16/01/2026
🤓 Spoiler alert: you can’t look “toned” without also building muscle
Strength training is overlooked by many, who have a goal of “losing weight and looking lean and toned”.
Why?
Firstly, because many people still thing that weights make you look “big and bulky”
Secondly, because for many years we’ve been told that strength training is what builds muscle and cardio is what burns fat
So why *shouldn’t* cardio be the only thing you focus on when you want to burn fat? 🤷🏼♀️
Because if you don’t build up the muscle that’s underneath the body fat, then you won’t have any actual muscle tone to show, after putting in all the work to burn the fat 🥲
Meaning you’ll likely look the same as you do now, just smaller (aka no more muscle tone)
So the 🗝️ takeaways are:
• Muscle improves body composition, giving you a leaner appearance. The more muscle you have compared to fat, the leaner you’ll look
• Strength training should ALWAYS be included in your training, no matter your goal - but ESPECIALLY if you want to look toned
• The cardio and the controlled calorie deficit is what’s added to (and not replacing) the strength training in those weeks or months where you want to tone up a little extra 🔥
Hope this helps!
🙋🏼♀️ Hands up if you’ve got a strength workout planned this week