The Best Yoga Poses to Tone Your Body

Learn the three best yoga poses to tone your body, and how to safely and correctly execute them. This is a guest post written by Emily Adams, a passionate yogi and marketing specialist at Yogi Wear.

Looking for a fun way to get more energy, relieve stress, and tone your body? You can’t go wrong with yoga.

Yoga forces you into the present moment, where you can observe your mind, body, and movement to gain greater awareness of self. And perhaps the best part is that although you won’t feel like you’re working out, you most definitely are.

The Science Behind Yoga

There have been numerous studies that prove that yoga not only decreases the stress hormone levels in the body, it also increases insulin sensitivity. What does this mean? In layman’s terms, this tells your body to use food as fuel instead of storing it as fat.

Furthermore, there’s a dynamic process that starts to happen when muscles are being strengthened and stretched at the same time. The connective tissue and muscle fibers get longer and the added resistance creates tension that helps the body build and maintain a toned appearance. For these reasons, yoga is an excellent way to tone virtually every major muscle group including the booty and abs. And it does all this while calming the mind, relieving tension, and removing stress—making yoga great for the soul, body, and mind. How can you beat that?

Now, let’s go over the three best yoga poses to tone your body and how to safely and correctly execute them.

The Best Yoga Poses to Tone Your Body

No matter your level of fitness, yoga will leave your body feeling capable, powerful, and strong. To help you get started on your journey to a leaner, toner body, check out the following best yoga poses to tone your body:

1. Downward Facing Dog

This exercise tones the legs and arms.

Getting it Done:

1. From a standing position bend over, reaching your hands toward the floor. Bend your knees if you need to.
2. Walk your hands forward until they are about 3 or 4 feet away from your toes.
3. Push into your palms, lifting your hips towards the sky. Press down into your heels, keeping them as flat against the ground as you can.
4. Look towards your legs and press your chest towards your thigh, creating a nice flat back. Stay here for about 20 seconds.

2. High Plank to Low Plank

This exercise tones your back, abs, arms, shoulders, and upper thighs.

Getting it Done:

1. Start out in a push-up position with your arms and legs straight.
2. Place your hands under your shoulders and hold this position. Breath in and out.
3. Lower your chest towards the ground while simultaneously keeping your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle. Squeeze them against the side of your body.
4. Keep both your upper and lower body straight and use your abs to support your posture. Lower your body to the ground.
5. Repeat at least three times.

3. Bridge Pose

This exercise tones your thighs and abs.

Getting it Done:

1. Start out lying on your back, arms at your sides, with your palms facing down.
2. Bend your knees, keeping them hips-width apart. Also, try to get your heels as close to your butt as you can. You should be able to touch them with your fingers.
3. Engage your abdominal muscles and pull them towards your spine. Lift your lower back up off the floor. Push up with your thighs while simultaneously pushing your feet into the floor.
4. Hold for a couple of breaths and lower your body down.
5. Repeat at least 5 times.

A Few More Things

If you want a perfectly toned body, there are few things that work better than yoga. But, before you begin, there are some essentials that can help you get the most out of your practice. They include:

Yoga mat: Although you can do yoga barefoot, having a yoga mat will ensure that you won’t lose your footing when transitioning from one posture to the other.

Yoga clothing: When doing your postures, there are few things more uncomfortable than too-loose pants bunching up in all the wrong places. To prevent this from happening, choose yoga pants/leggings that are snug fitting while allowing freedom of movement. Same goes with the yoga tank tops—the right choice will ensure comfort during your yoga practice. Top Tier Style provides a wide variety of yoga wear, too. Check them out.

Props: You don’t have to be super bendy to try yoga. But, if you find yourself having difficulty with some of your poses, props (like straps and blocks <–affiliate links) can provide you with the help you need to push to the next level.

Yoga will definitely help you tone your body. But to get optimal results it’s important that you carve out time to do it on a regular basis. Following this simple rule will make sure that you get the body you desire in virtually no time flat. Namaste.

Author Bio:

Emily Adams is a marketing specialist at YogiWear having a main focus on development and implementation of marketing ideas. Her primary talking points are yoga life, benefits of yoga, yogi lifestyle, and yoga wear.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this post on The Best Yoga Poses to Tone Your Body! Thank you to Emily for sharing her knowledge and time with us today. Do you already include yoga in your fitness routine? What is your go-to pose for getting fit? Let us know in the comments below!

Last Updated on February 25, 2018 by Tiffany