TONING vs BULKING - THE TRUTH

Tone or Bulk?

The terms toning and bulking may be self explanatory to most fitness fanatics, so why do many fail to hit their goals? More often than not this is due to a lack of understanding or misinformation. Toning and Bulking are heavily interchangeable and highly misunderstood, even by fitness professionals. Whether you are looking to tone or bulk, the basic idea is to improve specific aspects of your body, aesthetics commonly being the main reasoning.

Toning - the myths

Improving your body image is absolutely possible for anyone and this is an important fact to grasp quickly. 

What is TONING?

As previously mentioned, toning is a widely used and misunderstood term, due to the way the fitness industry has developed. Looking back over the past 15-20 years at how people achieved their fitness goals, dramatic changes have occurred for sure. Women were inspired by magazines and given the idea a slim waist was only achieved with unbearable amounts of cardio, and men were far too busy boozing in beer gardens watching football. Now in 2020 men and women flock to the gym on a mission to create a better version of themselves, not only physically but mentally too, but the key question still remains, what does it mean to be 'toned' and how do you achieve it?

Toning is simply the art of developing muscle groups while focusing on controlling or reducing body fat. Creating an aesthetically pleasing body that you can truly be proud of takes high levels of motivation and will power. 

LADIES!! Do not be intimidated by the idea of building muscle mass, using weights does not mean you're going to 'get big' or become 'bulky'. Female hormones such as Oestrogen do not allow women to carry excessive muscle mass so practically makes becoming too big or bulky impossible! 

in summary

Toning is simply the art of developing muscle groups while focusing on controlling or reducing body fat.

Our toning tips

Here are some simple tips that can guide you on your path to becoming toned.

bulking - the myths

Bulking is increasingly popular in the gym and  we are commonly told of many methods in which we can achieve this goal and many of them are nonsense, if you have tried them you will know.

what is bulking?

Bulking is a term that is used extensively in gym environments, especially amongst men who are looking to add muscle mass and improve strength. Typically when people bulk, body fat increases rapidly and minimal muscle gains are actually made.

Bulking is the intention to gain weight in order to build more muscle mass throughout the body, this can be one of the greatest aspects to a training routine, strength improves, food quantities increase. A typical bulking phase for an average gym-goer begins in the winter period which makes Christmas even more enjoyable.

in summary

Bulking is the intention to gain weight in order to build more muscle mass throughout the body.

Our bulking tips

Here are some simple tips that can guide you on your path to bulking.

Factors affecting how you bulk or tone

• Age - The older you become the slower your metabolism will become and this is why its common knowledge that it is much harder to lose weight when you get older and different methods must be tried.
• Height - Can play a big part in how you develop and distribute your weight and build from that, commonly if you are short you tend to become stocky fairly quickly but if you are tall you typically stay athletic and have broad shoulders.
• Current weight - Be real with yourself and look at what is the best goal to aim for, the more you weigh can not always be a negative but positive if you are looking to improve strength considerably. 
• BMR - The factors above all play a role in your basal metabolic rate, how your body utilises energy and quite simply how effective it is at burning calories. Once you know your BMR and have factored in the rate of exercise you do then you will understand how much you should eat for your body to survive each day. Then to make it goal specific you either add calories or take them away.

TONING vs BULKING - which is better?

Simply put, neither is better than the other! How effective each method is depends on how seriously you take the process and which process you choose to aim towards as some are more achievable than others.

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