Fitting In Fitness: Muscle Through Labor

I have a girlfriend who is expecting her second baby in early September. She is very excited for this new addition to her family. I too am excited for her, and when we get together we talk about every ounce of her pregnant body and what is happening. It’s a lot of fun and such a bond between women.

At our last get-together she was telling me how blissfully ignorant she was about labor the first time around. This time though, not so much. She knows what’s coming in terms of the pain and the recovery period. Let’s face it, pushing a watermelon out of a pinhole and then recovering from it is no easy feat. Because of her previous experience she is nervous…very nervous.

One of her biggest struggles in labor, and within the first few days after, was the pain and soreness in her back and leg muscles. Every move she made caused pain and discomfort to rip through her body. I was wincing on her behalf as she told me this.

We started brainstorming what she could do to manage that pain or make it go away all together. While I’m all for breathing techniques, meditation and my personal favorite the epidural, we both knew the only answer to her sore muscles was to make them stronger and do it NOW!

In honor of my sweet, and supportive mommy friend here are some great pre-labor exercises that you pregnant ladies, and even you not pregnant ladies, can do for your lower back and upper legs.

Start out with ten reps of each exercise one time through. Every three weeks add a second set of ten reps. When you are doing three sets of ten reps with relative ease, use the same pattern and work your way up to three sets of 15 reps. You can hold light weights or just use your own body as resistance.

P.S. Don’t forget to check with your doctor before beginning any exercise program, especially if you are pregnant.

Basic Chair Squat
Deadlifts
Seated Slides
Plea Squats
Quadruped Arm/Leg Raise
Side Plank

Fitting in Fitness appears every other Wednesday. Before becoming a mother to one inquisitive little boy named Ethan, Montco Mom Sarah spent five years working in the fitness publishing industry. She finds peace, and a sense of self through running, weight training and practicing yoga. Questions, inquiries and inspiration are always welcome. To learn more about her parenting style, check out her blog Ethan’s Day.