Exercises for Pregnancy

1. Deep breathing exercises

During pregnancy, the baby takes up more and more space, and this often leads to shallow breathing. Not only can this contribute to anxiety, but it often throws off alignment and creates problems when recovering from pregnancy. Deep breathing exercises include side-lying breathing, child's pose breathing, and side-sitting breathing. 

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Side-sitting breathing:

1. Sit on floor with knees bent, legs stacked on right side.

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2. Reach left hand across body to hold onto right knee. Tuck chin, form spine into "C" shape bent slightly forward and to right side. Meanwhile, reach right hand through to left side until you can feel outside of ribs (or reach as far as you're able). If you can't comfortably get into this position, sit in a chair and reach your left hand to right knee, right hand through as described above.

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3. Holding position, breathe in through nose, sending air to expand ribs on left side and back. Think about feeling expansion all the way through "C" shape you've formed with your back. Exhale fully through mouth, aiming for full exhale, at least 10 seconds. Repeat five times, then switch sides. 

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2. Walking

Walking is a great way to get the whole body moving and blood flowing without adding a lot of ground impact force, like you would from running or jumping​

 

3. Lower abdominal "TA" (transverse abdominis) exercises

The lower abs need to be strong to support your growing baby and your pelvic floor during pregnancy. Strengthen those muscles now to help reduce discomfort and leaking in pregnancy, and avoid more serious problems afterwards. Lower abdominal exercises include dead bugs, pelvic tilts, and sitting leg lifts. 

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Dead bugs:

1. Lie back with legs lifted, knees and hips bent at 90 degrees, arms on floor by sides. Position back to be in full contact with floor. If you have a big belly at this point or don't feel comfortable on back, stack pillows or towels under upper body so it's elevated

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2. Inhale through nose, as exhale, slowly lower one leg (keeping knee at 90 degree angle) until foot touches floor, making sure to keep back in contact with floor. Inhale and lift leg to starting position. Repeat with other leg. If touching foot to floor is too intense, or if you can't keep back in full contact with floor, only lower leg as far as you feel comfortable. Repeat 10 times.

 

4. Lateral abdominal exercises 

Strengthen your lateral (side) abdominals during pregnancy to reduce diastisis recti (splitting of the front abs during pregnancy) and set up to get rid of your mommy tummy after delivery. Lateral ab exercises include modified plank shoulder taps, side plank, and pallof press.

 

5. Hamstring and adductor exercises

The hamstrings (back of thighs) and adductors (inside of thighs) are two muscle groups that can more or less turn off during pregnancy, which can lead to discomfort and imbalance. Keep these muscles strong to be at your best during pregnancy and set up for a better recovery. Some hamstring and adductor exercises include the adductor squeeze, heel slide, and hamstring bridge.​

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Exercises to Avoid or use with Caution

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1. Exercises that put a lot of pressure on your pelvic floor

 During pregnancy, your pelvic floor (the muscles surrounding your vagina and anus that hold up everything like a sling) are under a lot of pressure from your growing baby. Doing exercises that put too much additional pressure on these muscles can lead to serious injury including prolapse, leaking, and incontinence. If you're accustomed to exercises that put a lot of pressure on your pelvic floor, you can consider cutting them out altogether during pregnancy, modifying them so that they apply less pressure, or easing off more and more as your belly grows. It's worth it to take it a little easier now so that you can get right back to harder exercise after pregnancy, rather than spending months and months after delivery trying to heal and get back to your baseline.

Exercises that create a lot of pelvic floor pressure include running, jumping, and heavy lifting.

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2. "Front-loading" exercises 

These are exercises that take the shape of a plank: all plank variations, push-ups, burpees, etc. Just like your pelvic floor, the front of your abs is under a lot of pressure during pregnancy, and at some point for every woman, the "rectus," or front middle abs, split to make space for the baby. Front loading exercises can put too much pressure on those front abs and cause them to split much more, giving you a bigger belly during and after pregnancy, and making it much more difficult to get a flat belly back. Again, it can work to ease off of front loading exercises as your belly grows. Instead, focus on less strenuous ab exercises including side and lower ab workouts.

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