You’ve been putting in work at the gym, and you’re starting to see some good results. Your arms are getting thicker and your shoulders are becoming broader. However, while the volume is starting to appear, you’re still not seeing much definition. At this point, maybe you’re starting to think about how you can tone your muscles to achieve a more shredded appearance, and work towards attaining the chiseled, sculpted physiques of your favorite bodybuilders, models, and athletes.
How exactly can you gain muscle definition? Is it a matter of choosing the right exercises, shifting the focus of your workouts, or something else entirely? The answer to this question used to elude me as well, so I figured I’d use this post to help some of you who may be struggling with this right now.
Can You Tone Muscle Through Exercise?
In general, all resistance training is intended to help you develop your muscles, but there are ways to place emphasis on different areas of growth. For example, you can alter how you train to focus more on either building mass or building strength.
Despite this, one thing you can’t really tailor your workouts for is muscle tone. If you’ve ever heard of exercises that claim to tone your muscles, this is, for the most part, false advertising. If this news comes as a shock, you’re not alone; for years, I was also convinced that I could develop lean muscle by working out in a certain manner, but only later did I realize this was false hope.
When you exercise, your muscles get larger. You can control how much you develop different muscles, but you can’t control or adjust the shape in which a specific muscle grows. Furthermore, the idea of trying to gain lean muscle is deceiving. The term “lean muscle” implies the existence of “non-lean muscle”, but there’s no such thing. All muscles have the same general makeup, since they’re all composed of muscle fibers and tissue. Saying you want to build lean muscle doesn’t mean much, because all muscle is lean.
So if there aren’t any particular exercises that prioritize muscle definition, what else can you do?
What if You just Exercise More?
Some of you may be asking, will I look toned if I just work out harder and gain enough muscle? This is also a question that has crossed my mind in the past.
Well, continuing to increase muscle mass can definitely help, but only to an extent, and more for some parts of the body than others. Areas where muscle volume can better compensate for definition include the chest and legs. For most people, these muscles will naturally look more toned when developed. In addition, more importance tends to be placed on the size of these muscles, and less so on their definition, when it comes to the general perception of a fit aesthetic.
The abs are another area where building mass can contribute to a leaner appearance. Although doing ab exercises alone won’t get you a shredded six-pack, they can jump-start the process of allowing your abs to become visible if they aren’t yet.
On the contrary, simply gaining more muscle mass doesn’t work quite so well for areas like the arms and shoulders. If these areas aren’t toned, then more muscle might cause you to look thick and bulky. If anything, this could actually contribute to making you seem fatter and less in shape.
What Actually Works?
OK, enough of the bad news, I’ll tell you what you can do if you’re trying to improve your muscle tone. As I mentioned earlier, there’s no changing the leanness or definition of the muscle itself. How toned your muscles look is actually primarily determined by how much body fat you have.
Even if you’re pretty muscular, with a substantial amount of body fat, your muscles may have a hard time showing through. You’d look big, but not defined. As you begin to strip away the fat, your muscles will come closer to the surface of your skin and become more visibly outlined.
There you have it: if you want to look cut, you need to cut.
This is true no matter what part of the body you’re talking about. People typically think of fat as being concentrated in the stomach area, but the body stores fat everywhere. Your face, arms, back, and even legs can all contain some degree of fat. In order for these parts of the body to look more toned, you simply need to decrease your body fat percentage.
That being said, it should also be noted that you can’t choose to tone specific parts of the body. You can’t dictate where your body burns fat. Therefore, improving muscle tone is really about achieving a leaner overall physique, rather than trying to sculpt out specific muscles.
When Will You Notice Results?
Everyone’s body is different, but generally speaking, your muscles will only begin to show real definition once you’re below 15% body fat. Beyond this point, women’s bodies will tone much more quickly than men’s. The female body can be quite shredded even in the low-to-mid teens, whereas men may only begin to see a faint six-pack at 10-12%. For men who really want a chiseled look, they’ll probably need to go down to at least 8% body fat, if not lower.
This might seem like a rather tall order, but while it certainly takes some dedication to get lean, there isn’t necessarily a threshold for what’s considered good. In reality, not everyone is looking to achieve the extreme.
Most people probably aren’t aiming for a model physique. If you’re a man hovering around 12% body fat, even if you don’t have a full six-pack, you probably still have decent abs and an overall level of muscle tone that’s much better than what most people have. You might be perfectly satisfied with your appearance at this point and not need to continue slimming down.
Most of us aren’t participating in photoshoots or bodybuilding competitions, so there’s no need to suffer the toll on your energy, appetite, and overall happiness that may come with trying to reach single-digit body fat percentages. Like I said, you’ll most likely need to get down to at least 15% body fat to start seeing definition, but after that, it’s really just about getting to where you feel healthy, happy, and proud.
There are many misconceptions when it comes improving muscle definition, and while we’re on the topic, if you want to know what other misleading claims are often perpetuated within the fitness community, check out my post Myths of the Gym that Simply Aren’t True.
