You can prepare for birth with this birth prep workout by including exercises in your prenatal routine to open each pelvic level! The pelvis has three main levels:
- The Inlet: The top of the pelvis where your baby will enter or engage during pregnancy or labor
- The Midpelvis: the middle of the pelvis where your baby will rotate through from the top to bottom during labor
- The Outlet: the bottom of the pelvis where your baby will extend under the pubic bone to be born.
When preparing to open the bottom of the pelvis and preparing for pushing, there is a lot of different types of movements that can create space:
- Internal Hip Rotation (knees in, ankles out) creates more space side to side in the bottom of the pelvis.
- Sacral Nutation (tailbone moving backward) creates more space front to back in the bottom of the pelvis
- The Posterior Pelvic Floor needs to release to allow the sacrum to move freely.
The outlet is where your baby is born–so when we are focusing on opening the outlet, we are also thinking about preparing for pushing. The bottom of the pelvis opens more with internal hip rotation (knees in, ankles out) as opposed to wide knees--which is commonly coached as a way to “create space for baby.”
21-Minute Birth Prep Workout: Prepare for Pushing
When preparing to open the bottom of the pelvis for birth, we need to think about what muscles need strength to PULL the pelvis into internal rotation to create space side to side and pull the tailbone backward to create space front to back. We also need to consider what mobility exercises we need to incorporate to release tension to make it easier to open the bottom of the pelvis.
This could include:
- Hamstring and adductor strengthening to PULL the pelvis into internal rotation
- Lat strengthening to apply traction to the sacrum to pull the tailbone backward
- Posterior pelvic floor release to make it easier for the sacrum to move
In this 21-minute birth prep workout, I will guide you through three rounds of outlet opening exercises! This workout includes:
- Banded Good Morning: strengthen the hamstrings
- Archer Row: strengthen the lats and releases the posterior pelvic floor with improved hip mobility
- Standing Hip Shift to Move: releases the posterior pelvic floor and improves pelvic mobility
This workout is included in the 2nd-trimester prenatal on-demand program and birth prep workout program! If you want more workouts like this, check out our on-demand program that includes full-length workout videos.
If you prefer to work out at your own pace with an app, our prenatal strength program also includes birth prep workouts every week, including this one but in an app-based format.
The good news is that you don’t need to wait until birth to figure out how to open your pelvis–you can incorporate exercises throughout your prenatal workouts to create more space!
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!
- 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
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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