PREGNANCY EXERCISES AND STRETCHES FOR PRE AND POSTPARTUM
Congratulations on this amazing adventure! We are so excited for you and thank you for allowing us to be a part of your journey! It is incredibly important to keep moving before during and after pregnancy. We highly recommend Birth Fit (https://www.birthfit.com/) to get started as they offer both a prenatal and postpartum program. These are a few things we’ve pulled from them as well as some other sources to get you started. Don’t feel like you need to do everything, pick and choose a few things and watch a few of their videos first. Let Dr. Erik know if you have any specific questions!
The Functional Progression
The Functional Movement Progression is a series of movements that we use to support and train natural movement patterns at the most fundamental level. Think of this as your nutritious movements that you flow through daily. These are the vegetables that we know we have to eat;) This is a great opportunity to tune into your body and notice what is going side to side, lower back, upper back, and especially hips.
Functional Progression 1 x 10 each side
Functional Progression 2 x 10 each side
Air squats - 25 Air Squats
Lizard Stretch & Psoas Stretch
Hold Stretch for 60 seconds each side—Deep Lizard
Keeping the hip flexors, especially your psoas, mobile is super important for maintaining an optimally functioning pelvis for birth. If hip flexors are too tight, they can tilt the pelvis and actually decrease room for baby’s head within the pelvic cavity.
Squat therapy
The goal is to hold a low squat for 5-7 minutes. Go with what is comfort with you right now ☺
Chest Opener & Wall Angel
These are great to do pre and post pregnancy. Postpartum will help open up the chest, especially if breastfeeding is done and rounding forward carrying baby
Glute bridge
Can be done with a band or without
30sec each side
Meditation
Great pre and post pregnancy to quiet your mind and relax!
If pre-labor—visualize pregnancy, labor and delivery