'Some' can cover a pretty wide range.
There are a lot of different methods you can use to develop muscle tone. What you want to use depends significantly on how much muscle you want to have. The most important thing though is consistancy. People have suggested some weight routines and diets and I will offer my .02 cents as well.
First I will cover weight lifting. Weight lifting can be used for building muscle and strength or for developing muscular endurance. In the case of the former, low reps with high weight. Do NOT lift more than you can control and ABSOLUTELY do it with someone to spot you. Control is key, since the desire is to force the muscle to develop more fiber (mass) which allows you to lift more. Typical excercises will consist of 2x6-8. You generally should progress from excercises that work large muscle groups to ones that work smaller groups (e.g. legs, then chest, then shoulders, etc) and take plenty of rest between sets. The goal, as I mentioned, is control, not numbers. Also be certain to warm up before doing this with 10-15 minutes of cardio. With a routine such as this you will see fast gains in strength, but probably not a great deal of muscle tone or fat loss. The alternative is to use light weights at high repetition. Motions should be clean and quick, but still remain under tight control. This is very similar to a cardio workout and in fact can replace it to a degree. You are developing the endurance capacity of the muscle rather than its strength so you will burn more energy and see more tone develop, but not much mass. A typical routine will consist of 3x25-30 with 60 sec. rest between sets and 2 min rest between exercises and the whole workout should last approx. 45-60 minutes. No warm up nor partner is necessary here. A final note on lifting is seriously consider, excercises that utilize body resistance such as chin-ups, dips, pushups, and crunches. They are great for any routine and can be done daily.
Ok, now aerobic. You 'have many, many options for aerobic work, so I will mention a few that I use, but realize that this is not an exhaustive list. In general aerobic is best for burning fat, however it is necessary to train your body to do burn fat and not it's temporary energy stores. To do this you need consistent effort, so at least 45 minutes of activity 4-7 times a week. Once you reach your desired weight/body fat you could probably get away with 30 minutes 3+ times a week. As your body adapts will begin to delve into its fat stores and burn stored fat. This is actually very similar to what a marathon runner might do, except the routine would be considerable more intensive
. Also, be certain to maintain a reasonable intensity, with reasonable meaning you are pushing yourself, but not so hard that you are going to be crawling back on your hands and knees (that is reserved for those 8x1 mi repeats @ 5:10 pace with a 4 mi warm up and cool down
). I have found and I think you will to is aerobic training develops the best tone in muscles. The downside is that it is really only the muscles you use that develop. However, biking and running are good for quads and calves and hamstrings. Kayaking is good for arms and back and shoulders, but also works the stomach and legs to a degree too. Swimming is the ultimate, and will give you a great workout and veritably good muscle tone. However in my case I swim like a stone. Last, is rowing which is similar to kayaking, but probably more upper body and leg insensive. Be careful here though, since you can easily pull your back by being a bit to zealous.
Finally, at this end of this long-winded spiel, is nutrition. First stay away from fast food and fried food. Second, carbs and protein are the primary nutrients you need. Carbs are generally consumed in larger volume, and protein in moderate volume (contrary to what some people have posted here). However, the reasoning is your body uses energy and while it can get energy from either carbs are a vastly superior source. In the end, though you will have to taylor it to suit your body. Also be sure get vitamens and minerals as well since excercise results in cancerous agents (free radicals) which these neutralize as well as do many other little important things.
One final note, listen to your body, and learn to understand what it wants. I speak from the experience of pushing through injuries to train for races only to end up more injured and in more pain in the end. If something is sore or achy icing stretching and ibuprofin works wonders. If it is persistent, try and figure out the source. Last but not least, good luck!!
