text: what kind of exercises are best to tone your upper body and how often should i do them?   it is not necessarily the exercises rather how you do them. you should pick four or five exercises for each body part, chest monday, legs tuesday etc and do 4 sets each comprising of 15 to 20 repetitions making the last rep of each set very challenging. you only need to exercise a particular body part once every five to seven day seven being the best but really hit it when you do. this will firm and tone the muscles however to see your results you must diet and do cardio.