Double Your Toning Workout

There are many different exercises that many women use for a body toning workout, however, some focus on just one body part. To double your toning workout, the best type of bodyweight exercises are the more complicated moves that can work more than one group of muscles at a time. This will help you to burn more calories during your workout and tone more muscles in less time.

Examples of These Toning Workouts for Women

Bodyweight exercises are great for women because they don’t create big, bulging muscles but they are a great body toning workout. Here are a few examples of bodyweight exercises that will work the upper and lower body through one fluid motion:

Plank
For this position, get down on your stomach and put your hands on the floor beside your shoulders and push up until your arms are extended. Your body should be as flat as a plank of wood, hence the name. Your abdominal muscles should be tight and you should be breathing. Holding this for a period of time is a workout. It seams simple but it is effective. You can make it a more challenging toning workout by bringing one knee in towards the opposite side of the body and repeat with the other leg.

Bridge
For this move lie flat on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Keeping your feet and shoulders on the floor bring your butt up until your body forms a diagonal line from your knees to your chest. Bring the butt back down until about 2 inches off the floor and repeat. You can make this a more challenging toning workout by pointing one leg up towards the ceiling and repeating the process.

Lunges
There are three different types of lunges. There is the forward lunge, the backwards lunge, and the side lunge. Each move works a different muscle. So when I do my lunges I like to do lunge circles. The lunge circle is a circuit of all the different types of lunges. First you complete a front lunge by kneeling forward with the left leg without allowing your knee to actually touch the floor. Use the left leg to push yourself back up. Then do the same move with the right leg. Then do a side lunge by keeping the left leg straight while you take a step to the right bending the right knee. With the right leg push yourself back up to standing. Next you would perform a reverse lunge by stepping back with the right leg and kneel without the knee touching the ground. Repeat with the left leg and then side lunge to the left. Now your back to the front lunges and you repeat the circle. This is a great toning workout for the legs.

Squats
The squat is a great move for the whole lower body. This move is like sitting on an imaginary chair behind you. There are three different types of squats and each work the lower body in a different way. The regular squat is with the toes pointed forward and your legs shoulder width apart. The plie’ squat is with your toes wider than shoulder width apart and your toes pointed slightly outward. The damsel squat is with your toes pointed forward but with your legs together. Combining the different types of squats will be a great lower body toning workout.