Welcome to the Get Fit Guys' quick and dirty tips to slim down and shape up.

My name is Ben Greenfield and I'm the Get Fit Guy.

These days, Lean is in. Whether you want to look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club, Demi Moore and G.I.J.

Or an underwear model in a magazine, big, bulky muscles just may not cut it,

no pun intended. You may instead want a thin yet toned appearance. So in this episode, you'll

learn exactly what a toned muscle is, the best exercise to get toned, and a step-by-step workout to get toned muscles. First, let's clear up a

couple confusing definitions about what tone actually is. One type of muscle tone is the type that's

referred to by scientists, anatomists, or other geeky biology-oriented folks and refers to the

continuous passive contraction of your muscles.

Basically, this means that all the muscles in your body are rarely in a complete state of rest,

but rather they're slightly tensed to do things like support your back, your head, your chin, or your gut.

You never actually have to think about this constant state of tension, since it's

controlled by automatic, unconscious nerve impulses from your brain. The second type of tone is the one

that most of us think of when we use the word tone, and typically implies a state of body

leanness, a low body fat percentage, or noticeable muscle definition or shape.

For example, some of the folks I mentioned in the introduction to this episode would be considered

toned, while a football linebacker would certainly be muscular, but not necessarily toned

or lean with a low body fat percentage.

So what's the best exercise to get toned?

In order to have a toning effect, an exercise

must accomplish two objectives. Number one, increase the size of muscle cells, and number two,

decrease body fat percentage. To increase the size of muscle cells and give you more tight and dense

...