Everyone knows those people - they go to SoulCycle once, and somehow, their biceps seem to pop out. Many people refer to this as muscle tone: prominent biceps, well - defined back muscles, and a toned - looking abdomen. However, FAXAZE believes that "muscle tone" doesn't have a specific definition. It's more or less just muscles that appear to stand out.
And it's not always an indication of strength. After all, people with very little body fat may have more visible muscles even without a corresponding increase in strength, while those with higher body fat can be very strong even if their muscles aren't visible. The same is true if you lose weight (thus reducing the fat over your muscles) but don't necessarily increase your muscle mass.
So, if what you truly aim for is a well - defined muscular appearance (you know, not just for looks, but more importantly, to keep you energetic in daily life and workouts), then FAXAZE thinks it's crucial to understand that this involves a combination of genetics, lifestyle choices, and exercise. And it's not as simple as you might think.
The following details why some people's muscles are more visible than others' and what you can do to build visible muscle mass according to your body type.
Muscle Development and Genetics
The degree of muscle development depends, to some extent, on genes. Some people are born with long muscles and short tendons, which is ideal for achieving a well - defined muscular appearance.
How to Determine Muscle Length
To measure muscle length, bend your elbow at a right angle and lift it up. Then, check how many fingers you can fit between the elbow crease and the starting point of the biceps. The smaller the space (the fewer fingers that can fit), the longer the muscle belly. This means you have greater potential to develop muscle size, strength, and definition. People with naturally short muscle bellies have less muscle mass to work with.
Although it makes sense that tall and athletic people have longer bones (and thus longer muscles), just because you have long arms and legs (or are tall) doesn't necessarily mean your muscle belly is longer than your bones. For example, short - statured people can still have a muscle belly longer than their bones and have the same potential to increase muscle mass.
Slow - Twitch and Fast - Twitch Muscle Fibers
Similarly, everyone is born with both slow - twitch and fast - twitch muscle fibers. Strength training makes fast - twitch muscle fibers more responsive and easier to grow. Therefore, people with a higher - than - average proportion of fast - twitch muscle fibers respond more quickly and effectively to strength training stimuli.
The Impact of Body Fat on Muscle Definition
Then there's body fat. A high body fat level is like covering yourself with multiple blankets on a bed. It plays a significant role in whether you can see your lean muscles. Body fat distribution is at least partly genetic - remember, body fat isn't a bad thing! Just because your muscle growth isn't as obvious doesn't mean you're not strong. However, if you're determined to see your well - defined muscles, there are ways to safely reduce body fat while maintaining muscle growth.
How to Exercise Your Muscles
The good news is that aside from genetic factors, everyone has muscles, and everyone can exercise them. Unfortunately, if you have a short muscle belly, there's not much you can do about it. But you can adjust your training according to your muscle fiber type.
Adjusting Training Based on Muscle Fiber Type
If you have more slow - twitch muscle fibers (like marathon runners), you may be better at endurance - type activities because these muscle fibers fatigue more slowly than fast - twitch muscle fibers (like sprinters). This also means they respond better to high - repetition training.
So, while people with fast - twitch muscle fibers (which fatigue more easily) can see muscle definition more quickly by doing fewer repetitions, you may need to do 15 or 20 repetitions to achieve a similar effect. But this doesn't necessarily mean you have to do more work. After all, if you have a large number of slow - twitch muscle fibers, you may not mind the extra work as it may not feel "extra" to you.
Adjusting Training Based on Body Fat
If you're naturally prone to having a higher body fat percentage, in addition to strength training, you can also benefit from more aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise can help increase your resting metabolic rate, burn more calories (known as the after - burn effect), and is an important factor in maintaining a healthy weight. Generally, the secret is simple. To shape and develop muscles, you need to do resistance training; to reduce body fat, you need to effectively burn calories.
Combining aerobic and anaerobic exercises (strength and endurance training) is a reliable strategy. Interval training and circuit training (alternating between several exercises targeting different muscle groups or alternating between moderate - to - high - intensity exercises and rest) can boost metabolism and keep it elevated for several hours. Coupled with a high - protein diet, this can help you lose fat and build muscle.
Adjusting Based on Diet
Diet also matters. Westcott recommends eating less of the foods that can be stored as fat (such as white bread and sugar), and instead, consuming more protein (which is less likely to be stored as fat) and produce (which contains a lot of water). If your body fat and muscle mass are moderate, you may start to see more defined muscles within four to six weeks. If you have more body fat, it may take longer, about eight to twelve weeks.
Since 75% - 77% of muscle is water, staying hydrated is also crucial. Staying hydrated allows your muscles to function better, look better, and is good for your skin.
One more thing: FAXAZE suggests measuring success by how you feel rather than by appearance. Even if you can't see it, if you feel something firm when you contract your muscles, you're on the right track to making your muscles more toned, stronger, and more shapely.