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What is muscle tone anyway?
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Muscle tone is residual tension in a relaxed muscle.
What this means in layman terms is that even when a muscle is relaxed, nerve impulses from your brain stimulate the muscle fibers within it to contract; so the muscle is in a constant state of partial contraction which keeps it firm, healthy and always ready to use.
So, basically, you already have a certain amount of muscle tone.
How can I improve my muscle tone?
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Because, as you learned earlier, muscle tone comes from neurological activity increased muscle tone is not the result of a physical transformation of the muscle but rather an increase of residual tension in the muscle as a result of the nervous system being more alert.
Again, what this means in layman terms is that in order to increase muscle tone you must increase the tension in the muscle. Lifting heavy weights generates higher tension in the muscle than light weights therefore should be practiced for muscle tone.
But if high reps/light weights don’t work, how come I feel so hard and toned after such a workout?
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Good question!
The way muscle fibers work is that they can contract on their own but need energy to de-contract. The energy compound that relaxes the muscle is known as ATP.
High reps exhaust ATP in your muscle which leads to a temporary hardness (due to impossibility to de-contract) also known as the pump which is just temporary muscle tone.
But won’t training hard bulk me up instead of tone my muscle?
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This depends on the volume of work (number of sets and reps) performed.
The key to getting strong and hard (toned) without the added bulk is to train heavy but keep the volume low.
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muscle tone
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