5 tips for women to develop lean muscle tone

Many women want to improve their fitness levels, partly for health reasons and partly for their overall appearance. For women who want to look more toned, they can do so by strengthening muscle tone and making those muscles much leaner.

Here are the top 5 ways that women can achieve good muscle tone and improve their overall appearance.

How To Build Lean Muscle Tone

Muscle tone improves when muscle fibers are enlarged. This is accomplished with regular weight training. Women are often concerned with building muscle primarily because they think they will develop a voluminous male bodybuilder shape. But men’s bodies only develop that way due to the hormone testosterone which has minimal amounts in women.

1. More reps in weight training

When you train with weights, you need to increase the number of repetitions you are doing to further stretch your muscles. A good exercise routine would be to lift a reasonable weight for six to twelve repetition sessions.

2. Eat more protein

Women can also achieve good body tone by following a healthy and balanced diet. This includes eating a good amount of protein regardless of whether you exercise or not. Proteins are basically the building blocks of muscles. The more you have, the more you can build your muscles. Protein also fills you up, so you’ll feel fuller for longer and help you eat less between meals.

3. Reduce carbohydrates

Although carbohydrates are a necessary part of a healthy diet, you should reduce the amount you eat if you are trying to develop lean muscle tone. This is not to say to eliminate them completely, as they help your body release insulin, which is necessary for energy and to help with muscle repair.

4. Eat more vegetables

Eating vegetables is part of a healthy diet. Vegetables are usually low in calories and require a lot of energy to eat and digest. This helps build muscle tone, especially if eaten raw or lightly cooked.

5. Limit your cardiovascular exercises

If you are concentrating on building lean body tone, then you should limit the amount of cardiovascular exercise you do. For example, long-distance running actually encourages muscle wasting. Rather than stopping all cardio workouts, you can still build muscle tone by including very short bursts of high-intensity runs or bike workouts.