Pregnancy usually brings with it a fair share of aches and pains. Whether it’s your hips, lower back, upper back and neck, it’s quite common to feel some discomfort as your little one grows.
Luckily, though, there’s much we can do in order to decrease those aches and pains, and to keep your body feeling too creaky and crunchy.
Below is a quick circuit of stretches and exercises you can complete daily throughout your pregnancy. It won’t be strenuous but it will help to get your blood pumping and your body moving.
Do one or two sets through the exercises on most days of the week, but especially on non-workout days. The whole circuit shouldn’t take more than five minutes to complete. You could also use it as a dynamic warmup to your workout.
The only equipment you’ll need is a bench, couch, or chair (make sure it’s secured and won’t slide).
Disclaimer: As always, please check with your doctor to confirm you have no contraindications to exercise in your pregnancy. These exercises are safe to do from Week 1 - Week 42 (...a little movement to induce labour?!) so long as you are feeling “comfortable” doing them.
Thank you so much to my friend Dr. Kate Durnin, who is a Chiropractor at Peak Health and Performance in Calgary Alberta, for modeling in these photos.
NOTE: If this is painful in your pelvis or you’re experiencing symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD) skip it. You can try standing facing a wall, stretch the arms up the wall, walk the hands over to one side to feel a gentle stretch, and then walk the hands over to the other side.
NOTE: A common form break is to let the hips rock backwards. Press your hand into the floor so you keep your weight shifted slightly forward.
NOTE: Your whole body will move as one unit through the hip thrust. Your ribcage and hips stay in line on the way and the way down.
NOTE: Make sure to squeeze your glutes as you stand, but don’t drive your hips forward to flatten your lower back. I cue my clients to “leave your bum behind you at the top”]
NOTE: Watch that the lower back is keeping the gentle curve but not arching hard as you raise the arms.
Keep moving to work out those pregnancy aches and pains, mamas!
85% of women will have a baby at some point in their life. If you work with women, you work with pre- and postnatal women.
Whether your clients are currently pregnant or have already had their baby, they’ll have questions about everything — how to exercise safely in each trimester, which foods they should and shouldn’t eat, how to exercise the right way post-pregnancy.
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