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. One good deep breathing exercise is "side-lying breathing."

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Side-lying breathing:

1. Lie on the floor on your left side with knees bent and right shoulder directly over left, right hip and leg stacked on top of left hip and leg, left arm extended out in front on floor.

Place a pillow or folded towel under head to line up neck with rest of spine, and slide pillow underneath left side to also create straight spine. 

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2. Curl slightly forward somewhat into ball shape, rounding spine forward and bringing knees in toward chest, only as much as is comfortable. Place right hand on right side ribs, breathe in through nose, sending the air to expand ribs where right hand rests. 

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3. Long exhale through mouth, aim for 20 seconds. During exhale, think about drawing abs inward, squishing out all the air. 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​

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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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Sitting leg lifts:

1. Sit on the floor with legs in front and knees bent.

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2. Inhale through your nose, then on the exhale, draw abs up and in as you lift your right leg, only as high as you feel comfortable. Bring leg down. Inhale then lift left leg. Repeat 10 times. For more challenge, straighten the leg you're lifting. 

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Pelvic Tilts:

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart.

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2. Arch your back, letting the top of your pelvis tip forward.

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3. Then, tuck pelvis under, think about rounding your spine. Repeat 10 times.

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4. Back Exercises

The back is under a lot of new pressure as your baby grows on the front. Strengthen your back to help handle the load and decrease pain. Great exercises to include are reverse flies and bent over rows.

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Seated Reverse Flies:

Sit in chair with feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a 5 lb dumbbell in each hand, with elbows bent at 90 degree angle and both hands in front.

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2. Rotate arms out to sides of body, think about pinching an imaginary pencil between your shoulder blades. Make sure not to arch your back. Bring arms back to starting position. Aim for 4 sets of 8 repetitions.  

 

 

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Bent-over rows:

1. Using a chair or box, bend over so your left hand is supporting you on one side of the chair and left knee is up on the other side. Stand with right leg straight on floor. Make spine tall and straight. Hold a 5 lb dumbbell in right hand, hold arm straight out and slightly in front of body. 

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2. Keeping spine straight, squeeze elbow up until in line with torso. Think about squeezing imaginary pencil between shoulder blades. Repeat 8 times on right side, then switch to left. Aim for a total of 2 rounds of 8 repetitions on each side.

 

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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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