What is the best way to gain muscle tone?

Question

I'm a 17 year old male and am wondering what is the best way to lift weights to get a muscular body, without looking like a body builder. I've heard everything from 1 rep of the most weight you can do, to 30 reps of a very light weight. I also run 3 days a week and swim laps once a week. I'm also training for a marathon, so any advice on training for that would be appreciated as well.

Answer 1

As quoted:
the best way to gain muscle is just to work out do alot of weights.

, you should also take in plenty of protein and water and get plenty of sleep. Sleep and diet play a HUGE part in building lean body mass. I can't remember off the top of my head how much protein you need, but it's relative to your lean body mass and bla bla bla. You can look it up online, but be careful that what you're reading is legit and not an advertisement for a supplement or anything like that.

And working out all the time is "ok", as long as you're not working the same muscle every time. You MUST allow your muscles time to recover between workouts. Basically, when you lift weights you're tearing your muscle tissue and it needs time to repair before it gets worked again. But when you do work out, make sure you're pushing yourself enough. Get out of your comfort zone every now and then and "max out" so to speak.

Each session should be short; 60 minutes maximum. After 60 minutes the levels of muscle building and fat burning hormones begin to drop.

The rest between sets should be kept to a minimum; 60-90 seconds or shorter. Keeping your rest time in between sets and exercises to a minimum not only allows you to perform a larger amount of work within the 60 minutes but it also helps improve your cardiovascular and most importantly maximizes the growth hormone.

The sets of each exercise should be for the most part between 6-15 repetitions each. It is within this range that growth hormone output is maximized. Also, performing so many repetitions provides you with a great pump (blood rushing into the muscle) which is a good thing since along with the blood are nutrients that nourish the muscle cells and help them recover and rebuild bigger much faster. Also, this amount of repetitions reduces the possibility of injury since you will need to use a weight that you can control in order to do the amount of reps.

Your training must be progressive, performing one more repetition than the last time or a little bit more weight if you are able to. Just remember, you will not be able to increase the amount of weight every time you workout, but add some weights when you can still do the reps for that workout. And like Jaxon021 said, just make sure you do another set of muscles each time you workout, that way it gives your muscles more time to recover.

I think that only free weights provide the fast results that you are looking for. Whenever you use a machine you limit the amount of muscle fibers that are going to do work and therefore you get less results. I am not saying that all machines are bad. However, your workouts should be mostly based on barbell exercises, dumbbell exercises and exercises where the body moves more, such as the dip, the pull-up, the squat and the deadlift.

Eat a lot of protein to give your body what it needs to build those muscles. Oh and another important thing to remember, always try to workout WITH someone for two reasons. One it will motivate you to do better when someone eles is watching, and it will also allow you to really push yourself because you will have a spotter to help you when needed.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Forget about this light high rep stuff, light reps mean light gains. You need to be training heavier. If you are training for a marathon your chances of gaining upper body mass are very little. Running long distances and the fact that you have a 17 year olds metabolism is going to make it hard to progress in strength and size. Your chances of looking like a body builder are very low, so please do no think that because you are lifting heavey that all of a sudden you are going to become massive. It's not easy

Answer 4

If you want to gain muscle tone, you should do sets of 10-12 reps. If you want a little more size, but still some tone, do sets of 8-10 reps. It's a feeling thing, but your sets should be between 8-15 reps. More, and it's just working your endurance, and fewer will get you more size/stregth.

Answer 5

As much as you run it will be hard to gain size. For purposes of strength, muscle and fat are gained together. Gaining actual lean mass is nearly impossible, not to mention discouraging because you will not gain a lot of strength. Do not lift more than 90% of what you are capable of doing, lift 4 set sets at 8 reps. You are not looking for big gains so you shouldn't max out. Also, eat lean meats, tuna, fish, and chicken breast. Eat rice, plain pasta, and a lot of veggies. Do not suplement, if your muscles are sore for extended periods of time then take vitamins.

Answer 6

Foods would possibly not aid you obtain muscle tone, however excersice (specifically weight lifting forms) will aid...there are meals that you just must consume while constructing muscle (ordinarily lean proteins like fish, fowl, eggs, and so forth.)

Answer 7

Multiple reps of lighter weight will build strength. Heavier weight will build mass.

Answer 8

For tone do more reps of a lesser weight.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

Well, you're doing everything that I wanted to suggest. Running is essential to toning your body. All you really need to do is keep it up. You'll see results in the near future.