Join Gina, a perinatal fitness trainer and birth doula, in this comprehensive lower body workout aimed at strengthening your body during pregnancy and preparing your pelvis for childbirth. This session includes three rounds of exercises: box squats, forward step-ups, reverse lunges, and hip shifts using a yoga block. Gina demonstrates how to perform each exercise correctly to help create space in the pelvis, release pelvic floor tension, and maintain comfort during the third trimester.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more weekly workouts and educational videos! We publish one new workout video and 2-3 educational videos a week on our channel.
The Importance of Lower Body Strength During Pregnancy
As your body changes throughout pregnancy, maintaining strength in your lower body becomes essential. A strong lower body can help with balance, stability, and overall comfort, especially during the third trimester when the body is preparing for birth. Additionally, specific movements can aid in creating more space in the pelvis, making it easier for your baby to navigate during delivery.
What You Will Need
For today’s workout, you’ll need:
- A sturdy elevated surface (like a box or a step stool)
- Weights (dumbbells or kettlebells)
- A yoga block
This workout consists of three rounds with four key exercises that emphasize lower body strength and pelvic preparation.
The Workout Breakdown
Box Squats
- Focus: External hip rotation and pelvic support.
- How to do it: Stand in front of the box with feet slightly wider than hip-width. Lower yourself onto the box with a forward lean, then exhale to rise back up. This movement provides a stopping point and support for comfort as your body adapts during the third trimester.
Forward Step-Ups
- Focus: Internal hip rotation and creating space in the lower pelvis.
- How to do it: Step onto the box with your right foot, bringing your belly to your thigh to find internal hip rotation. Use the opposite hand to reach toward the front foot as you step up, then lower back down.
Reverse Lunges
- Focus: Internal hip rotation and stability.
- How to do it: Step back with the left leg into a lunge, keeping the knee aligned with the ankle and belly to thigh to enhance internal hip rotation. This helps counteract common postural tendencies during pregnancy.
Hip Shifts with Yoga Block
- Focus: Pelvic floor release and hip stability.
- How to do it: Place one foot on the yoga block, shifting your weight back while rotating your belly toward the thigh. This movement helps target the posterior pelvic floor and release tension, which is particularly beneficial if you experience discomfort during pregnancy.
Wrapping Up
After completing the three rounds, make sure to take a moment to stretch and cool down. Regularly incorporating these exercises into your routine can help you stay strong and comfortable throughout your pregnancy while also preparing your body for birth.
Prepare for Your Birth with MamasteFit Prenatal Fitness Programs
If you want more daily workouts to support a strong pregnancy as you prepare for birth, join our online prenatal 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 fitness programs are offered in several formats:
- 40-Week Prenatal Strength Program in the Teambuildr App:
- This program is a self-paced workout with shorter demo videos. This is ideal if you like to workout in a gym setting and prefer a traditional workout delivery format.
- This program syncs to your current week of pregnancy, so you can start anytime, with one-time payment or month-to-month payment options.
- This program has a full and mini version, depending on how much time you have to dedicate to workouts!
- Prenatal On-Demand Fitness Program:
- If you prefer to follow a video as you workout at the same time, this workout program will be the best option!
- This program syncs to your current trimester, so you can grab the trimesters you need!
- Birth Prep Workout Program:
- If you already have a workout routine or you only want birth prep-focused workouts, check out this program!
- This program includes full-length workout videos to follow as you workout at the same time.
- Prenatal Yoga Classes:
- If you want prenatal yoga, join our prenatal yoga program! This also syncs to your current trimester.
Learn the science of pregnancy and birth to take the mystery of labor away! Understand why you are feeling what you feel, and learn strategies to confidently move through pregnancy and birth!
- 9h+ of Video
- Support Group
- Close Captioning
- 5 Workouts/Week
- Gym Workouts
- Self-Paced
Instructor
GINA
Workout on-demand with our prenatal fitness workout videos! Each workout is 30-40 minutes to follow along as you exercise at the same time!
- Birth Prep
- All Trimesters
- Mobility Work
Instructor
GINA
Find comfort and relief from pelvic girdle pain throughout your pregnancy and postpartum period! This program incorporates myofascial sling focused exercises to stabilize across the pelvic girdle joints.
- 3 Weeks
- On Demand Workout Videos to Follow