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Tone Your Legs The Malaika Arora Way; Try These 3 Yoga Asanas For Your Leg Muscles

Tone Your Legs The Malaika Arora Way; Try These 3 Yoga Asanas For Your Leg Muscles
Tone Your Legs The Malaika Arora Way With These Yoga Asanas

Malaika Arora never fails to impress and inspire her fans with her fitness routines. This time the diva took to her social media account to share some yoga asanas that can help you get toned legs.

Written by Arushi Bidhuri |Updated : December 8, 2021 11:08 AM IST

We all are familiar with the fact that yoga helps boost our mental, physical, and spiritual health, but did you know that it can do wonders when it comes to your legs? Yes, both standing, and supine (lying face up) yoga poses can help you improve your lower body's balance, flexibility, and strength. If you are someone looking for ways to get toned legs, then you have landed on the right article.

Malaika Arora, dubbed the "Indian J-Lo" by her fans. The fitness icon frequently shares workout videos to motivate her followers to stay active and healthy on her social media account. This time around, Bollywood's very own yogini has shared three yoga poses that can help you get toned legs.

Check Out The Video By Malaika Arora Right Here

She captioned the video, "Namaste Everyone! Let's begin this week with some beginner friendly yoga poses that will help you get toned legs. These poses are simply my favourites as they are easy and oh so effective. Do include these asanas in your daily practice to get those sculpted legs and share your pictures with me and @sarvayogastudios."

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Get inspired and moving with these easy-to-do yoga poses, great for getting toned legs with this video:

How Does Yoga Benefit Your Legs?

The key to holding any posture in yoga is strength and balance, and if you are legs are shaking then this won't be possible. This allows you to feel your muscles contract, establishing the crucial mind-body connection that makes yoga a mindful type of exercise. According to Olney, the secret to having healthier, stronger, and more flexible legs is to balance training and stretching.

Also, a study published in the International Journal of Yoga found that male college athletes who took part in a 10-week, biweekly yoga class improved their flexibility and balance more than those who did not. According to the researchers, combining a yoga programme with traditional training methods improved the players' fitness and athletic performance.

Yoga Asanas For Toned Legs

Here are the three yoga asanas for toned legs suggested by Malaika Arora and a step-by-step guide to performing the yoga asanas:

Utkatasana (The Chair Pose)

The first one on the list is the chair pose, also known as Utkatasana. Here's how you to perform it:

  • Stand in Tadasana. Inhale and raise your arms upwards, bringing your biceps directly in front of your ears. Maintain parallel arms with palms facing inward or interlock the palms.
  • Exhale and bend your knees to the point when your thighs are parallel to the floor. Your knees will protrude over your feet, and your trunk will lean slightly forward over your thighs until your front torso makes a right angle with the top of your thighs.
  • Maintain a parallel line between your inner thighs and press the heads of your thigh bones down toward your heels.
  • Your shoulder blades should be pressed against your back. Keep your lower back long by directing your tailbone down toward the floor and your pubis.
  • Stay in this position between 30 seconds and a minute. Straighten your knees with inhalation and elevate your body high to get back to the initial position.

Explaining the benefits of the pose, Malaika wrote, "this pose specifically targets the quadriceps and the gluteal muscles. It improves posture and balance while helping you tone your overall body. Start with holding this pose for a few seconds and later increase the hold time as you develop body strength."

Malasana (The Garland Pose)

Yoga's deep squat, here is how you can perform the garland pose:

  • Come to a standing position with your feet roughly the width of the mat apart.
  • Bend your knees and lower your buttocks to the floor to get into a squat position.
  • It's natural for your toes to turn out, and that's fine, but don't go too far. Eventually, you'll be focusing on keeping the feet parallel.
  • Bring your upper arms inside your knees and bend your elbows to form the Anjali mudra (palms together) (prayer position).
  • Allow your thumbs to touch your sternum while you hold your hands to your heart centre in Anjali mudra as if to assist in keeping the chest raised. To stay engaged, keep pressing your upper arms into your thighs and your thighs into your upper arms to keep the muscles engaged.
  • Maintain a straight spine with buttocks moving toward the floor, and shoulders relaxing away from your ears.

This is an "excellent pose to strengthen your thighs and legs. This pose also helps to release any stiffness in the lower body. Start with holding this position for at least 20seconds," explains the fitness diva in the post.

Adho Mukha Svanasana(Downward Facing Dog Pose)

Here's how you can perform this pose:

  • Come to a hand-and-knee position, with your hands slightly in front of your shoulders and your knees immediately beneath your hips. Turn your toes under and spread your palms, rooting down through the four corners of your hands.
  • Exhale and lift your knees off the ground, keeping your knees slightly bent and your heels lifted off the ground at first. Draw your inner legs from your inner ankles up through your groynes and lengthen your tailbone away from the back of your pelvis. Lift the sitting bones toward the ceiling and lengthen your tailbone away from the back of your pelvis.
  • Push your top thighs back and stretch your heels toward the floor as you exhale. Straighten your knees as much as possible without locking them.
  • Firmly press the bases of your index fingers into the floor with your outer arms. From the wrists to the tops of the shoulders, lift your inner arms. Firmly press your shoulder blades against your back, then broaden and pull them toward your tailbone. Maintain a comfortable distance between your upper arms and your head.
  • Stay in the pose for 10 or more breaths, then bend your knees and descend yourself into Child's Pose on an exhalation.

"Hands down one of my go-to poses for both physical and mental health. It gives a deep stretch to the arms and legs and thereby helps tone the hamstrings, calves, arches, and hands," wrote Arora.

Note: Do consult your doctor and professional yoga trainer before making any of these yoga poses a part of your regular routine.