There are so many birth prep exercises that you can do, but which ones should you choose to include in your prenatal workout routine? It can be helpful to consider what types of movements are necessary to create more space in your pelvis for birth and release tension in the pelvic floor!
Here at MamasteFit, we are big fans of incorporating pelvic opening exercises into our prenatal fitness programs to support a strong pregnancy and help you prepare for your birth. But let’s explore three hip mobility focused exercises you can include in your prenatal workout routine to prepare to open the pelvis AND release tension in your pelvic floor.
Birth Preparation: Hip Mobility and Pelvic Floor Relaxation
Several hip movements are required to create more space in the pelvis, particularly your ability to find internal and external hip rotation. Different hip positions also change the tension in different parts of the pelvic floor! So, birth preparation can involve the standard deep squats, but if we ONLY focus on external hip rotation, we will be missing out on a key component of our hip mobility: internal rotation at the hip.
During pregnancy, we tend to favor a posture that emphasizes external hip rotation (toes out) and extension in the spine (arching in the back). These postural tendencies tend to mean that the back half of our pelvic floor is a lot tighter than the front half AND internal hip rotation is more challenging to find during pregnancy (and birth).
The MamasteFit Birth Prep Circuit is a series of exercises that targets this problem, and helps to improve your mobility by helping you find a posterior pelvic tilt and internal hip rotation. You can grab a free copy of our circuit (with videos) by signing up for our newsletter below!
1) Deep Squat Mobility with Thoracic Rotation:
Release the front part of the pelvic floor!
Although we already favor external rotation during pregnancy, it can still be beneficial to include deep squats as a part of your hip mobility routine. This will help you become more comfortable in a deep squat position, which can be a beneficial labor and pushing position.
Since a deep squat position favors external hip rotation, it is creating more of a stretch in the front half of your pelvic floor. This is important to note as if you ONLY do externally hip rotated exercises for pelvic floor release, you will only be targeting the front half of the pelvic floor.
In the deep squat position you can:
- Start by getting comfortable in a deep squat position. If needed, elevate the heels on a supportive surface or sit to a yoga block.
- Then you can press the knees apart with your elbows. And then target the press only one one knee.
- Then you can add in thoracic rotation.
- If you want to advance this, hold a weight and press it overhead as you rotate. This will help you move deeper into the exercise.
Watch the breakdown video for a breakdown of different elements you can incorporate into your deep squat mobility routine, such as pressing the knees apart and thoracic rotation with and without a weight!
2) 90/90 Side Body Opener:
Improve hip mobility with thoracic lateral mobility!
Another birth preparation exercise you can include in your prenatal workout routine is the 90/90 hip mobility with side body opening. In this position, each hip is in a different position: one hip is in external rotation, and the other is in internal rotation.
This asymmetrical positioning creates a torque in the pelvic floor and will release the front leg’s anterior pelvic floor and the back leg’s posterior pelvic floor–so it will release the pelvic floor diagonally.
Plus, this asymmetrical position helps to improve hip internal rotation, which is key for birth preparation! The bottom half of the pelvis opens MORE with internal hip rotation–so if you want to avoid late labor stalls, being able to access this movement pattern is necessary for your labor progress.
Another important factor, is that your rib cage position can influence your pelvic position! For many of us, we tend to have some compression in the rib cage on the right side body, so exercises that emphasize side body opening can make it easier to find internal rotation at the hip and improve hip mobility.
In the 90/90 with side body opener:
- Start in a 90/90 position, with one leg in front and the other to the side/behind.
- Find a comfortable seat, trying to have even weight distribution between both hips. If you are having a hard time getting comfortable, sit on a yoga block to elevate the hips slightly.
- Then, lean toward your internally rotated leg and reach overhead with the opposite arm to feel a stretch in your side body.
- Hold here for 10 breaths.
- Then repeat on the other side.
Watch this breakdown video to be guided through this hip and thoracic mobility exercise!
Want more?? Join our prenatal and postnatal fitness programs! MamasteFit is unique in that we are one of the ONLY prenatal/postnatal training facilities in the United States. We develop our workout programs from our experience of working with in-person pre/postnatal fitness clients and work closely with physical therapists to refine our programming. In addition, we are birth workers, so we combine our experience as perinatal fitness trainers and birth professionals to ensure that our programs actually support your birth preparation and recovery!
Our prenatal and postnatal fitness programs are offered in two formats:
- Teambuildr App: list of exercises with demo videos with options to track your weights and progress within the app!
- On-Demand Videos: full length workout videos you follow as you workout at the same time
3) All Fours Hip Shift with Mini Band:
Release the posterior pelvic floor and improve hip mobility!
Another birth preparation exercise that you can incorporate into your prenatal workout routine is the all fours hip shift with a mini band. The mini band helps increase the activation of the exercise, and can help you move deeper into the hip mobility. Because this is a hip shifted exercise, it props the pelvis into an asymmetrical position and releases the pelvic floor diagonally–the elevated hip posterior pelvic floor and the lower hip anterior pelvic floor will be targeted with this exercise!
In an all fours position, place one knee on an elevated surface such as a yoga block:
- Shift your weight over the elevated knee to feel your hip shift. You will feel more of a stretch in the elevated hip area.
- If you need to add more, press the lower knee into a wall (keeping it lower than the elevated knee), or add a mini band (see breakdown video below).
- If you want to add more movement, add in some pelvic tilts where you round and arch in the back 10 times. Then switch sides.
Watch the breakdown video of how to do this exercise! We include breakdown videos like these in our fitness programs to guide you through each of our exercises, many of which are unique to our programming.
Prepare for Birth with Exercise
You can absolutely “train” for birth with exercises that improve your mobility. In order to open each pelvic level, we need the hip to be able to find external and internal hip rotation–if we are limited in our hip mobility, it can affect how well our pelvis can open during birth.
Decreased pelvic space could negatively impact our baby’s ability to navigate through our pelvis and result in a labor stall or potentially a cesarean birth. If you can improve your hip mobility and decrease tension in your entire pelvic floor during pregnancy, it can improve your labor experience and birth outcomes!
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