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‘But
I don’t want Muscles!’ - Part 1: What Muscle
is, and how to Build (or Avoid) it
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by: Tanja
Gardner
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Copyright
2005 Tanja Gardner
One of the common comments I hear from my female
clients is, “Please don’t give me any weights
work – I don’t want any muscle, I just want to
tone.” The reasons differ from client to client,
but it most often they seem to be based on a
misunderstanding of what muscle is, how we build
it, what it has to do with weight loss – or some
combination of the above. There’s a lot of
misinformation outside of the fitness world about
muscles and what they do, so I’d like to spend
the next two articles exploring the realities
behind the myths.
WHAT IS MUSCLE?
When I was younger, I’d never really thought
about what the ‘stuff’ between my skin and my
bones was made of. I understood that muscles were
what bodybuilders had, and fat was something that
made you fat, and that I had some of each. I
think, though, that I believed that they existed
inside some kind of other substance that filled
the space between my skin and my bones. Then, in
secondary school, I learned that, in a healthy
person, most of this magical substance was just
muscle. In fact, I learned that, aside from my
body’s networks of organs, blood vessels and
nerves, and my skeleton there isn’t really much
under my skin except for muscle and fat.
I learned that muscles were an incredible network
of fibres that allowed me to move my limbs, to
stay sitting or standing upright, to talk,
breathe, and pretty much to translate any thought
I had into action of some kind. I learned that if
I didn’t use them, muscles would shrink and
weaken, and if I did, they’d grow stronger. And
I learned that as my muscles grew stronger, so did
I.
All of this was quite a revelation for me at the
time, so I can understand the initial confusion
that exists amongst so many of my clients – why
they want to tone without building muscles. The
truth though, is that muscle is the only thing
under their skin that can be toned, and that
‘toning’ often simply means that muscles
become slightly more visible (which then makes the
whole body look smoother and firmer). So without
enough muscle to start with, there’s nothing
there that can be toned.
BULIDING THE RIGHT SIZED MUSCLES
Often, the clients I speak to don’t have a
problem with the idea of a little muscle. The
problem is that many don’t realise it isn’t an
‘all or nothing’ thing. Unfortunately, because
of the lack of clear information out there in the
media, the only image they have to associate
‘women’ with ‘muscle’ is one of a female
bodybuilder at the peak of her competition
physique. Not that there’s anything wrong with
wanting such a physique if that’s a client’s
aim, but for most of the women I speak to, the
possibility of developing such large, defined
muscles is really quite scary!
Those kinds of muscles, however, don’t happen
quickly or easily. Really large muscles require
long, intense workouts over a period of time, and
a base level of testosterone – a hormone most
women don’t have in sufficient quantities
(without the use of steroids, anyway) for size to
become a problem. Granted, there are women with
naturally high testosterone levels (and I’m
one!), who will put on muscle more quickly. But
even for me, muscles don’t suddenly appear,
fully-formed overnight. So if I notice I’m
gradually building size in an area I don’t want
it, it’s not difficult for me to change my
training in that body area to gradually reduce the
size again.
Also, many people believe any kind of weights work
will automatically increase muscle size. The truth
is that not all training produces size increases.
There are a number of variables you can play with
in strength training – the heaviness of the
weight, the number of repetitions of the movement,
and the time you allow yourself to rest between
groups of repetitions (or sets). Very generally
speaking, training with a heavy weight and low
repetitions in each set will increase strength;
training with a medium-to-heavy weight and medium
repetitions will increase muscle size; and
training with a lighter weight with high
repetitions per set will increase endurance.
In practice, it’s not actually quite this
simple, and there are other factors to consider.
The important point is that not all training will
increase muscle size, that some muscle is
necessary if you want to tone, and that working
with a competent trainer will help ensure you get
only the results that you want from your training.
In Part 2 of the article (http://optimumlife.co.nz/Fitness%20Articles/Muscle/Muscle2.htm),
we look at why muscle is so important for weight
management and long- term health.
About the author:
Optimum Life's Tanja Gardner is a Personal Trainer
and Stress Management Coach whose articles on
holistic health and relaxation have appeared in
various media since 1999. Optimum Life is
dedicated to providing fitness and stress
management services to help clients all over the
world achieve their optimum lives. To read more
articles like this one, please subscribe to
Optimum Fitness News at http://optimumlife.co.nz/Newsletter%20Signup.htm.To
find out more about how you could benefit from
online personal training, please visit http://www.trainerforce.com/optimumlife/.
To find out more about holistic fitness and stress
management please visit http://optimumlife.co.nz,or
contact Tanja on tanja@optimumlife.co.nz.
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