What’s the BEST training program for a ‘toned’ ‘lean’ body? - By Tel

I’ve been in the fitness industry now for 9 years (WTF where did time go?!)

In this time helping hundreds and hundreds of women.

I’ve seen diets trends come and go, I’ve seen gym styles come and go – there is always a new hot fab that everyone feels like they need to jump on and it can get crowded and confusing – what will get you the results you want?! What do each of them do?! Which one should I do?! Can I do them all?!

Women when starting always want to be ‘toned’ this usually means they want to build muscle – have defined muscles, to look lean and athletic – this is what I specialise in because I know the exact right way to do it.

If you’re confused on what training styles there are out there and what they do let me save you the time and energy of testing them all!

Cardio:
This is what most women feel they need to do to loose weight and get toned but its actually the opposite (think boxing, les mills, f45s, CrossFit, BFT’s, HIIT, bootcamps) These fitness programs initially will impact the body – you’ll notice you might drop a couple kg’s due to the increase in calories burnt BUT after usually 2-3 months you’ll plateau – fitness will stop progressing, kilos will stop dropping the only way you can keep the wheel turning is to add MORE sessions as your body adapts, cardio 5+ times a week no thank you!  

Strength:
This is what most women think will turn them into a big jacked and tanned bodybuilding beast

Let me set the record straight – YOU WILL NOT LOOK LIKE A BODY BUILDER IF YOU START LIFTING WEIGHTS THE RIGHT WAY!

The right way?! There is more than one way?!?!

Firstly lets talk about the wrong way…

Strength training is thrown around a lot lately so be mindful of what you’re walking into…

High rep ‘strength’ movements this is known as hypertrophy – this IS the style that bodybuilders do to increase muscle size. So when you’re pumping out 15+ reps this is hypertrophy – usually a lot of ‘timed’ work falls into this category.

We use the higher rep exercises at Royale in our accessory work after our main lifts to build up weak points or areas gals wanna grow – eg booty for a perky butt and shoulders and back for a nice defined ‘toned’ look in a backless dress and a beautiful tall posture.

I would steer clear of high rep movements for ALL your strength work all the time, instead have your main lifts sit in the 1-5rep range, even up to 8 reps depending on the strength cycle – if your gym doesn’t do this and simply sticks to higher reps or ‘timed’ strength work at a mediocre weight that never progresses, to put it simply RUN!

Okay that was dramatic but seriously maybe reconsider  

The ‘Fillers’:
These are movements that you could do everyday and recover relatively well from (think walking, pilates yoga, stretching) – they are what I call complimentary movements – doing them alone won’t change your body but they are low impact so you can add them in conjunction of any of the above and your body won’t be impacted negatively – they are usually a really good starting point for anyone entering the fitness world because of that reason.

Okay so these are the general fitness regimes I see most women do at the moment!

So now you know the style of training around atm – which ones should you do? How many times a week!?!? Tell me Tel I need to knoooowwwww!

Well its all depending on what you’re after – if you’re a cardio bunny you’re going to love the cardio options but just be mindful that as your body adapts to see results and to keep your body changing you’ll need to keep adding more sessions in – I still remember the days at the YMCA where I use to do back to back step class into body attack and then come back and do another step class my body looked thicker, no definition what so ever and I was training SO much!

If you’re just starting walking and pilates, yoga are great introductions to the fitness world – they will teach you body awareness and foundations for movement, like with the cardio you’ll more the likely plateau but thats okay because when you do you know its time to move onto the next chapter!

Which leads me to the holly grail of female training.

If I could shake all the girls out there that are doing tireless amounts of cardio and pointless training and say STOP TRAINING SO MUCH there is a better way, I swear I would! (aka shake my younger self)

Okay, you ready?! Here it is:
1) 3 Strength & Conditioning sessions (x1lower, x1upper, x1 full body) remembering the strength must be TRUE strength not a crappy interpretation of ‘strength training’ main lifts + accessory work, the conditioning element must be hit at full intensity.

2) Daily Walks (great to burn some extra calories yes but mentally there is just something about a walk that resets everything.)

3) 1-2 ‘Optional extra stuff’ eg pilates, boxing (The Filler stuff that won’t impact your main training but might be a bit of fun to do on the side to learn a new skill – totally up to you if you choose to add this in I personally don’t)

Now if you are already training 3 days strength and conditioning and not progressing/seeing results there here are the 3 reasons why:

1) You aren’t showing up

2) You aren’t bringing the intensity***** THIS IS SO GODDAMN IMPORTANT this point means you are better off doing 3 session a week and going HARD then training everyday and getting through it. This is where the magic happens. When you step into the gym opt for the heavier weight, push that little bit more – don’t just float through another session – make every session count!

3) You eat like crap (more on this another day I think!)


So in wrapping up – just because you CAN train everyday doesn’t mean you should.

The athletic, lean, toned look comes from hitting 3 solid strength and conditioning sessions, where you go hard at full intensity add in some walks and watch the amount of caramilk twirls you consume (okay that last point is probably just me)

Hope this helps!

Stay Strong & Stretch,
Tel X