Take "toning" for example. You see, I don't really consider "toning" a word that should ever be used by someone looking to get into shape. I'm sure you've heard it all before, probably even said it yourself.
"Oh, I don't want to get really big, I just want to get a bit more toned%u2026". There's nothing wrong with not wanting to look like Ronnie Coleman, I certainly don't. But wanting to get "toned" is stupid, because there is no such thing as toning.

When people talk about getting toned, what they
really want is to increase muscle and decrease fat. Simple isn't it? Why can't they just say this in the first place! If you want to increase your muscle mass and decrease your fat, you need to go about things in a systematic way.

Simply doing lots of repetitions with low weight
will not make you "toned". This is a huge myth and
for good reason. I know gym instructors who tell clients to use higher reps and lower weights when looking to tone up. No wonder people are frustrated with their results! There are things you need to do
in order to build muscle and there are things you
need to do in order to burn fat. It's as simple as that.

If you spend enough time in the gym, you will see some funny things. Well, if you have my sense of humor anyway. Some people never seem to find anything funny happening in their gym, so I thought I would share a couple of the funnier things I've seen, while teaching some useful information at the same time.

A couple of years ago I was taking a breather after a couple of hard sets of calf raises. Right in front of me were a couple of young guys who hadn't even started to shave yet. They were just normal kids in the gym, not news worthy at all.

Then I saw one of them grab a set of 35kg dumbbells and shuffle over to the decline bench. This got my attention. 35kg is a good weight for older, stronger guys to be using. These two were just a pair of skinny kids. Maybe these guys were freaks? Maybe they just didn't look anything special. All these thoughts ran through my head.

Then as on guy got on the bench, the other helped him with the weights. He readied himself and began to move the weights upwards. Or should I say, they both moved the weights upwards. And then it happened. He managed to move the weights up a few inches away from a full extension, then both dumbbells came crashing down onto his face.

So the great mystery had been solved. These guys weren't freaks. They weren't a super strong pair of kids at all. They were just a pair of dumbasses. Which brings me to my point for this article. Know your limits. It's easy to think you're superman and use heavy weights, but it's not going to help you much.

To get the most out of your workouts, you need to be pushing yourself, but there is a big difference between pushing just beyond yourself and pushing way beyond yourself. One is a key to muscle growth, the other will just result in laughter. Up to you which one you choose.

So next time you're ready to choose how much weight to use on an exercise, think back to this article. Make sure it's heavy enough to be a challenge, but light enough to not make you look like an idiot and potentially hurt yourself. The guy's in my story were lucky enough to get out with only bruised egos, but I know of other people who have seriously hurt themselves by being stupid.

The Musclehead is a natural bodybuilder and the author of the brutally honest and revealing book "The Muscleheads Guide to a Godlike Physique". For more hard hitting information on how to get the body of your dreams, see Musclehead link.http://www.themusclehead.com/?hop=marsha13

In the context of medicine or health or physical fitness, Weight loss is a reduction of the total body weight. This weight loss may be due to a loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue.

The least intrusive weight loss methods, and those most often recommended by physicians, are adjustments to eating patterns and increased physical exercise. Usually, health professionals will recommend that their overweight patients combine a reduction of the caloric content of the diet with an increase in physical activity.[7]

Other methods of losing weight include use of drugs and supplements that decrease appetite, block fat absorption, or reduce stomach volume. Surgery is another method. Bariatric surgery artificially reduces the size of the stomach, limiting the intake of food energy. Some of these treatments may have serious side-effects.

A crash diet (also known as "fasting") is where a person willfully restricts themselves of all nourishment (except water) for more than 12 hours. The desired result is to have the body burn fat for energy with the goal of losing a significant amount of weight in a short time. Crash dieting is not the same as flexible intermittent fasting, where dieters fast for 2 days each week and calories are cycled. Generally the weight lost in a crash diet returns when normal eating resumes.