8 best exercises to prepare for pregnancy
Let’s be totally honest here, pushing a baby out of your vagina is no walk in the park. It is a serious physical, mental, and emotional event that requires a great amount of strength and energy. Luckily, we have 9 months leading up to this event and can prepare for the task at hand. No different than training for a race or big project, pregnancy and delivery prep is something we should not procrastinate about and ideally begin preparing before we even get pregnant.
In all fairness, our bodies are so amazing that if you really did no preparation, you would still be able to get through the process, but you definitely put yourself at risk of complications, interventions and a difficult recovery. So why not try and avoid all of that? One of the best ways to begin preparing your body for the journey of pregnancy and delivery and making sure your body if physically strong. We have incorporated 8 of the best exercises to do to prepare your body for pregnancy and to keep it strong throughout leading up to D-Day. We’ve also listed variations in intensity so that you can find which exercise meets you where you are and options for progression.
1. Squats
Squats are seriously important and totally key for a strong body thought pregnancy and during labor and delivery. As women, our power is held in the lower half of our body, and good thing for it because these thighs and booty are going to come in serious handy with baby delivery. As we progress through pregnancy, our bellies grow and our center of gravity changes. Having strong legs and gluts will help literally, carry us through, but also help to stabilize us. When the day comes to get that bundle of joy out of us, being able to maintain and perform a strong squat can be a game changer during delivery and labor, especially if you are going for a natural vaginal birth. And even if your thinking your more of an epidural kind of gal, your legs muscles are still going to be firing, even if you can’t feel them.
Body weight squat
Goblet squat
Smith machine / rack squat
2. Lunges
See above to squats for all of the reasons why we want beautifully strong legs. Lunges will also help us get there.
Body weight lunges
Dumbell lunges
Weighted lunges
3. Curtsy Lunge
Oh holy booty. These babies can be brutal when done the right way, even with only your body weight. When most people think of body stability, they typically think of the core and they wouldn’t be wrong, but our gluts are huge stabilizers. Literally and figuratively, the gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the body and helps keep your pelvis, spine and body stable. Super key for pregnancy and delivery day. Not to mention, it also works our adductors, the muscles on our inside thigh, which can help stabilize the pubic symphysis. If you have ever heard a mom talk about lightning crotch, instability in the pubic symphysis is to blame.
Body weight curtsy squat
Kettle bell/dumbell
Smith machine
4. Deadlifts
Deadlifts are an awesome exercise to work the entire back of your body, hamstrings, glut and back. While this exercise has a lot of benefits, it’s also important to make sure you’re doing them correctly so that you don’t risk injury to your back or spine. Our suggestion is to start light, get the form down and move up from there. With that said, these are awesome for strength and stabilization of the entire body.
Sumo stance deadlift (dumbbell/kettlebell/resistance band)
Single leg deadlift (dumbbell/kettlebell/resistance band)
Barbell deadlift
5. Strengthen Transverse Abdominus
This is a deep core stabilizer and works like a belt around your waist to protect your spine and stays very active during pregnancy. Unlike a lot of our superficial abdominals in the front of our belly, which will be stretched and potentially separated from each other (diastasis recti) during pregnancy, the transverse abdominus will be holding strong.
All the planks
Shoulder tap
Knee to elbow
Side plank
Dynamic toe taps to single leg extensions
6. Lumbar Multifidus Activation and Strengthening
The multifidus is a crucial spinal stabilizer and goes up along the entire spine. For pregnancy, the lumbar multifid muscle is super important for low back support and health since additional force and pressure from a growing belly will stress the lower spine.
Table top knee hover
Bridge and bridge march
Bird dog
7. Pelvic Floor Training
The pelvic floor is a collection of muscles that essentially hold everything in the lower abdomen in and up. Since we’re going to have a baby growing in there, super important we want these muscles to be active and strong. Luckily, many of the exercises listed above (squats, bird dog, and bridges) will help strengthen our pelvic floor muscles. More often than not, women actually need to be working on relaxing their pelvic floor. The baby is going to have to pass through these muscles to arrive into the world and if they are beyond tight, it might cause us a little difficulty.
Child’s pose
Cat’s and Cows
Inverted sacral release with ball or block
8. Breath work and Diaphragm Release
Have you ever been going through your day and noticed you’ve been holding your breath? Or the breaths you do take are tiny little things and it’s all focused in your chest? That’s bad. No matter how you paint it, breath is vitally important for, well, life and pregnancy and delivery. Being able to control our breath and breathing will help us work through contractions and pushing efficiently in labor. Learning how to breath and controlling your breath before you even get pregnant, will be a huge advantage and game changer for you.
Belly breathing
Diaphragm release
Inhale 6, hold 2, exhale 8
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