JJ Virgin breaks down toning into two things: build muscle through resistance training, and get lean with a caloric deficit diet. Muscle stays partially contracted at rest, which creates definition. Workouts build it, diet reveals it.
When you're looking at, I want to like the way I look, which should be the fringe benefit, right, of exercise, it's two things. It's having good muscle mass with— that's going to give you that definition and tone, because when you have muscle, it actually is partially contracted at rest, so it gives you that muscle tone. And then you want to be lean. So that's two things. Now, the reality is muscle tone is from working out, and getting lean is really the diet. And getting lean also means that you need to be in a caloric deficit.
