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Any workout plan is typically devised of 3 segments that have to performed congruently to get a lean and toned body.. Cardio, Diet, and Lifting Weights.. I feel diet is probably the most important of the 3, but  not one of the 3 facets can be left out, or you won’t reach your goal in the most efficient time. One of the most discussed debates in the fitness world is, how many reps do I perform to get lean & toned muscle. I’ve heard a number of different answers to this question, but I’ve thought, studied, and “felt” my way through to a solution that makes sense to me and has taken my body from soft, to lean & hard..

A Quick Lesson on the Biology of A Muscle..

Muscle has one of the two ways it can change as you continue your walk through life.. It can grow & get stronger, or it can get smaller & weaker.. In every muscle laying on your skeletal system, there are two dominant types of fibers that make up its physicality.. There are slow twitch fibers.. These fibers push your muscles through long durations of aerobic workouts (such as a marathon running & high rep weight lifting) and are genius at providing your muscles with oxygen.. This fiber represents about 1/3 of the size of your muscle.. Then there are fast twitch fibers.. These fibers only respond to explosive athletic moves (such as sprinting & heavy weight lifting) as they are an “anaerobic” fuel for metabolism and strength.. These fibers become completely exhausted quickly (This is why you get fatigued quickly from heavy weight lifting), but they represent 2/3 the size of your muscle. If we want hardness to our muscles (lean only comes with hard, dense muscle & low body fat), we want to work these fibers out!

Low Rep Range Strength Training for a Lean Body..

A lean body is a hard body.. Like I’ve mentioned before.. When you look at guys like Gregg Plitt, Gregg Avedon, Rusty Joiner, Eric Carlson, & John Fit (Icon Men, ya know.. :)) their bodies are lean and toned because they have that hard foundation of muscle coupled with low body fat.. They have destroyed those fast twitch muscle fibers.. Don’t get the idea these guys are just pretty & have a nice figure.. They are strong! Their diets keep them in check from bloating up like a body builder, but if they wanted to, these guys could all tweak their diets and step on stage with light competitive bodybuilders in no time.. Heavy weight training is what builds that density leading to a lean & hard beach body.. Performing exercises in a rep range from 4-10 is the key to tearing down fast twitch fibers, leading to lean & toned muscle..

 

(Steve is a pretty “fit” smart guy that I’ve listened to quite a bit.. He’s a bit pudgy in the video because he doesn’t eat clean.. I don’t endorse “Body Performance” and certaintly don’t endorse advice from guys who aren’t lean and cut.. But, he does make great points on ”Reps” that I wanted to pass along to you)

High Reps Create a Toned Body??? No Sir/Ma’am..

We’ve all heard high reps “tone” muscles.. This is a bit of fallacy in that the “toning” is not coming from unloading tons of reps.. A muscle can’t become “toned”, if the muscle is non-existent.. To create that muscle, you need to challenge it with low rep strength training, fueling growth & density.. The muscle is then exposed showing off a “toned” look, when your body fat levels drop.. This takes the other pieces of the fit puzzle (lean diet & cardio) to achieve.. The only time I would recommend high rep training is: If you’re workout is in need of a “shock”, high rep training would be good for a short term flip on your workout routine.. Or, if you are new at weight lifting and need to learn good form, high rep training is a safe introduction to feeling a muscle expand and contract.. BUT, if your desire it to build a lean, ripped beach body, you have to establish that “hardness” & that can’t come without heavy weights..

                

Remind Yourself.. What Makes a Body Fat.. & What Makes a Body Lean & Sexy..

I do this quite a bit.. I go back to the foundation of what makes a body look and feel the way it does.. Quick mental exercise here.. An unattractive body.. Has body fat, is soft & spongy to the touch, has little muscle mass, eats unhealthy foods, has a slow metabolism, doesn’t do cardio, & is not strong.. An attractive lean & cut beach body.. has low body fat, is hard & dense to the touch, has muscle mass, eats nothing but healthy foods, has a firing fast metabolism, does cardio consistently, & is strong.. The part of this equation we’re focusing on in this post, is the strength & hardness to the touch.. A fit body has strength, creating hardness, resulting in cuts.. If I want cuts, I need strength by tearing down 2/3 of my muscle made up of fast twitch fibers with 4-10 rep range training.. Ok.. That’s what I need to do.. (That’s how I mentally “jog” to reframe my focus & clear out anything other than the principle behind my workout..)

 As a Fitness Model.. Think of it This Way..

The Way You “look” is a reflection of what you eat.. Bulky Bodies aren’t eating clean.. (I will post about clean, lean diets for lean, toned muscle in a “soon-to-come” post).. The density and hardness of your body is a reflection of your strength.. If I can blend strong muscles, with a clean, lean diet & cardio regimen , the result will be hard muscle exposed by low body fat.. The Key is to find that balance so the system is working in harmony.. 80% of the time, I’m training in that 4-10 rep range because I want my muscles wound hard and tight around my skeletal system.. (As you get stronger and denser muscle, you actually “tighten” your body up shrinking your size.. Your muscle fibers wind tighter and tighter & suction harder and harder around your bone structure..) If you don’t keep your diet in check, then you still won’t expose leanness.. But that’s a different post.. For now, understand that, high rep training does nothing but makes you breathe aerobically harder.. Let your cardio/aerobics fuel fat burn..  When you’re hitting the iron, think of getting stronger and tearing down those fast twitch fibers to set yourself up for looking cut.. Don’t try and kill two birds with one stone here (Cardio & Weights).. Let the weights build the hardness, and then the cardio blast the fat..  “Going heavy” on the weights won’t make you bigger & swollen, if you’re eating right.. It will make you more cut, lean, defined, & chiseled..

John Fit.. (Flexing my bicep and touching it for hardness as I type.. (Great @ Multi-tasking)