Body Toning to Increase Strength and Gain Mass

Strength training provides the benefits of toned muscles, reduced body fat and an increase in lean muscle mass. Regular strength training allows you to burn calories at a quicker rate. With dedication to a proper weight training program, you can increase body mass and get stronger within a faster timetable.

Things You'll Need

• Resistance tubing
• Free weights
• Access to a gym or weight machines

1. • 1
     Determine what you are looking for in your weight training program. For increasing body mass and strength, opt for a program including a variety of exercises that utilize body weight, resistance tubing, free weights or weight machines. Body weight exercises include push-ups, pull-ups, stomach crunches and leg squats. Resistance tubing is lightweight tubing that creates resistance upon stretching. Traditional examples of free weights are dumbbells and barbells.
   • 2
     Learn the correct method for each exercise. Understanding the proper technique will reap the most benefit, ensure your safety and prevent injury. When doing a squat exercise, for example, stand with your feet slightly further apart than the width of your shoulders, keeping your back in a neutral position, slowly bend through your hips, knees and ankles until your legs are in a 90 degree angle at the knee. Slowly rise to standing. To add extra resistance, you can also hold free weights while doing squats.
   • 3
     Do a single set of repetitions for each exercise. As you are going through your workout, completing a single set of repetitions for each exercise allows you to determine if you are using the correct amount of weight. Ideally, you have chosen the right amount of weight when your muscles tire to the point of hardly being able to finish the twelfth repetition of an exercise.
   • 4
     Monitor your chosen weight amounts. Remember strength training is not a race. When beginning a new strength training program, pace yourself and gradually build intensity. Increasing your weight amounts too quickly can lead to injury and muscle harm.
   • 5
     Allow your muscles time to rest by giving yourself a full day's worth of time between working out each major muscle group. For example, set up your strength training program to work one portion of your body, such as arms and shoulders, on the first day of your workout week and then the second portion, like your legs, on the second day. Working out the same muscle groups on a daily basis can lead to injury.