How to lift, tone and minimize muscles
ttcbelieve
Posts: 181 Member
Hi
what’s the best way to manage your diet and exercise if you want to Lift, get very toned but not gain tight muscles. By this i mean...I want a lean look like Jennifer Aniston and not the Lean muscular look of Madonna.
Do you focus more on carbs or protein? Do you lift heaver but fewer reps or lighter and more reps. any other suggestion.
P.S. Yoga or Pilates is not for me
Thanks
what’s the best way to manage your diet and exercise if you want to Lift, get very toned but not gain tight muscles. By this i mean...I want a lean look like Jennifer Aniston and not the Lean muscular look of Madonna.
Do you focus more on carbs or protein? Do you lift heaver but fewer reps or lighter and more reps. any other suggestion.
P.S. Yoga or Pilates is not for me
Thanks
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Replies
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You're thinking wrong. Muscles are hot.0
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You don't want to gain tight muscles? Are loose muscles better.....wait wut?0
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Tone = muscle. And you aren't going to get muscle like Madonna by accident.0
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I agree muscles are hot; I’m just looking for a slightly less muscular look than Madonna’s arms. Its only one of personal preference. I want the tone, i want the muscles just lean ones
Any recommendation.0 -
Bulking needs a lot of effort. It is not very likely it will happen by accident, and if you end up following a training routine that leads to bulking, it will be slow, so you will have time to change things. If you start strength training and do not aim at bulking, it will not happen.0
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The look you're going for involves switching to maintenance earlier on. Jennifer Aniston and Madonna have about the same amount of actual muscle mass. The difference between them is that Madonna chooses to maintain a lower body fat percentage, so the muscle becomes more visible because it's not underneath as much fat.
Most women can reach their goals the same way:
Spend a period of time focusing exclusively on building muscle. After that, switch to focusing on fat burning. Switch to maintenance when you have reached the desired amount of visible muscle definition.
Many women, because they never took the time to focus on muscle building, can't reach that point without becoming underweight because by the time they've burned enough fat to see any significant measure of "tone," they've become underweight. Your goal first should be to build some muscle so that this isn't a concern. After you've spent a significant measure of time doing that, THEN worry about getting "toned" and burning fat.0 -
You learn something new every day...I would have never referred to Madonna as having "muscular" arms. They look great, but huh?0
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You learn something new every day...I would have never referred to Madonna as having "muscular" arms. They look great, but huh?
she has this like super lean- old look that makes her look a little... um. rangey? it's because she doesn't have much mass- but at one point had insanely low body fat- it just looked (to me) odd.
Secondly OP- if you just want to lift and not get bulky- then don't eat a surplus- don't take steroids and don't be a man.
Just lift- and eat at maintenance.
boom.
done.0 -
This but Madonna's arms look the way they look because of her low body fat. The muscles are not actually that big.
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Gaining significant muscle mass requires eating above maintenance. As far as the degree of muscle "tone" - that is a product of several things including: general build, hydration/dehydration, and amount of subcutaneous fat. If you want toned muscles, but not big bulges or bulk it's pretty simple. Lift - but don't eat too far above maintenance or above maintenance at all, drink plenty of water, and don't drop your body fat too low.0
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Realize that the super lean, veiny, see the striations of each muscle only comes after severe diet alteration and in many cases water restriction. Even pro bodybuilders can't maintain that appearance 24/7.
Just lift. Heavy or light, min/max reps, slow controlled/rapid release - whatever it takes to break the target muscle out of the routine and shock it so it grows and builds.0 -
BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »
This but Madonna's arms look the way they look because of her low body fat. The muscles are not actually that big.
Agreed. People who are super super lean with low muscle mass actually creep me out a little. I'm not sure what it is, but something just looks off*.
*This is a personal opinion and not meant to be derogatory to anyone.0 -
ttcbelieve wrote: »I agree muscles are hot; I’m just looking for a slightly less muscular look than Madonna’s arms. Its only one of personal preference. I want the tone, i want the muscles just lean ones
Any recommendation.
stop worrying about what celebrities look like, and focus on your own goals...
wanting less muscle mass is just dumb...
but if you want to go down that path..eat 500 calories under maintenance and do nothing for six months...enjoy the "skinny fat" look...0 -
Madonna didn't turn out that way by accident, and neither will you. Don't sweat it.
There's no such thing as "tight muscle" vs....well, whatever you're thinking. Muscles do two things: they bet bigger or they get smaller. You don't want your muscles to get smaller, you just want to not have visible muscles in your arms. The way you achieve that is to maintain a high enough body fat percentage so that you have some fat covering those muscles up.
I'm not sure Jennifer Aniston lifts weights. According to this article (take it with a grain of salt), she eats 40% carbs, 30% fat, 30% protein and does "Budoken, a celebrity-rich, LA based (where else!) integration of yoga and martial and living arts."
Regardless, you can lift heavy and not be muscular, no doubt about it. Women have to try a hell of a lot harder than men to achieve a more muscular physique. Lift, eat, and lose weight only until you're happy with your body, then transition to maintenance. And you're certainly not going to get muscular while eating at a deficit.0 -
I think you're confusing the actual muscle size, with the muscle definition.
If you don't want the muscular defined look, that Madonna has, you don't have to minimise muscle growth, you just have to make sure that your body fat never drops that low. Madonna is (or at least was, at the time I'm you're presumably on about) was extemely lean. If she had a bit more body fat, she'd just look quite toned but you wouldn't see the muscles that clearly.
My advice would be to just lift. Don't worry about gaining lots of muscle, it's extremely hard especially as a woman (thanks, testosterone!) Just lift, and enjoy yourself. Find a rep range you like doing, and exercises you want to do. The ones that give the most bang for your buck are generally full body movements - think squat, bench, deadlift, but the best results are from the exercises you do regularly. If you don't like it, you're not going to stick to it.
If you want to narrow it down, generally:
2-5 reps = strength
8-12 reps = hypertrophy/muscle size (although I think food intake plays more of a role)
15+ reps = endurance
To have the muscles show = less body fat
To have the muscles not quite so defined = slightly more body fat.
To manipulate body fat, you either go into a caloric deficit, or a surplus.
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MiracleArmyGirl wrote: »actually, OP's post made me think and can someone help answer my curiosity
what did Jennifer Aniston and Madonna do differently?
did Madonna focus on lifting and kept reducing her BF% and Ms Aniston not as much?
personally I adore Jessica Biel's physique
Body fat and hydration.
Jennifer has slightly higher body fat than Madonna. Jennifer was more hydrated than Madonna.
Nicole Wilkins with low fat and dehydrated:
Nicole Wilkins with higher body fat and fully hydrated:
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I think the op should do some yoga and pilates.0
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Sounds like you want to be skinny fat. I’m not qualified to provide guidance on that.0
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MiracleArmyGirl wrote: »actually, OP's post made me think and can someone help answer my curiosity
what did Jennifer Aniston and Madonna do differently?
did Madonna focus on lifting and kept reducing her BF% and Ms Aniston not as much?
personally I adore Jessica Biel's physique
Body fat and hydration.
Jennifer has slightly higher body fat than Madonna. Jennifer was more hydrated than Madonna.
Nicole Wilkins with low fat and dehydrated:
Nicole Wilkins with higher body fat and fully hydrated:
I'd take either one...:)0 -
Nicole Wilkins is hot and I always thought Madonna looked great. When I hear people say they want to get really toned or prefer the body type your referencing, Aniston, I think Bodypump type classes more than actual weight room activity. And the pilates classes that they offer in my area would also fit this bill as they are boot type classes with or without weights and that is a look a lot of the participants had.0
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ttcbelieve wrote: »I agree muscles are hot; I’m just looking for a slightly less muscular look than Madonna’s arms. Its only one of personal preference. I want the tone, i want the muscles just lean ones
Any recommendation.
stop worrying about what celebrities look like, and focus on your own goals...
wanting less muscle mass is just dumb...
but if you want to go down that path..eat 500 calories under maintenance and do nothing for six months...enjoy the "skinny fat" look...
You have missed the entire point of my post0 -
AllanMisner wrote: »Sounds like you want to be skinny fat. I’m not qualified to provide guidance on that.
Its not exactly clear to me, why you have missed the entire point of my post0 -
ttcbelieve wrote: »ttcbelieve wrote: »I agree muscles are hot; I’m just looking for a slightly less muscular look than Madonna’s arms. Its only one of personal preference. I want the tone, i want the muscles just lean ones
Any recommendation.
stop worrying about what celebrities look like, and focus on your own goals...
wanting less muscle mass is just dumb...
but if you want to go down that path..eat 500 calories under maintenance and do nothing for six months...enjoy the "skinny fat" look...
You have missed the entire point of my post
perhaps- but you aren't listening to what people are saying.
madonna looks odd because she is SO low in Bodyfat with very little muscle- meaning- she sint' bulky- she doesn't have any sizable muscles.
The sure fact is she looks the way she does because she has a scary low body fat and could stand to run Stronglifts 5 x 5.
how about you pick a program like strong lifts- starting strength- strong curves- nrew rules of lifting- and give that 6 months of dedicated work.
then come back and explain more about your goals.0 -
Nicole Wilkins is hot and I always thought Madonna looked great. When I hear people say they want to get really toned or prefer the body type your referencing, Aniston, I think Bodypump type classes more than actual weight room activity. And the pilates classes that they offer in my area would also fit this bill as they are boot type classes with or without weights and that is a look a lot of the participants had.
Hi and thanks. I had a feeling i probably need some bodypump or pilates type exercise, but i like lifting and find it fun....not that i am very good at it...and i don't find pilates or yoga fun :-)0 -
contingencyplan wrote: »The look you're going for involves switching to maintenance earlier on. Jennifer Aniston and Madonna have about the same amount of actual muscle mass. The difference between them is that Madonna chooses to maintain a lower body fat percentage, so the muscle becomes more visible because it's not underneath as much fat.
Most women can reach their goals the same way:
Spend a period of time focusing exclusively on building muscle. After that, switch to focusing on fat burning. Switch to maintenance when you have reached the desired amount of visible muscle definition.
Many women, because they never took the time to focus on muscle building, can't reach that point without becoming underweight because by the time they've burned enough fat to see any significant measure of "tone," they've become underweight. Your goal first should be to build some muscle so that this isn't a concern. After you've spent a significant measure of time doing that, THEN worry about getting "toned" and burning fat.
Hello. Thanks a mill. This has been very helpful. I never considered body fat had anything to do with it0 -
All, Thank you very much. Your recommendations have all been very helpful0
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auddi. Thanks for the articale and link. It was very helpful. This quote captures my question a lot better
"I’m talking about women who don’t want big lats, big arms, big erectors, or big quads. They just want to look slender with some decent shape, and they want to know how to best train for this purpose. Ironically, this is the type of woman that gravitates to yoga, Pilates, and certain aerobics classes because they feel that these modalities will better-help them reach their physique goals. But these systems cannot do as good of a job at physique enhancement that proper strength training can simply because we can tailor the workout to the woman."
Again thanks0
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