These are common words heard by fitness professionals. Many people (especially women) are hesitant to engage in strength training routines as they feel this will make them bigger, bulkier, muscular or thicker. This is a misconception and a very counterproductive one for anyone looking to improve their health and physical appearance. Resistance training is one of the most important factors in achieving and maintaining a lean, shapely physique.

If your goal is to get leaner, it is essential that you increase lean body mass (muscle) or at the absolute minimum maintain the muscle that you have. Muscle burns energy both while active and at rest. It can be looked upon as the fat burning furnace of the body. The bigger the furnace the more energy consumed both during exercise and at rest. The more muscle you have on your body the leaner you are capable of getting and the easier it is to get there.

In order to tone, two things must happen. You need to:

1. Increase the amount and activity level of muscle
2. Lose body fat

Two methods of weight loss over a one month period:

Combination of resistance training, cardio, and a nutrient dense (healthy) diet (Individual loses 6 lbs of body fat and gains 2lbs of muscle for a total weight loss of 4lbs).

Combination of calorie restrictive diet and lots of cardio (Individual looses 2.5 lbs of fat and 2.5 lbs of muscle for a total weight loss of 5lbs).

On first inspection the second method may look better due to the overall loss of weight. There are several reasons this is not the case:

Loss of volume (think body size, how cloths fit, inches) will be greater in the first example as muscle takes up less space than fat.

Metabolic rate (energy consumption during exercises and at rest) will be increased in the first example and decreased in the second. This means the ability to burn body fat going forward is increased in the first example and decreased in the second.

The increased muscle in the first example will help shape and tone the body while the loss of muscle in the second example will contribute to a loss of shape and tone.

The individual in the first example will have increased strength, health, and energy levels. The individual in the second will have decreased all three.

So toning should be looked upon as improving shape and decreasing overall body size by increasing muscle mass while at the same time decreasing body fat. Resistance training effectively works muscles while stimulating the release of youth hormones responsible for muscle growth and fat loss making it the best toning exercise.