A Guide To Getting Back In Shape After Pregnancy

These exercises will help you get back into shape after pregnancy. They're suitable for Caesarian or natural births. I call this exercise "hippos" - Hip Openings.

We're going to place our right hand on the hip, and the left knee goes out to the left. You can see my foot moves a little bit, the inside edge of my foot, and then you return, back to where you started. Think heavy, on the opposite side to the leg that you're moving, breathing out, going out, breathing in, going in. Use your tummy and your pelvic floor to stabilize your hips. Lengthen and breathe out, knee goes out, not very much. The idea is that your pelvis stays 100% still, not almost still, so just a few inches, and use your hand on the opposite hip to remind it to stay down, and to push it down a little bit if you need to.

Next, we're going to lift the heel, and then the knee off the floor, keeping the pelvis still. So again, you think heavy, on the opposite side, tummy, pelvic floor, breathing out, the heel floats up, tummy, pelvic floor, breathing out, the heel floats down. Switching sides, thinking heavy, light with the opposite heel. Tummy, pelvic floor, breathing out, floating the heel up. Tummy, pelvic floor, breathing out, the heel comes back down again.

And then you continue, tummy, pelvic floor, breathing out, and floating the leg up. Tummy, pelvic floor, breathing out, toe lands, and then heel. Tummy, pelvic floor, breathing out, light to the heel, light with the knee, stop at a right angle, you can check that your tummy's going in, with your hand there. Make the movement slow, but not too slow. The slower you go, the harder it will be. Don't make it too slow.

I call these "dog legs" and "dog arms," hands directly under shoulders, knees directly under hips. Make sure you don't sink between your shoulder blades. Tummy and pelvic floor gently, and sliding your arm forwards, keeping your neck relaxed, keeping everything else still.

Tummy, pelvic floor, breathing out, breathing in. Only going as far as your neck stays the same, that your back stays the same.

And then the legs - legs are a little harder, stabilizing your pelvis again, tummy, pelvic floor, and lengthening out through the top of the head, away from the tail.

Straight knee, tummy, and then if you like you can do a very small lift. Stabilizing, tummy, pelvic floor, breathing out, sliding out, straight knee, tummy, if you like, you can lift, and then sliding in, and then at the end, have a nice stretch back.

So those are a few exercises to get you back into shape after your pregnancy.