I'm going to tell you why you haven't gotten toned and strong since you started working out.
Many of us are clear that we have to increase the resistance or weight that the muscle is lifting in order to become stronger and tone our body. Of course, this takes a process and as our body does allow it, we increase resistance.
In order for the body to get used to or be able to lift a new resistance, the body must constantly lift that resistance for a certain time period.
Every time you exercise, challenging your body to a new resistance, you cause microscopic injuries to your muscles and that's why you end up sore. After your exercise, muscle repair begins, especially when you sleep. Nutrients arrive, protein for example, and repair the muscles, making them stronger to be able to meet the demand you are asking of the body when you exercise. It's like when you get calluses on your hands from repetitive lifting weights. The body is adapting to the demand you ask of it so that you don't hurt your hands.
But you have something working against you when it comes to toning up and getting stronger, the aging process.
After your exercise you start to muscle lost within 48 hours.
That doesn't mean you lose all the muscle you've worked on for several years, but the process of losing it begins after those two days. If you stop exercising for a week, then you have already lost a noticeable amount of muscle and therefore strength.
It's true, if you start exercising again a week later, it will take you one to two weeks to recover what you lost.
But what I want you to conclude is that if you only show up once a week or only go one week a month to exercise, then all your effort is in vain since everything you work for is lost in your long break.
That is why you cannot stop exercising for a long time and you must be constant. I only take two weeks a year without exercising and when I come back, I come back weak because in those two weeks my body loses muscle and strength.
Then your problem could be that you are not consistent with your routine and you only go when you feel like you can, feel like it, or are motivated.
It's not about just going when you have time or desire. It's about being consistent and disciplining yourself. There is no excuse that will give you results. Your results will come from your perseverance and discipline. And this is not because I say so, but this is how your body works. If you don't want to lose what little you've accomplished in one week, then continue doing it for two weeks. And if you don't want to lose what you have achieved in one month, then continue doing it for two months. And if you don't want to lose what you've done for one year, then continue doing it for two years.
To have results and tone your body, it is not something that takes a few days or exercising when you feel like it. It is a commitment to your body, your dreams and your life.