8 Home Exercises to Tone Your Body

One of the advantages of toning your body at home is that you can decide when you want to start working out. Try to imagine what you want your body to look like, so you can use it as motivation when you start feeling lazy.

Reviewed and approved by Doctor Carlos Fabián Avila.

Written by Ángela Aragón

Last update: 09 October, 2022

Although there are more and more gyms popping up in towns and cities all over the world, many people find it difficult to find the time and the motivation to go regularly. Our busy schedules and constant rush prevent us from sticking to a consistent daily schedule, so we often forget to do as much exercise as we should. If you want to tone up, you could start to do exercise at home.

This will help you avoid pressure, stress, and you’ll even save money. All you need is strong will power, and an efficient exercise routine that allows you to stay in shape.

The most difficult thing is knowing which method to use to tone your body at home. You’re not really sure what to do, and when you ask your friends for advice, they often seem contradictory. With this in mind, we wanted to help you devise a great plan that can help you achieve your goals.

With a chair, stool, or bed, you’ll have enough equipment to exercise all of your muscle groups. To top it all off, you’ll be able to do it in half an hour.

How to tone your body at home

1. Warm up for 5 minutes

Don’t skip this part. It’s very important for avoiding injuries, as confirmed in this study carried out by the University of Navarra. It also puts your muscles in a position where they can give their greatest effort. You’ll have better results if you warm up well.

This consists of jogging. If you don’t have space for distance jogs, you can climb stairs at a moderate pace. This option is actually even better. It allows you to tone your lower body and do cardio at the same time.

2. Stair steps for your legs and glutes

If you don’t have a specific machine, you can use a low bench or a set of stairs.

• First, step up with your dominant foot. Then, step up with your other foot. Go back down in the same order.
• Try to keep your back as straight as possible without tensing up.
• When you step up on the platform, support yourself with your whole foot to make the exercise even more effective.

3. Thighs and glutes

For this exercise, you need a chair or a bed. You’ll also need a pillow.

• Lay flat on your back. Then, put your ankles on the chair and support your neck with the pillow.
• Put your hands on your chest. Raise your glutes as much as possible.

4. Complete thigh and glutes exercise

This exercise is a continuation of the previous one.

• Put yourself in the opposite position, supporting yourself with your arms on the chair.
• Raise one leg backwards. Then, raise the other leg.
• It’s best to do 25 repetitions. However, you should listen to your body. Don’t force yourself to do too much.

5. Tone your calf muscles at home

Now, look for a table that can support you. Put your hands on it.

• Stand on the toes of one foot. While you do this, raise and bend your other leg until you’re holding it up at a right angle.
• When you’ve done this 25 times, do the same thing with the other leg.

6. Exercise for your thighs

This is one of the easiest and enjoyable exercises on our list.

• Stand with your legs apart and shift your weight to one leg, and then to the other.
• This is really fun when you do it with music. It turns into an odd dance. Try it and you’ll see!

7. Abs

For this exercise, we’ll be using a chair for support.

• Lay on the floor and put your legs on the chair. Make sure that they’re supported up to your knee.
• Raise your torso. However, be careful with your back. Remember that the effort should be made with your abs and not your neck. Doing anything else could hurt you. This could lead to issues such as lumbago, as indicated in this study carried out by the Las Condes clinic in Chile.

8. Tone your abs further

• Lay on your back with your arms extended.
• Bend your knees, trying to bring them as close to your chest as possible. Then, go back to the initial position.
• When you get so used to it that it’s easy, you can switch to your obliques. To do this, cross your legs while doing it.
• A study by the Alcalá de Henares University states that you can also do hypopressive exercises, which take the strain off your back.

As we said at the beginning, you’ll only need a half hour of your time to do these 8 exercises to tone your body at home. Don’t let yourself fall into a sedentary lifestyle, and make sure to keep up your routine.

For the rest of the day, try to imagine the body you want to have. Think about how you want to be. Doing this sends positive messages to your subconscious mind. This becomes your motivation.