring in a Thriller movie.

They want their legs, arms, tummy and bum to firm up so they can feel confident about themselves again.

So the next question is how do we get this toned up look?

This is where it gets messy. Even though we are now living in the year 2021, where we have so many great sources of information all around us, some mental blocks never seem to go away.

The mental block ladies have when it comes to resistance training, also known as weight training.

When describing this type of training to a lot of ladies, the first comment I receive is “But I don’t want big muscles!”. 

It’s understandable how people could think this way. We have all seen the movies with Arnie, lifting very heavy weights and the muscles popping out everywhere and most people don’t want that look, apart from teenage males of course.

It’s important to remember that males naturally produce more testosterone, thus leaving it that little bit easier for us to pack on the muscle.

Yet ask any guy who has been trying to put on size and he will tell you how difficult it is. Unfortunately, it’s not just as easy as going in and lifting some weights and then getting ripped.

What we also don’t see is that bodybuilders like Arnie have been training very hard for a very long time to get to that level, and in most cases are also taking some substances to improve their training shall we say.

So you doing 3-4 sessions a week lifting 15- 30 lbs on any given exercise isn’t going to create the type of stimulus bodybuilders are creating to get the physique they have.

What it will do though, is help to strip the fat off the body and build enough muscle to firm things up to give you the toned look that you desire.

Yes, that’s right.

You want to BUILD MUSCLE. Building muscle is essential as it also helps burn more calories when you are not working out and is great for your general health in terms of your day to day activities.

Just remember this the next time you are scrolling through social media wondering how so many ladies get such great results. 

Of course, there are lots of variables at play so it’s important to not get disheartened, but the one common factor is that all those ladies do resistance training.

So if you are frustrated with your results and you have been working super hard at it, then maybe it’s time for a change.

Stop with the endless cardio and/or dance classes and start lifting some weights, and ideally, get a local trainer to help you out with it so he/she can teach you the correct technique and way of doing things.

When starting out, you will find the best way of doing things is doing full-body workouts throughout the week where you hit all the muscle groups of the body. 

Basic exercises such as Squats, Lunges, Shoulder Presses, Push-ups and Planks are great to get started and you can progress them as you start to get in better shape.

This will enable you to make the most of your workout time, and when balanced with your diet and overall activity levels, you will notice the benefits very quickly.

Darragh is a writer for La Tonique and also owns 2 Gyms in Ireland. To get more information like this you can check him out at any of the following:

Website - https://www.dutchysfitness.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dutchysfitness/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/dutchysfitness/