Every time you look at yourself in the mirror there is a question that runs through your mind- are you fit enough? Can you be leaner? Do you need to ‘tone down’? But a little doubt pulls the brakes on these thoughts. The first question that comes to the mind is ‘what if I end up looking like a body builder?’

People often forget the difference between toning down and building up muscles, popularly known as ‘bulking up’. A well built person can opt to tone his muscles and look fitter or an extremely skinny person can choose to bulk up his body and look fitter as well. This doubt mainly arises in the minds of women between the age groups of 30-50, as it is a general opinion that men naturally don’t hit the gym to tone down. Men bulk up and women tone down. Toning and bulking up aren’t two different things, but two verticals of the same thought process. So, what are the differences that you need to know in order to choose the best method for your body? Let’s take a look.

It is the same fat:

Both, toning and bulking are processes of fitness. In toning, one looks at losing those extra amounts of fat. Whereas, bulking involves adding more fat and putting it in the right places to build more structure. A person who chooses to tone down will need to reduce the fat in his body by combining diet and exercise. Bulking up calls for planned eating to add more volume to the muscles.

It is not the weights that matter:

Most often, women hit the gym to tone up but refrain from doing it as they fear that using too much weights may give them a ’12\” bicep’ and hence stick to doing light weights with more reps. This myth that by combining light weights and high reps one can tone down easily isn’t true. To tone down is to actually ‘tune’ your entire muscle structure in a particular way to improve overall fitness. Light weights gets people nowhere, unless they want to do it throughout their life. You actually use the same amount of weights to bulk up as well as tone, with a lesser focus to build structure.

It is the same process:

Any personal trainer would agree that technically, toning is the first phase of bulking up. Anyone who desires to build muscles needs to first lose unnecessary fat and from there channelizes the nutrition from food supplements to various parts of the body to bulk up. Channelize the food supplement nutrition to various body parts to bulk up. Hence someone who gets into toning their body can always take it a step further to bulk up and vice versa.

At the end of the day, the goal of both these body structuring processes is to bring about overall fitness. Both, toning and bulking up lead to fitness in varied degrees and different ways. Thus, it’s up to you to draw the thin red line between toning and bulking up.

Dan Clay is nationally renowned fitness expert and owner of Dangerously Fit Personal Training. If you would like to sign up for a free session with a Personal Trainer Coooge, or if you would like a free trial at a Bootcamp in Sydney, visit Personal Trainers in Sydney.

Dan Clay is nationally renowned fitness expert and owner of Dangerously Fit Personal Training. If you would like to sign up for a free session with a http://bootcampsydney.com.au/personal-trainer-coogee.html Personal Trainer Coooge, or if you would like a free trial at a http://bootcampsydney.com.au/ Bootcamp in Sydney, visit http://www.personaltrainersydney.com/ Personal Trainers in Sydney.

Author Bio: Dan Clay is nationally renowned fitness expert and owner of Dangerously Fit Personal Training. If you would like to sign up for a free session with a Personal Trainer Coooge, or if you would like a free trial at a Bootcamp in Sydney, visit Personal Trainers in Sydney.

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: Personal Trainer Coogee