10 Best Exercises for Labor Preparation
Having been so active through out my whole pregnancy, between all the walking and climbing, I thought that this last month of pregnancy was going to be a breeze for me. Naively, I thought that I wouldn’t be affected by all the aches and pains that haunt the final month… Boy was I wrong… While my feet haven’t swelled (thank goodness! I have too many pretty and expensive shoes that I don’t want to throw away!) everything else seems to be going amiss. Walking through a department store seems like a chore, my hips hurt, breathing is exhausting, I waddle and my quads are so tight my butt doesn’t even touch my heels when I sit on them!
I mean, it makes sense. At this point, I am carrying an extra 40 lbs of unbalanced weight. That is a lot of extra weight for these chonky thighs to take on every single moment I am not sitting or horizontal! After thinking I was crushing it this pregnancy, here I sit, writing this post, sore in all the places I didn’t know could be sore… But not defeated! Being in the home stretch, I still muster up enough energy to do some labor preparation focused exercises a few times a week so that I am flexible and ready for big push!
Here are my 10 favorite moves that not only strengthen my hips and pelvic area, but also stretch out all those muscles that have been giving me trouble! These can be done anywhere! I do each exercise for about 1 minute
Pelvic Rock
Sitting on a bolster, pillow, or rolled up blanket with knees forward and feet behind you, tilt the pelvis forward
On the exhale, lift the pelvic floor, draw the belly in and rock backward onto the tailbone
On the inhale, imagine the pelvis blossoming and bring everything forward again
Exhale, tilt back
Inhale, fill up… Exhale, lift up and protect that belly
You can also rotate the pelvis in circles to the right and to the left. Do what feels good
Thoracic Rotation Into Side Bend
Still sitting on the bolster, pillow or blanket, take the right foot out to the side for a half squat. Knee up, rib cage stacked over pelvis
Take the right elbow to the inside of the right knee, hand holding the ankle (if you can), and open the body to the left, reaching for the sky on an exhale
On the inhale, fill up the belly and come back to center
On the exhale, zip up the belly, pull up on the pelvic floor and open back out to the left
Continue following your breath for a minute
After about a minute, on the exhale, drop the left hand to the ground, reach up with your right hand over to the left feeling a nice stretch along the right side of the body
On the inhale, using your core bring everything back to the center
Exhale reach, inhale center
After a minute of the right side bend, switch over to the left side.
Carrying all that weight in pregnancy, I feel most of my tightness in my legs. These moves not only build the control in the pelvic floor needed in those vital stages of delivery, but also help open up all those tight muscles pulling at my low back creating that imbalance. This next move is my absolute favorite since I hold the majority of my tension in my quads. I do them any time I feel extra tightness on the front of my legs or hips and I mean any time. I could be on the beach, watching TV, hanging at the park or randomly at a friend’s house looking like a crazy person!
Half Pidgeon Forward Fold into Kneeling Lifts
You can use a bolster or pillow here if needed. Start with the front leg in an external rotation and the back leg in an internal rotation
As you walk forward with your hands, use your breath to guide yourself through the tight muscles
Without rounding your spine, breathe into the lower back
Hold here for about a minute, making micro-movements to hit the spots that need some extra love
Flow into the Kneeling Lifts
From half pidgeon, on the exhale, engage the pelvic floor, zip up your abdomen and lift all the way up into the kneeling position
On the inhale, with control, sit back down
On the exhale, use your pelvic floor to lift all the way up to the top, hold, and on the inhale come back down
If you feel good here, you can add a rotation at the top in the direction of the forward leg, using the exhale to engage all of the core muscles to protect the belly
Dial into your breath! Finding space on the inhale and engage in the exhale. Anchor the sit bones down to the floor and get space through the spine
Switch sides
Cat/Cow
Get down on all fours, knees hip width apart and hands shoulder distance, starting with a neutral spine, we are going to mobilize the spine and pelvis
On the exhale, draw the pelvic floor together, zipping up the core as you round your spine, tucking the pelvis in, chin towards chest
On the inhale, imagine the pelvic floor opening (blossoming if you will), open the chest, tilt hips up, gaze travels upward
Move with your breath. Find some fluidity in your movements and hang out in any spot that feels sticky
Puppy Pose
Start on your hands and knees in a table top. Walk your hands forward, lowering your chest into the ground keeping your hips lifted and over the knees.
If this feels good, lower your forehead to the floor and allow your chest to melt into the ground, sending your sit bones back and away from your finger tips getting length through your sides
Breathe into your low ribs, down into your lower back
Create Space - this is amazing if you have heaviness in the pelvic floor or tightness in the pelvic floor which is very prominent or me in this last month of pregnancy. My baby’s head is already down and the weight is causing so much pressure and soreness in my pelvic muscles. Puppy Pose feels fantastic!
Breathe into that space
Side Plank Knee to Elbow
Start in a left side plank with the left knee down for stability. Extend and lengthen through the right arm and leg. Take a deep breath into the right side of the body
On the exhale, zip up the pelvic floor through the core to protect the belly, draw the right elbow towards the right ribs as the right knee draws up to meet the elbow
On the inhale, lengthen everything back out, fingers and toes reaching in the opposite direction, breathing into the right hip
Exhale, draw everything in
Inhale, extend
Dial into the breath as you build strength in the hips
Shift to the Right Side Plank and repeat
Lateral Lunge
Starting on your knees, bring the right leg forward into a lunge. Sink it forward, feeling the stretch in the right inner thigh. If this is enough for you, you can stay here and deepen the stretch or you can rock it back and get into the hamstring as well.
Sending your breath down into the stretch, move between the two positions, spending as much time in each as you need working into that pelvis.
Continue the flow for one minute
Switch Sides
We carry so much tension in our inner thigh as our body’s equilibrium changes throughout pregnancy which can manifest itself as many different aches and pains that we, as women, just pass off as “normal.” For me it was a sciatic pain that would not go away no matter what I did. It turns out, it was less a sciatic problem and more that I wasn’t targeting the right muscles. Once I really started focusing on these labor preparation exercises, the pains started becoming more bearable.
Wide Leg Squat Flow into Deep Squat
Begin with legs wider than hips width distance apart, staying as neutral through the spine as you can. Key is to stay connected to your breath
On the inhale, nice and controlled, lower down into a squat
Imagine lengthening the glutes, spreading through the sitting bones, blossoming everything open
On the exhale, engage the pelvic floor and come back up to standing
Imagine drawing everything back together, lifting as you push through that floor, tail bone to pubic bone all the way to the top of the squat
No tucking under, no spilling forward
As you inhale, come down…. Exhale, drive yourself back to standing
Keep movements controlled and stay connected with your breath
After a minute, fully lower yourself into a deep seated squat (this can be unsupported or supported using a pillow)
Focus on creating space through the sitting bones
Toes pointed out, elbows on the inner knee pressing out
Untuck the glutes, reach sitting bones behind you
Using your breath, breathe down through the low belly, down into the pelvic floor
Exhale, draw the pelvic floor up like you are trying to squeeze a marble
Inhale, push the pelvic floor down and away like flower petals opening and blossoming
Get comfortable, you can rest here or rock from side to side if that feels good
Reverse Clam Shell
Start lying down on your left side, knees forward, bent, feet in line with your hips behind you. Pillow (or something to squeeze) between the knees. Moving at a pace you can control:
Squeeze the knees, zip up the pelvic floor and lift the top ankle slightly toward the sky, creating an internal rotation of the top hip, on the exhale
On the inhale, lower the leg down and relax
Exhale, lift. Inhale, lower
After one minute, switch sides
Like the side plank elbow to knee, the reverse clam shell helps strengthen the hip and stabilizes the pelvis
Supported Wide Forward Fold
Using a wall, feet slightly wider than hips distance, lengthen the sitting bones back creating a 90 degree bend at the hips. With hands braced on the wall, keep your arms and back straight, head hanging through the arms and core engaged to protect the belly
Sway hips side to side, getting into any tension in the lower back
Hang out in any spot that feels sticky and breath into the stretch
After a few moments, press the left arm into the wall, wrap the right arm around the lower back and twist open to the right
find some movement and flow here if it feels good
Switch sides
These moves felt amazing and worked wonders for me so far and I will update you on how they helped me through labor when I pop this bad boy out!
