You know when I was pregnant I would have somedays where I would wake up feeling absolutely exhausted and I wouldn't be able to shake that feeling all day. On these days even my daily workout which usually gave me MORE energy, would sap my strength.
So on these days I listened to my body and took the easy option. Stretching!
Pregnancy can make so many parts of your body tighten up and feel stiff, inflexible and sore, but a simple stretching routine can do wonders to easing away those aches and pains and making you feel more human again!
1. Pelvic Tilts
(If you have a birthing ball / swiss ball you can use this to sit on and do pelvic tilts, but the floor is just as effective!)
Get onto all fours on the floor with your hands directly under your shoulders and your knees directly under your hips.
Start with a neutral spine (flat back).
Slowly exhale and squeezing your buttocks, start to tilt your pelvis so that your tailbone moves down towards the floor(like a dog tucking it's tail between it's legs).
At the same time squeeze on your pelvic floor.
Hold for a couple of seconds then release and repeat x 10
You should feel a nice release in your lower back.
2. It's all in the Hips!
Drop down onto one knee and steady yourself by holding onto something (like a wall or a chair. Very gently move your back leg away from you by sliding the knee backwards.
Now squeeze your bottom hard.
This may be enough of a stretch for you. Hold for 20-30 seconds before easing off and then repeating another 2 times each side.
To increase the stretch push your hips forward to elongate the hip flexor muscle.
3. Chest matters!
Your chest muscles can really shorten and tighten up during pregnancy, giving you an awful rounded shoulder posture that can make you look a lot bigger and older than you are!
Stand next to a door or a post and raise your bent arm to shoulder height.
Place your palm and forearm against the door.
Now leaving your arm where it is take one step forward on the leg closest to the door.
Hold for 20-30 seconds then ease off before repeating a further 2 times.
To increase the stretch try turning your hips away from the side that you are stretching - as if you were turning around to talk to someone just behind your other shoulder.
4. What a pain in the neck!
Pregnancy can put a lot of strain on your neck and shoulders and these stretches can provide you a LOT of relief from aching and burning shoulders.
Sitting up tall on a birthing ball or a hard chair put one finger on your chin and push your chin back into your neck to bring your neck into neutral alignment.
Now tip your ear to your shoulder being careful to keep your chin tucked in. Stay here for 20 seconds.
Next do the same thing but once you have gone as far as you can go, gently rotate yourhead as if looking out of the top corner of your eye.
Then rotate the other way as if looking down at your shoulder.
Repeat on both sides, holding the stretches between 20-30 seconds.
5. Oh my poor aching legs!
Those big muscles at the front of your legs can get very tight from poor posture in pregnancy.
Standing next to a wall, hold on with one hand and withe the other hand grab hold of your ankle and bring your heel to your bum.
Make sure your knees are together and in line with each other.
To increase the stretch push your hips forward and squeeze your bottom down.
Again hold for 20-30 seconds and ease off before repeating a further 2 times each side.
Breath deeply into each stretch to increase circulation and send a supply of fresh oxygen into the muscle bed. This will help clear toxins from the muscles (the source of your aches and pains), and send an increased supply of oxygen to your baby.
You may even get a little burst of thankyou kicking from him!
(It is VERY IMPORTANT to stretch GENTLY in pregnancy. The hormones relaxin and progesterone make pregnant ligaments and muscle fibres extra stretchy to allow for the changes the body must go through in pregnancy. Therefore it is very easy to overstretch. Only go to a point of mild stretching/discomfort)
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