Toning is a phrase used to describe the strengthening and development of certain muscle groups usually your thighs, arms, or lower abdomen. It’s a watered-down term for strength training. For those strengthened muscles to shine through, you also need to decrease overall body fat, which means getting your heart pumping with cardio.

Incorporating yoga poses like Warrior II, Downward Dog, and Boat Pose can also help in toning and strengthening various muscle groups while improving flexibility and balance.

Bridge Yoga Pose or Setu Bandha Sarvang asana

Start lying on your back, arms at your sides, with palms facing down. Bend your knees, keeping them hip-width apart. Try to get your heels as close to your butt as you can (you should be able to touch them with your fingers).

As you exhale, press your heels into the floor to lift your lower back off the floor. Hold the pose for a couple of breaths and lower your body down. Repeat at least three times.

Plank Yoga Pose or Phalakasana

• Start on all fours with your fingers spread slightly. Place one foot back and then the other. Your shoulders should be stacked over your wrists while your heels press toward the back of the room. Tuck your tailbone and do not let your butt isn’t sticking up in the air, and puff up the space between your shoulder blades so that your chest isn’t sinking.
• Squeeze your quads and glutes, and breathe. Hold for anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. Repeat 3 to 5 times, resting as needed between sets.

Four-Limbed Staff Yoga Pose or Chaturanga Dandasana

• Also known as Chaturanga, this pose is killer for your arms, shoulders, and abs.
  Start in Plank Pose. As you inhale, scoot onto your tiptoes so that your shoulders travel slightly past your fingertips. Squeezing your elbows and biceps toward your sides, lower halfway down in one straight line, and exhale.
• Place your lower abs to keep your butt parallel with the rest of your body. Stretch your neck by keeping your gaze forward and down.
• Chaturanga is an intense posture-if you feel your low back sagging, play it safe and practice this by coming down onto your knees and taking the half push-up from there.

Chair Yoga Pose or Utkatasana

• Start in Mountain Pose (Tadasana) by standing with your feet slightly apart or your big toes together and a small space between your heels. Ground down evenly through your feet, lift through the crown of your head, and lengthen through all four sides of your waist.
• Raise your arms and reach up through your fingertips while releasing your shoulder blades down your back. Sit down as if sitting in a chair (hence the name), shifting the weight toward your heels. Maintain the length of your torso while holding the pose for 5 to 8 breaths.

Crescent Lunge or Anjaneyasana Yoga pose

• To create a lunge position, step your right foot out in front of you with a 90-degree bend in your front knee and your front thigh bone parallel to the floor. Stack your back heel over the ball mound of your back foot. Drop your tailbone down toward the floor by engaging your lower abdominal muscles.
• Sweep arms overhead, shoulder-width apart, and place the palms facing one another. Let your pinky fingers spiral slightly inward. Engage your legs by pressing your back heel behind you and your front knee forward, paying particular attention to lifting the quadriceps muscles of the back leg. Hold for ten deep breaths.

Side Plank Yoga Pose or Vasisthasana

• It is another dynamic posture that generates a lot of heat.
• From a high push-up position, bring the inner edges of your feet to touch and then spin your heels to the right to come onto the right-side edge of the foot. Keep legs glued together as one and the feet fully flexed. Press down into your right hand and sweep your left hand up to the sky, taking your gaze with you. Shoulders, hips, and feet should all be together for stability and power. Engage core muscles and open your chest.
• Avoid not letting your hips sink toward the floor, take five breaths, and then transition through the high plank position to the other side. Repeat 2 to 3 times, taking a rest between each set.

Yoga helps in strength training and toning the muscles too. It’s better to incorporate yoga into your regimen than to ditch everything else altogether.