Pregnancy Exercise

A proper pregnancy exercise is useful not only in terms of maintaining an overall health condition during the pregnancy period, but also facilitates for a better labor experience. Today, the number of pregnancy exercise classes being held are expanding. Each of them caters to creating an overall healthier well-being to prepare your body for the labor.

Here are top four recommended exercises that pregnant women must perform to aid the process of labor:

Kegels

This type of exercise is focused on producing small internal contractions on the muscles of your pelvic floor, which is connected with your bladder, urethra, uterus, and rectum. This facilitates for an improved circulation of your vaginal and rectal area. By strengthening the muscles on your pelvic floor, you will be able to avoid certain dangerous complications during childbirth such as hemorrhoids or episiotomy (or tears). Aside from that, there is enough scientific evidence that support the fact that having stronger pelvic muscles require less pushing stage during labor.

If you want to do kegels, you won't need any bulky or expensive equipments. In fact, you can do it basically anywhere in your house, while you are on the computer or watching TV.

To perform the Kegels, you can do the following:

• Tighten the muscles surrounding your vagina, as if to interrupt the urine flow.
• After counting to four, release. Repeat the same process as many times as you desire. Do this as often as you want throughout the day.

Pelvic Tilt

This exercise, which helps boost the strength of your abdominal muscles and relieve of back pain associated with labor, is performed on all fours. To do this, follow the steps below:

• Keep your hands and knees on the ground. Maintain your arms and knees at a shoulder-width and hip-width distance, respectively. Make sure not to lock your elbows.
• As you inhale, tighten your abdominal muscles. Then, tuck in your buttocks.
• While breathing out, you need to keep your back in neutral position to allow it to relax.
• The pace of how you repeat this exercise is all up to you.

Squat

Squatting is considered as one of the most efficient ways to prepare your body for giving birth. Aside from strengthening your thighs, this will open up your pelvis. To do this, follow the steps:

• Get yourself a chair and stand on the back of it. Make sure your feet are a hip-width apart, with toes pointing upward. Use the back of the chair as support.
• As you contract the muscles in your abdomen, lift your chest, then relax both shoulders. After that, slowly lower your tailbone as if sitting on a chair. As you do this, concentrate your weight on your heels.
• As you perform this, never forget to inhale and exhale. To rise up from the sitting position, use your legs to push your upwards.

Cobbler Pose

The cobbler pose exercise opens your pelvis and also loosens up the joints in your hip, which prepares you for childbirth. Aside from that, this will immensely improve your posture and relieve tension from your lower back.

Here is how you can do this exercise:

• Stand against a wall, while making sure that the soles of both feet touch each other. If you find this difficult, you can opt to sit on a towel.
• While pressing your knees down, you need to keep it away from each other. Maintain this position as long as you can hold.

When doing these exercises, you must not push yourself too far. Work at the level your body can take, then slowly improve from there.

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