My client, Lana, sent me this email a few weeks back:

I PROMISE I am not ignoring you. The past 2 -3 weeks have been incredibly busy and maybe it wasn't the best time to start a new health/workout protocol but it is getting me to the gym so that's a win. As you can see from my workout tracker my workouts have been intermittent, but I am trying to get them in as much as possible. In general I have been trying to increase weight where possible and then decrease reps - but let me know if you think for fat loss and toning I should revert to a little lighter weight and increase the reps.

9/10 of my clients believe that training with high reps and low weight is the key to getting toned and losing fat. That’s a total myth.

I’ll start with debunking why “high reps = more toned” is not accurate. I’ll break down the concept of muscle toning and explore how you can achieve it through various rep ranges.

Next, I'll uncover the real keys to getting toned: building muscle and losing body fat. I’ll tell you the “secrets” to do both quickly and effectively.

Last, I'll present a sample 90-day plan that includes a well-rounded workout routine - so you can gain muscle and strength - and diet plan - so you can learn how to eat to maintain your hard earned muscle while shedding fat.

Without further ado, let’s learn how to get toned!

You can get toned by training in a variety of rep ranges.

The misconception that high reps are the exclusive path to a toned physique is prevalent, but it’s not true. Let's explore the science.

In their 2021 paper, Schoenfeld et al. explain, “Specifically, the [rep continuum] theory postulates that heavy load training optimizes increases maximal strength, moderate load training optimizes increases muscle hypertrophy, and low-load training optimizes increases local muscular endurance. However, despite the widespread acceptance of this theory, current research fails to support some of its underlying presumptions.”

For decades, it was thought that the 8-12 rep range was optimal for hypertrophy (i.e. muscle gain). It turns out that training with any weight greater than 30% of your max is effective for muscle gain.

Translation - you can do sets with as little as 5 reps or as many as 30 reps and - as long as you train within a few reps shy of muscular failure - you will gain muscle!

To understand why this is the case, it's essential to delve into the mechanisms of muscle growth: mechanical tension, muscle damage, and metabolic stress. For a deep dive on these three drivers of muscle growth, check out my article below:

HOW to Get Jacked - 3 Mechanisms of Hypertrophy

A quick overview:

Lower-rep, high-weight sets are known to generate substantial mechanical tension. These sets cause muscle fibers to recruit more motor units, leading to greater force production. This mechanical tension triggers muscle growth and strength gains, essential components of a toned physique.
Muscle damage is another mechanism for muscle growth. Intense weightlifting can lead to micro-tears in muscle fibers, which, when repaired, result in muscle growth. Low-rep, high-weight sets with a controlled temp can cause more significant muscle damage, contributing to both muscle development and muscle tone.
Metabolic stress, the "burn" you feel during high-rep sets, also plays a role. While high-rep sets may not be the best for mechanical tension and muscle damage, they can create metabolic stress. This stress can enhance muscle endurance and definition.

Here’s what each three of the muscle-building mechanisms look like in terms of intensity, tempo, rep range, and rest periods:

Mechanical Tension- Heavy strength work, 2-0-1-0 tempo, 1-5 reps, 2-5 min rest.

Muscle Damage- Slow and controlled work, (3-6)-1-1-0 tempo, 3-12 reps, 90 sec-3 min rest.
Metabolic Stress- Higher rep work >65% intensity, 2-0-1-0, 6-15 reps, 30-90 sec rest.

To achieve a well-rounded, toned physique, it's vital to incorporate various rep ranges into your training routine. High reps can contribute to metabolic stress and endurance, while low-rep, high-weight sets provide the necessary mechanical tension and muscle damage for muscle growth.

In summary, a balanced approach that incorporates these rep ranges ensures that you address all three key mechanisms of muscle growth and, consequently, attain a toned body.

Here’s how to put the evidence into practice.

How to actually get toned.

Okay, you’ve learned that you can train in a variety of rep ranges to get more toned. Never again will you spend all day doing bicep curls with the 15 pound dumbbells and explain, “I’m using lighter weights to tone up, broski.”

Now, let’s shift our focus to the two essential elements for getting toned: building muscle and losing body fat.

That’s all “toned” is. It’s having enough muscle along with low body fat.

Building Muscle: To achieve a toned physique, you need to build lean muscle.

This is where the concept of progressive overload comes into play. To build muscle, you must consistently challenging your muscles by gradually increasing the weight, volume, or intensity of your workouts.

Here are a few ways to effectively apply progressive overload:

Increasing Weight: Gradually add more resistance to your exercises, ensuring that you're working at the edge of your capacity. This can be achieved by increasing the weight on the barbell, dumbbells, or machine exercises.
Volume Progression: You can also focus on increasing the number of sets and repetitions in your workouts. This pushes your muscles to adapt and grow.
Intensity Adjustments: Vary the intensity of your workouts by incorporating techniques like drop sets, supersets, or negatives to continually challenge your muscles.

You can always progress your workouts a few different ways to accelerate your strength and muscle gains. Here are a few different periodization strategies that are effective for building muscle:

Linear Periodization: This approach involves gradually increasing the weight and reducing the reps as your training cycle progresses. It's excellent for building strength and muscle mass.
Undulating Periodization: With undulating periodization, you frequently change the rep and weight schemes within your workout, keeping your muscles constantly adapting. This variation helps prevent plateaus and promotes muscle growth.
Block Periodization: Block periodization involves breaking your training into distinct blocks, each focusing on different aspects of your fitness. For muscle building, you might have hypertrophy-focused blocks, where you emphasize higher volume, moderate intensity training.

Goku after he learned about progressive overload and periodization.

We’re halfway there. After you’ve built muscle, it’s time to lose body fat to increase definition and look more toned.

2. Losing Body Fat:

To do this, you need to maintain a calorie deficit. In other words, eat fewer calories than you burn day to day and week to week.

But when you’re trying to get toned, it’s crucial that you don’t miss the most important step - preserving muscle mass.

Here's how to maintain (and maybe even build muscle) while losing fat:

Calorie Deficit: To shed excess fat, you need to consume fewer calories than you burn. A sustainable calorie deficit is key, as overly aggressive deficits can lead to muscle loss and hinder your progress.

High Protein Intake: Protein is the building block of muscle. Maintain a high protein intake to support muscle growth and preservation while in a calorie deficit. Aim for around .8-1 grams of protein per pound of body weight.
Resistance Training: Continue your resistance training even while focusing on fat loss. This prevents muscle loss and helps maintain a toned appearance. Compound exercises, like squats and deadlifts, are particularly effective.

By combining progressive overload for muscle building and sustaining a calorie deficit with high protein intake, it will be impossible for you to not get more toned.

This holistic approach ensures that you build and preserve lean muscle while shedding body fat, ultimately leading to the toned and sculpted physique you’re after.

Get toned in 90 days - the workout plan.

Now that we've discussed the principles, let's put it all into action with a 90-day plan to give you an idea of how to get more toned.

Training Plan: Here’s a 4-day-a-week full-body strength training routine along with 2 days of cardio to support heart health and fat loss.

This program prioritizes compound movements and addresses each one of our 3 drivers of muscle growth - mechanical tension, muscle damage, and metabolic stress:

Here's the full routine:

Day 1: Strength Training - Mechanical Tension

Exercise 1: Deadlift

Reps: 4-5
Sets: 4
Rest: 2-5 minutes

Exercise 2: Bench Press

Reps: 4-5
Sets: 4
Rest: 2-5 minutes

Exercise 3: Barbell Squats

Reps: 4-5
Sets: 4
Rest: 2-5 minutes

Exercise 4: Pull-Ups

Reps: 4-5
Sets: 4
Rest: 2-5 minutes

Exercise 5: Bent-Over Rows

Reps: 4-5
Sets: 4
Rest: 2-5 minutes

Exercise 6: Standing Military Press

Reps: 4-5
Sets: 4
Rest: 2-5 minutes

Day 2: Strength Training - Muscle Damage

Exercise 1: Bulgarian Split Squats

Reps: 10-12 (each leg)
Sets: 3
Rest: 90 seconds

Exercise 2: Push-Ups

Reps: 10-12
Sets: 3
Rest: 90 seconds

Exercise 3: Romanian Deadlifts

Reps: 10-12
Sets: 3
Rest: 90 seconds

Exercise 4: Dumbbell Rows

Reps: 10-12 (each arm)
Sets: 3
Rest: 90 seconds

Exercise 5: Plank (Hold for Time)

Reps: 1
Sets: 3
Rest: 90 seconds

Day 3: Strength Training - Metabolic Stress

Exercise 1: Goblet Squats

Reps: 12-15
Sets: 3
Rest: 60-90 seconds

Exercise 2: Seated Shoulder Press

Reps: 12-15
Sets: 3
Rest: 60-90 seconds

Exercise 3: Dumbbell Lunges

Reps: 10-12 (each leg)
Sets: 3
Rest: 60-90 seconds

Exercise 4: Bicep Curls

Reps: 12-15
Sets: 3
Rest: 60-90 seconds

Exercise 5: Dips

Reps: 12-15
Sets: 3
Rest: 60-90 seconds

Exercise 6: Dumbbell Side Raise

Reps: 12-15
Sets: 3
Rest: 60-90 seconds

Day 4: Moderate Intensity Cardio

Choose your preferred cardio activity (e.g., running, cycling, swimming) and maintain a moderate intensity for 30-45 minutes.

Day 5: Strength Training - Mechanical Tension

Exercise 1: Front Squats

Reps: 4-5
Sets: 4
Rest: 2-5 minutes

Exercise 2: Pull-Ups

Reps: 4-5
Sets: 4
Rest: 2-5 minutes

Exercise 3: Bench Press

Reps: 4-5
Sets: 4
Rest: 2-5 minutes

Exercise 4: Romanian Deadlifts

Reps: 4-5
Sets: 4
Rest: 2-5 minutes

Exercise 5: Lat Pull Down

Reps: 4-5
Sets: 4
Rest: 2-5 minutes

Exercise 6: Standing Military Press

Reps: 4-5
Sets: 4
Rest: 2-5 minutes

Day 6: Moderate Intensity Cardio

Repeat the moderate intensity cardio session for 30-45 minutes.

Day 7: Rest

Disclaimer - This is a general plan that will work well for most. Adjust the weights and intensities based on your fitness level and monitor your progress over time.

Don't forget to include a warm-up and cool-down routines as needed. If you’d like me to create a personalized plan for you, hit me up.

Get toned in 90 days - the diet plan.

Diet Plan: To support your toning journey, here are two meal plans, complete with portion sizes, one for males trying to lose fat while maintaining (eating 2100 calories with 150g protein) and another for females with the same goal (eating 1600 calories with 120g protein).

Here's a glimpse of what your meal plan might look like:

Male Meal Plan (2100 Calories):

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Spinach and Avocado (2 eggs, 1 cup spinach, 1/2 avocado)
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Salad with Olive Oil Dressing (6 oz chicken, mixed greens, 2 tbsp olive oil)
Snack: Greek Yogurt with Berries (6 oz Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup mixed berries)
Dinner: Baked Salmon with Quinoa and Asparagus (6 oz salmon, 1/2 cup quinoa, 1 cup asparagus)

Female Meal Plan (1600 Calories):

Breakfast: Oatmeal with Almond Butter and Banana (1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 tbsp almond butter, 1/2 banana)
Lunch: Turkey and Avocado Wrap (4 oz turkey, 1/4 avocado, whole wheat wrap)
Snack: Cottage Cheese with Pineapple (6 oz cottage cheese, 1/2 cup pineapple)
Dinner: Grilled Shrimp with Brown Rice and Broccoli (6 oz shrimp, 1/2 cup brown rice, 1 cup broccoli)

Please note - These are general recommendations. Your ideal calorie intake/diet depends on a lot of factors, including your height, weight, age, training, and daily activity levels. If you’d like a more personalized plan, let me know and I’ll help you out.

By following this 90-day plan, you'll strike the right balance between muscle-building workouts and a diet that supports fat loss along with strength gain/muscle building.

In other words? You’ll be well on your way to gaining muscle, losing fat, and - of course - getting more toned.

The bottom line on how to get toned.

As you embark on your journey to a more toned physique, here are five actionable takeaways that will set you on the right path:

Embrace Variety in Rep Ranges: Understand that toning isn't exclusive to high-rep workouts. Incorporate various rep ranges, from high-repetition sets to low-rep, high-weight exercises, to engage different muscle fibers and stimulate overall muscle development.
Prioritize Progressive Overload: Implement the principle of progressive overload in your strength training routine. Gradually increase the weight, volume, or intensity of your workouts to continually challenge your muscles, promoting growth and definition.
Combine Periodization Strategies: Explore different periodization techniques such as Linear Periodization, Undulating Periodization, and Block Periodization. These strategies help prevent plateaus and maintain steady muscle growth throughout your journey.
Maintain a Sustainable Calorie Deficit: To lose body fat while preserving muscle, maintain a sustainable calorie deficit. Avoid overly aggressive deficits that can lead to muscle loss. A moderate deficit is more effective in the long run.
Prioritize Protein: Ensure your diet includes a high protein intake (around .8-1 grams per pound of body weight) to support muscle growth and prevent muscle loss during your fat loss journey.

The final key to getting toned? Patience.

It takes time to build muscle. It takes time to lose fat. There will be ups and downs along the way. Getting toned is a marathon, not a sprint.

This is a good thing because it means you don’t need to stress over every poor meal or bad workout. If you can stay on track 80% of the time, you’ll move in the right direction. Success lies in not stressing over every minutia of your workout and diet plans but in focusing on effort, consistency, and patience.

In closing, I can guarantee you one thing - I’ve never met anyone that regretted starting earlier rather than later. So, here are five things you can do today to get the ball rolling:

Set a goal (“I’m going to work out 3 times a week and track my calories to lose 20 pounds”)
Establish a finish line (“I’m going to stick with this for 6 months and assess my progress”)
Set a start date (“I’m going to start this coming Monday”)
Prepare ahead of time to set yourself up for success. (Pick a workout plan, stock your fridge with healthy food, and make small, sustainable changes).
Reach out to me if you need a hand with getting started (I’ve helped over a hundred people reach their goals and would love to help you out.)

Best of luck and remember - I’m a resource for you any time. Whether you need a question answered, help with your workouts or diet, or just need some support, reach out any time :-)

3 Steps You Can Take

Apply for coaching - If you’re ready to start, you can sign up for a free chat with me here. Best case, you change your life. Worst case, we draw up a road map to get you to your goals.
Sign up for my newsletter - If you’d like to hear more, sign up for my mailing list here.
Keep learning - You can check out my other articles here. Nobody asked me to, but I’ve spent a ton of time researching everything from artificial sweeteners to saturated fat to testosterone and more, so you don’t have to.

Best,
John

How To Get Toned Without Fat Burners Or Endless Cardio