What it really takes to get toned, Instagram-Worthy muscles

If you’ve ever scrolled through fitness gurus on Instagram, you’ve probably seen a lot of men and women showing off fabulous muscles in various scenic locations. Muscle tone is something all of us would really like to have, but seems really hard to achieve.

If you’ve been working hard on diet and exercise, but find your muscle tone disappointing, you can fix it. Here’s a few tips to do just that.

Weight lifting is crucial

Dieting and exercise do play a part in visible muscle tone. You need to be very lean in order for your muscles to be defined. After this however, weight lifting and proper muscle building is the secret to making your muscles pop out.

If you’re female, you may be worried about looking very manly, and having huge muscles that take away from your femininity. Without steroids, this is very unlikely to happen. Instead, weight lifting will help define your muscles and give the visual you are hoping for.

Achieving a great body through weight lifting isn’t going to happen overnight. If you’re hoping for a beach body by the summer, you may not get there through long term muscle growth. The good news is long term growth and development will stick with you longer, so once its developed you can maintain it for years to come.

You can’t be too lean

This might seem backwards. You need to have very low body fat in order for people to see your muscles, but the simply truth is if you don’t feed your muscles they won’t grow. If you starve yourself to get a lean body, you’ll also deplete your muscles too.

If you already have some extra weight you need to lose, you don’t have to intentionally gain weight—you can convert that fat into muscle. After you are already lean however, you’ll need to intentionally gain a few pounds in order to have something to convert into muscle.

Otherwise, losing weight when you don’t have enough fat to support that weight loss will cause you to lose muscle instead.

Workout to feel good

In our pursuit of the perfect body, we often forget the whole point of having one. There are plenty of fitness gurus who recommend you lift weights and lose weight to “celebrate what your body can do.” Yet if you are starving yourself on a 1,200 calorie diet or doing brutal workouts that kill your body, you’re not celebrating it—you’re brutalizing it.

Fitness isn’t just about looking great on Instagram, it’s knowing you can carry the boxes yourself on moving day, having the strength to lift your child over your head even as they get a little too big for it, or being able to run long distances and not feel like you’ve died.

Find a balance for fitness that leaves you feeling good, while also meeting your goals. If that means you’re not completely shredded every month of the year, that’s okay.