Abdominal Exercises For Pregnant Women

Like the first exercise in the video on the last page, the following prenatal ab exercise involves a hands-and-knees starting position, but with a huge twist. Your feet are lifted off the floor at a 45 degree angle towards your knees. Your knees bend to form a straight angle, as you will be able to see if you look at the video. Your arms, meanwhile, are completely stretched out and will rest on your the palms of your hands.

Take a few deep breaths, and tense your abdominal muscles up toward your spine as much as you can. Keep on focusing on your breathing as you hold this position for as long as you comfortably can, and then release your abs. Have another go, and another. Instead of doing it this way, you could also tense your muscles when you breathe in, and relax when you breathe out. However you choose to do this exercise, repeat it as many times as you comfortably can.

This ab exercise is particularly interesting because your body is mostly stationary, in a supporting position. Your abs really do all the work!

The final exercise starts in a completely different position. The expectant mother is sitting up with her spine completely straight, while her legs are bent at the knee. Note that the legs should be placed shoulder-width apart, and the feet are pointing upwards slightly.

Inhale deeply. When you exhale, curl your spine towards your uterus and tighten your abdominal muscles. Your neck is bent forward too, with your nose essentially pointing at your baby. Hold the position for three seconds, and then move back up again as you inhale. Pull your shoulders up as you move back into the starting position. Repeat as many times as you like, but be sensible and don't do more exercises than you can handle. It's always best to build up slowly.

These abdominal exercises may well have been completely unfamiliar to you before you got pregnant, but they now prove that you can work on your abs while you are expecting a baby. Women who have strong abs will be grateful during labor and birth, and afterwards. Many newly postpartum women have bellies that still look pregnant, and a lot of that is due to abdominal muscles being out of shape. You won't suffer from that problem (at least, not as much) if you keep working on your abs.

Don't neglect your pelvic floor muscles in favor of working on your abdominals, however. Practice Kegel exercises at every opportunity you get to strength your whole core and to prevent postpartum incontinence.