Stretching for Pregnancy
Daily Stretches to Include During Pregnancy
It’s not unusual for our pregnant members to experience some common aches and pains at some point during their pregnancy. As experts in exercising while pregnant and helping people prepare for childbirth, we’ve come up with some of our favourite go-to movements we provide to our members to help alleviate some of the discomfort they may be feeling as they progress through pregnancy.
We recommend practicing these stretches daily to help target those chief areas of complaint. If you’re pressed for time, practice your favourite moves separately whenever you need to. But, we love to sequence them together for a little flow as well.
We love adding this stretch sequence a morning and/or evening routine, especially during pregnancy! It’s also a really helpful stretch for the early postpartum days. We hope you enjoy it!
Stretch 1: 4 Point Pelvic Tilt
We love the dynamic movement of a pelvic tilt for several reasons, including better rib and spinal mobility (for improved breathing), as well as flexion and extension of the spine, to help reduce tension. This is also a great movement to use when in labour as the gentle rocking motion helps relieve back pain and works to encourage your baby to move into an optimal position for delivery, while also relaxing the pelvic floor muscles.
Stretch 2: 1/2 Kneeling Lunge
This is a great stretch to open up the hip flexors while also stretching the psoas muscle, which often becomes short and tight as pregnancy progresses. When the psoas is long and supple it can help reduce lower back pain and hip pain. It may also positively contribute to the descent and positioning of baby into the pelvis. Walking also helps keep the psoas supple. We encourage all pregnant people to walk 30-40 minutes a day.
Stretch 3: Child’s Pose with lateral reach
For better comfort during this stretch, make room for your baby by keeping your legs wide. This stretch works to promote better back expansion and longer lats, both of which help with breathing mechanics by improving shoulder, back and rib cage expansion, allowing for deeper and more efficient breaths.
Stretch 4: Figure 4 Stretch
There are so many benefits to this stretch! One of our favourites is that it helps to relieve those pesky sciatica-like symptoms, while also keeping hips mobile and reducing tension in the low back. We encourage everyone to practice this stretch daily, especially after prolonged bouts of sitting.
STRETCH 5: Standing Calf Stretch & Rotation
Tight calf muscles are very common during pregnancy. Increased blood volume and poor circulation can contribute to leg cramps, which are very common during the second and third trimester. Stretching calves, especially before bed, can help to improve circulation, reduce or prevent cramps and relieve discomfort. The ribs also become stiff and rigid as the uterus grows, pressing up into the rib cage and making them expand, influencing posture and alignment. This is a great stretch to help lengthen the calves while also maintaining or improving, rib mobility. Thanks to our friends at Roots2Rise for sharing this one and teaching it to us!
If you’re more of a visual learner, watch as Jen demonstrates each of the stretches we’ve just described!
Join Jen as she takes you through Five of our favourite stretches to keep you comfortable during pregnancy.
Interested in joining us? Our classes are a great way to meet other new parents. Fitmama Strong Online has been operating classes online from our virtual studio since 2020. Our community is a thriving and welcoming space for you and your littles.
Grab our Prenatal Fitness & Yoga Guide for lots of info about pregnancy and exercise, including a prenatal fitness workout, prenatal yoga session and an evening wind-down stretch. We also offer our prenatal population on-demand workouts, that include fitness and yoga, specifically for the prenatal population.
If you’re new to Fitmama Strong Online, try one of our 3 Class Passes! You can use them at our postnatal Express Strong, Express Elevate and Express Flow classes. It doesn’t matter if your baby was born 6 weeks ago or 6 years ago, we have something for all postnatal members! Already been to Fitmama Strong classes? Grab a monthly membership and keep moving along with us:)
Finally, we offer in-person Stroller Fitness and Babywearing Fitness through our Durham Region and Ottawa locations. We can’t wait to have you join us!
We can’t wait for you to #startwithus and #growwithus. Find your Fitmama Strong Location!