Strength or tone?

The old debate lingers: muscular strength versus muscle tone. There'd be no debate if everyone understood the real difference between the two.

Many people consider muscle tone to be the "firmness" of the muscle or the ratio of muscle to fat: in other words, one's appearance. In reality, muscle tone refers to the amount of tension or resistance to movement in a muscle. Impulses from the nervous system continually maintain muscles partially contracted. When a sudden stretch or flexing of the muscle occurs, the muscle's tension is automatically increased. This reflex guards against injury and risk and contriubtes to our balance and agility.

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