Toning Exercises for the Whole Body

Push-Ups

Push-ups are great for toning the upper body, especially the chest and triceps. If you find regular push-ups too difficult, you can modify the exercise. Drop down to your knees as these are a great beginner position until you build up more strength.

Push-ups are also a great compound exercise as they recruit your core muscles to stabilize your body. This allows you to tone almost the entire upper body.

Crunches

You couldn’t write an article on the best exercises to tone the body without mentioning a core exercise like crunches. They’re simple and effective!

Tone up your midsection by adding in a few sets of crunches into your workout. Make this exercise more challenging by holding a small 5-pound weight against your chest.

Lunges

This exercise is amazing at blasting your legs! It specifically targets the quads and glutes. Since these are such a large muscle group, they require a lot of energy allowing you to burn many calories and tone up your body.

If you’re looking to make this exercise even more challenging, hold a pair of dumbbells in each hand.

Tricep Dips

What better way to tone that back of your arms than by doing triceps dips? Your triceps make up the largest portion of your upper arm so if you’re looking to tone your upper body, this is a great exercise to start with.

Start slow and make sure to squeeze the back of your arm as you rise up.

Squats

Squats are another compound exercise that relies on multiple muscle groups to perform. Due to this, you burn many calories when completing squats, allowing you to tone up your body faster.

To get started, I recommend trying either goblet squats, sumo squats, box squats, or split squats.

Planks

Planks are another one of my favorite core exercises, especially if you’re looking to tone your whole body. When performing a plank, hold the position for as long as you can to maximize the core burn!

Looking to make this exercise more challenging? Try adding in shoulder taps or leg lifts while holding the plank position. You’ll feel the burn in your core in no time!

Burpees

People love to hate on this exercise but no one can deny how fatigued they leave you. They may be challenging but they are effective.

Burpees are especially beneficial when trying to tone up your body! Choose a reasonable amount of reps (5 to 15) and complete them as fast as possible but with good form.

Jump Squats

As if normal squats weren’t hard enough, jump squats will help you burn even more calories. You don’t need to jump very high. Keep it to a maximum of 1-foot in the air and make sure you have a soft landing.

Battle Ropes

Battle ropes are an incredible exercise to tone almost every muscle in your upper body.

Get into a low squat position and pump your arms as fast as they’ll go. Perform short bursts of 20 to 40-seconds and then move onto the next exercise.

Bicycle Crunches

This core exercise is sure to get your heart pumping as it involves both the upper body and lower body to complete. When performing this exercise, make sure to engage your core muscles and not your neck! You don’t want any injuries.

To make this exercise more challenging, try going a bit faster to really get the heart racing. Just remember to maintain good form throughout.

Getting Started

Now it’s time for you to get after it! Pick a handful of these exercises to create a circuit workout. Then complete 4 to 6 rounds of the circuit, performing each exercise for 15 to 20 repetitions, and time yourself to see how long it takes you to complete.

Remember, the fewer rest you have in between rounds, the quicker you’ll be on your way to toning your whole body. Another tip, create a few different circuits so that you can have more variety when working out.