Grab your mats ladies! These prenatal exercises from Jill of Exhale PT are great whether aches and pains are cramping your pregnancy or you are just looking to prevent them. Everything is mapped out for you below, the how, when, what, and why, and the pictures make it easy to follow along! Keep your body strong and your baby healthy with these simple and safe exercises!
1. Pelvic Tilts on Swiss Ball: “The Hula & Booty Pump”
What you will need: One Swiss Ball either 55cm or 65cm. How do you know if it is the right size? Sit on the ball and if your hips are at a 90 degree angle, perfect! If your knees are higher than your hips, the ball is too small. If your knees are lower than your hips, the ball is too big. You can buy one at Target or Amazon.com.
Why do this exercise? It helps to gently and safely engage your abdominals while simultaneously creating movement in your lower back and pelvis. Therefore, alleviating lower back and hip pain commonly felt in later stage pregnancy.
How often should you do this exercise? This exercise can be done 1-2 times per day. Repeat each motion 10 times in each direction, rest for approximately 60 seconds, then repeat one more set of 10 in each direction.
What do I do?
-“The Hula”: First start with side to side rocking of the pelvis…like you are hula dancing. Pull your right hip up and then slowly lower the right hip as you pull your left hip up. Try to keep your upper body stable while only moving the lower body. Repeat 10 hip hikes on each side.
-“Booty Pump”: Second, tilt pelvis forward and backward….like you are sticking your booty out and then tucking it under. Inhale as you stick it out, and exhale as your tuck it under. repeat 10 tilts to the front and back.
2. Side-lying Series: “The Clam & Inner Thigh Lift”
What you will need: A floor and a yoga mat…..that’s it! You can find a yoga mat at any sporting goods store, Target, or Amazon.com.
Why do this exercise? During pregnancy, your body goes through many amazing changes. One of these changes is the release of the hormone “relaxin”, which helps to loosen your ligaments and soft tissues in and around your pelvis. This loosening prepares your body for delivery. However, sometimes our bodies get a little too efficient with this hormone and our hips get TOO loose. Therefore, these 2 exercises not only maintain flexibility in the hips and pelvis, but more importantly, strengthen your outer and inner thighs. This added strength helps to relieve pain caused by too much laxity in the hips/pelvis, and also tones your buns and inner thighs, which is an added bonus!
How often should you do this exercise? This exercise can be done 1-2 times per day. Repeat each motion 10 times, rest for approximately 60 seconds, then repeat one more set of 10. Switch sides and repeat!
What do I do?
-“The Clam”: Lie on one side with your knees bent and your hips and feet stacked. Keep your feet together as you open the top knee off the bottom knee….like a clam shell. Be sure to keep your hips stacked, so that you feel your side hip and booty working!
-“Inner Thigh Lift”: Lie on one side and cross your top leg over your bottom leg and place the foot flat on the mat. Keep your top knee open towards the ceiling so you feel a moderate stretch in the top hip. From there, lift and lower the bottom leg with control. Focus on your inner thigh of the bottom leg doing the work. Keep your hips stacked and upper body stable so that the only thing moving is your bottom leg.
3. Quadruped Series: “Cat/Camel & Superman”
What you will need: A floor and a yoga mat…..that’s it! You can find a yoga mat at any sporting goods store, Target, or Amazon.com.
Why do this exercise? The “cat/camel” portion of this series helps to coordinate your breathing with pelvic and lumbar movement. The rounding of the lower back and pelvis during the exercise helps to stretch the back side of your body while gently engaging your abdominals; while the arching part of this exercise helps to stretch the front side of your body while engaging posterior muscles. The “superman” portion of this series helps to gently strengthen your back & core muscles which helps to balance the weight and pull of your growing belly. Both of these exercises help with overall body conditioning and strength, but specifically fight against that pesky lower back pain, which is quite common in all stages of pregnancy.
How often should you do this exercise? This exercise can be done 1-2 times per day. Repeat the arch and sway of the “cat/camel” 10 times. Rest for approximately 60 seconds, then repeat a second set of 10. Do 2 sets of 10 for the superman as well.
What do I do?
-“Cat/Camel”: Start in a neutral position and inhale. As you exhale, pull your belly button in towards your spine as you round your back. Imagine that you are pulling the top of your head and the tip of your tail bone towards each other. On the next inhale, lengthen the top of your head and the tip of your tail bone away from each other allowing your spine to arch, but not collapse and dump into your lower back. Try to move through each movement slowly and smoothly, using your breathe as a tool to help you engage your abdominals and lengthen your spine.
-“Superman”: From a neutral position, inhale. As you exhale, reach opposite arm and leg to an extended position without allowing your hips to shift. Try to hold this extended position for a count of 10, then switch sides and repeat. Be mindful of your shoulders and hips. Keep your shoulders out of your ears and hips stable as if you are balancing a cup of water on your tailbone.
Photography by Krista Mason
Thanks for all the step by steps, I will have to try these!
Such great workout tips!
Totally need to pin this for down the road!
Let us know how it goes!
Agreed! Jill is the best 🙂
Good idea!