In training myths part 1 I covered the myth that women will get bulky muscles like men if they train with weights and in training myths part 2 I covered the myth that says if you stop training your lean toned muscles will turn to fat if you stop training.

If you haven’t read part one or two yet then click on the links below to be taken to those pages.

Click to read “Training Myths Part 1”

Click to read “Training Myths Part 2”

In part 3 I’m going to clear up the myth that says “Specific Exercises Are Great For Toning Muscles”.

Having toned muscles is really a slang term that’s come from having really low levels of body fat. The lower your body fat percentage the more visible your muscles are under the skin.

Muscle is active tissue, it does not hang down or hang off your bones and it cannot be “un-toned”. The un-toned appearance comes from too much fat covering your muscle and not having enough muscle under the skin to give your body any shape. Poor posture can also give the appearance of “saggy” muscles.

In order to develop the lean toned appearance you need to train with progressive resistance. Whether that resistance comes from lifting dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells or even your own body weight, you need to challenge the muscles to become stronger while at the same time reducing your body fat.

The most effective way to do this is to train with a weight that allows you to perform 8-12 repetitions per exercise in supersets, tri-sets or indeed a circuit. The benefit of training like this is that you can get more done in less time than traditional weight training where you would say do a set of press ups, rest one minute and then repeat. The idea of resting is so you can achieve the same number of reps per set.

One of my favorite ways to build lean toned muscle is to use trisets or mini circuits of 4 exercises.

For example:

The beauty of doing this is that the legs are resting while you are doing press ups and recline rows meaning that you should still manage all you reps. An added benefit to this is that because you are doing three exercises back to back you are getting a high intensity cardiovascular workout. So it pays to train hard!

Add to the above exercise protocol some smart nutrition and you will be well on your way to reducing your body fat so you get the “toned” look.

I’ll be back in a few days with Training Myth 4: Specific Exercises Are Great For Spot Reduction

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc

I was playing about with the kettlebells the other day and decided to give this a go. If you have two kettlebells of equal weight then give it a go and let me know how you got on by leaving a comment in the box below.

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gJZmyi-tFY[/youtube]

A quick workout today of kettlebell swings and press up variations.

Perform the following exercises in the order shown without rest. At the end of the 8 exercises take 1 minutes rest and repeat 1-2 more times.

Kettlebell Swings

Burpees

Kettlebell Swings

T-Press Ups

Kettlebell Swings

Gecko’s

Kettlebell Swings

Press Ups

Watch the video to see how its done

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XsTywu4KD8[/youtube]

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc

I thought I’d share a quick 4 exercise circuit I did today using two kettlebells. After a quick dynamic warm up I did the following:

Double Kettlebell Swings x 20 reps

Kettlebell Lunge x 20

Double Kettlebell Swings x 20

Alternate Kettlebell Shoulder Press x 16

I then had 1 minutes rest and repeated the circuit 2 more times.

Watch the video and then give it a go.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsGbQjgzFns[/youtube]

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc

I thought I’d share with you one of the kettlebell workouts I’ve been doing to help me burn fat while developing a strong core. check it out and consider using it if you want to get in a quick fat blasting workout.

For this workout you will need one kettlebell although you can use a dumbbell if no kettlebells are available. You will be training one side of your body at a time using the following exercises:

2 hand swing (as a warm up) x 10

1 hand snatch x 10

Lungge from rack position x 10

Shoulder Press x 10

Squat from rack position x 10

After doing all the above for one side switch the kettlebell into the other hand and start again. After you have done both sides take a minutes rest and then repeat 2 more times.

Give it a go and don’t forget to leave a comment to tell me how you got on.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAwFV0-gyHU[/youtube]