Toning up but not putting on mass. Confused. Thoughts?

[Ally2900]

Hi All

I’m new here, and could do with some help. Just for context I’m a 36 year old female who is pretty new to the gym.

I have been going for a few months now and doing a variety of weight lifting exercises. Worked out my macros, and happy with those so far.

I usually do the same kind of exercise when I work out. I just try and lift heavier each time, and look on YouTube to find different ones to make them
Interesting and to learn!

The other day I asked my partner if my shoulders were looking too “broad”. He told me that I should just “tone” them now without putting on anymore muscle to them. I asked how to do this, and he told me to just use lighter weights and mix up the sets, i.e - superset, drop set etc.

Is this good advice? Just looking for thoughts and advice. Appreciate it.

[EliKoehn]

"Tone" is a common misconception. What it effectively means is the degree of definition that a muscle has, which is a question of how much muscle there is and how little fat covers it. So to "tone" anything means either to lose fat (and overall, since you can't spot-reduce it) or to hypertrophy and gain muscle in the relevant area. Doing more volume at lighter weight doesn't necessarily have any effect against a normal training regimen.

So if you want to "tone" up, cutting with an overall caloric deficit is the way to go. Get enough protein and eat fewer calories than you burn and it'll happen without any higher than normal volume training being necessary.

[air2fakie]

Tell your partner that his shoulders look too narrow and he should try to put more muscle on them. Tell him to use heavier weights and not to mix up the sets.

[bLinkMoore]

Those ^^^

And probably take training advice from your partner with a grain of salt from now on

[xsquid99]

"Tone" is a common misconception. What it effectively means is the degree of definition that a muscle has, which is a question of how much muscle there is and how little fat covers it. So to "tone" anything means either to lose fat (and overall, since you can't spot-reduce it) or to hypertrophy and gain muscle in the relevant area. Doing more volume at lighter weight doesn't necessarily have any effect against a normal training regimen.

So if you want to "tone" up, cutting with an overall caloric deficit is the way to go. Get enough protein and eat fewer calories than you burn and it'll happen without any higher than normal volume training being necessary.

^^^^ Solid advice here (would rep but on spread).

[Tommy W.]

You "tone" By continuing to lift just as hard but go into a calorie deficit to lose fat that is covering the muscles. Most people thing there is bulky muscle tissue and "toned" muscle tissue brought on by either using heavier or lighter weights with more reps. Muscle tissue is muscle tissue there are no 2 kinds. Toning=dieting the fat off

[snailsrus]

Tell your partner that his shoulders look too narrow and he should try to put more muscle on them. Tell him to use heavier weights and not to mix up the sets.

amen

Just an fyi females will not get huge lats and delts naturally, no matter what.

If you want to look more toned, you have to drop body fat most likely. Assuming you have built up some muscle to cut down too.

A picture uploaded to your gallery or progress photos on your profile page would be helpful for advice to be given.

Also, what is your current height and weight?

And what are your base lifts, like barbell squat, barbell deadlift and barbell bench? If you don’t do those, what are you lifts that you are doing and weights? How much have the gone up?

The description of your routine sounds like a mishmash of random youtube advice :/ a little worrisome