The key to muscle mass is a high enough volume of lifts to induce a bit of damage to the muscles. After the muscle is damaged it is important to rest that muscle enough for a full recovery. Ideally when that muscle is recovered, it will be slightly bigger. Over time this builds a larger muscle. The key to muscle tone is to do less volume of sets, but work out more frequently.

Well water retention isn't exactly the enemy of muscle tone, but it will tend to cover it up a bit. If you are pretty lean and only have a "4 pack" showing instead of a "6 pack" it is possible that you are a victim of water retention. A word of warning before we discuss this in more detail…don't use the excuse that you are "holding water" when you still have plenty of fat to burn. Water retention typically only matters once you get somewhat lean.

The Internet is a wonderful place to learn about "stuff"...the problem is that there is just too much stuff out there at times. Take the topic of fitness for instance. I did a Google search for the term "fitness" and ended up with 363 Million results! So how do you find the best info out of millions of fitness blogs?

Have you ever had a "hint" of a six pack abs, but not as good as you see in the magazines? Are your muscles "kind of" toned, but you want better muscle tone? I may know your problem and I have a solution for you. This goes against what is currently being taught in many gyms…and that is why I'm drawn to it…plus it works extremely well!

Typically all the guys (and some women) I see in the free-weight room are trying to gain as much muscle as possible. Worse than that, they will take the muscle gain on any part of their body. The problem with gaining muscle just for the sake of gaining muscle quickly creates an unbalanced body.