At home post pregnancy workout

Kate Phillips, Physiotherapist, Women's health and pelvic health.
To do these exercises we're going to engage the core. So we need to activate the pelvic floor with the squeeze and lift up so that's squeezing in and lifting up around the urethra, the vagina and the back passage and letting go. We want to squeeze and lift up that pelvic floor and we also want to draw in that lower abdomen like we're doing up a zipper on a tight pair of pants.
I'm going to show you some squats. So, the key things to remember are to have your feet slightly wider than your hips. They can be a little bit further if you feel comfortable with that. Slightly wider than your hips and you want your kneecaps facing forward and your bottom going backwards like you're sitting in a chair. So, I'm going to show you five. Back we go. One - we want those kneecaps facing forwards. Two -that core engaged. Three. Four and five and I'm just going to show you some pulses and what they look like so you can see this alignment here. We're sitting backwards and you can also do some pulses. One, two, three, four, five and coming up.
I'm going to show you pelvic tilts. So, we'll get down onto our side and then rolling over onto our back. We want our knees bent and our feet hip-width apart and we're going to be rocking our hips back, tucking our tailbone under and flattening our lower back against the floor. So, rocking those hips back, tuck that tailbone under and we're flattening that lower back. You'll feel some abdominal muscles engage here - holding for five seconds and then we release. So, we're going to rock those hips back, tuck that tailbone under - hold two, three, four, five and then release. Rock those hips back, tuck that tailbone under hold two, three, four, five, release. Just showing you here, rocking those hips back, squashing that hand there hold two, three, four, five and release.
I'm going to show you a bridging exercise. So we're going to lie down going through our side and then rolling over onto our back. We want our knees bent and our feet hip-width apart. To start, we're going to roll with a pelvic tilt. So, we're going to roll those hips back, tuck that tailbone under so that we're flattening our lower back against the floor. So, we've rolled into that pelvic tilt there and now we're going to lift our bottom up towards the ceiling peeling each vertebrae up one by one. So, nice and slow, controlled movement right up to the top. Feel the glutes and the buttocks engage there and we want a nice straight line through the ribcage, the hips and up to the knee and then we can come down. So slowly peeling each vertebrae back down one by one and then slowly resting that pelvis into a neutral position again where you can gently fit one hand in there. We're going to go again, so, rolling the hips back, lifting the tailbone up and then peeling each vertebrae one by one. Feeling that at the top, really squeezing in your buttocks there and then rolling back down.
Nice and slow and controlled.
If you're feeling that too much through the back of your legs, you might want to bring your feet a little bit closer to your bottom to make it easier and more comfortable. Now, we're going to do one more at the top here, so we are bridging all the way up and to make it a little more challenging and really engage those glutes, we want to lift your heel up. So, lifting that heel, keeping your hips really even at the top there and drop your heel before coming back down. So, it's important to maintain nice steady movement, steady breathing and those hips right at the top, nice and even there. So, lifting that left heel now, holding, and then slowly lowering down. So, peeling each vertebrae back down, one by one there.
I'm going to show you some pushups. So, we're going to start in a four point kneel position. So, we want our knees hip-width apart and underneath the hips there. Your hands can be underneath your shoulders, in line with the shoulders getting comfortable there. you can have them slightly forward, if that feels comfortable and then slightly wider again. So, wherever you're feeling comfortable there, we want the shoulders to be down and back, the neck lengthened and our chest lifted. We don't want sinking down, okay. So, chest lifted here, shoulders down and back and the core, so the pelvic floor and the abdominal muscles, engaged. We're going to lower down now so, lowering your face towards the mat, keeping the abdominal muscles engaged, and coming back up. Nice and slowly and controlled through that movement. Keep those shoulders down and back and the neck lengthened. Now, if that's a little bit hard on your wrists, you can actually come into a fist position or hold some hand-weights there, so you're gripping on the hand-weights and you can do it like this. Another progression, if this is starting to feel a little easy for you, is to bring your hands even more forward, and come into a little bit more of plank position. You've got to keep that abdominal muscle and the pelvic floor really engaged through here. So that doesn't require more control. Or you can come back into this more neutral position here.
I'm going to show you some arm and leg lifts in a four point kneel position. So, we're going to start by getting ourselves in a four point kneel. So, we want our knees in line with our hips and hip-width apart and our hands in line with our shoulders and shoulder-width apart. So, in this position we want our shoulders down and back and our chest lifted. Our neck lengthened and we want to be engaging that core throughout so we can keep a nice steady lower back here. In this position I want you to start with an arm hover. So, we're just going to lift this left arm up off the mat keeping everything nice and stable and lowering back down. So, it's important to start here and make sure you can keep that core engaged while you shift the weight to the other hand keeping everything nice and even with those movements. Now, the next progression here is actually an arm lift so we're going to lift all the way up in line with the shoulder there. Keeping that chest lifted, the shoulders down and back and that neck lengthened as you lift up for a second and bring it back down.
I'm going to show you some leg slides now. So, we're going to keep that core engaged, shoulders down and back and, most importantly, this lower back nice and steady. We're going to slide one leg out keeping that engagement there, and bring it back in on each leg okay? So, shifting that weight but keep that pelvis nice and steady and bring it back in. And a progression for these is to lift all the way up, using that buttocks to really lift and bring it back down nice and steady. Make sure the hips aren't dropping here, keep it all up strong and engaged and really feel that through the buttocks there. Now, we are working towards being able to do an arm and a leg lift together, but it's really important that we've worked up with our core so we're keeping the shoulders steady and the pelvis even.
It's important to listen to your body and maintain nice steady breathing throughout each exercise. Do as many repetitions as you comfortably can up to 10 or 12 in a row and work towards two or three sets of each exercise.