Why Strength Training is the Best Way to Prepare for Birth & Postpartum
There are many reasons why strength training is the best way to prepare for birth and postpartum and I am going to break down those reasons in this article. Strength training in the gym can be related to many activities we need for everyday life, especially as a mother. When training my pregnant and postpartum clients, I look to relate our training to their everyday life, including: picking up your baby out of the crib (hinge), getting up and down off the floor from various positions (sit ups, windmills, turkish get ups), carrying your baby up and down the stairs (weighted step ups), carrying the carseat with or without baby inside (farmer carry, weighted step ups), getting up off of a couch, a rocker, a bed while trying not to wake the baby (hinge, squat) and more. These are just some of the bigger examples, but the minute you get home from the hospital you can expect to perform nearly every task while holding your baby at some point and this lasts for many years (my 4 year old still needs/likes me to pick him up). They are your real life weight from now on and as mothers we find ways to get things done with that baby in our arms or strapped to our chest. The best thing we can do for ourselves is to train our bodies to be ready for it.
Strength training in this phase can look like many things, but first and foremost we learn the foundations: core engagement through breathwork, how to properly engage our pelvic floor to prevent or limit the impact of birth related injuries such as prolapse and we use those foundations to help us through those bigger lifts. These things are essential because we cannot avoid the demands of motherhood.
Strength training in this phase also helps to prepare physically for birth through strengthening the pelvic floor and the muscles that support it (adductors, glutes, hamstring, obliques, transverse abdominals, etc) as well as focusing on things like hip shifts and internal rotation to open up the back of the pelvis. When it comes to the pelvic floor and breathwork, we also need to learn how to relax the pelvic floor - we want the pelvic floor to relax and move out of the way for delivery. All of this takes practice and training.
Another consideration for strength training in pregnancy is to combat the postural changes we experience in pregnancy and carry over into postpartum. During pregnancy, your center of gravity is shifting, your posture is changing and it is inevitable that these changes cause discomfort. Strength training is a tool you can use to help manage those changes by utilizing stabilization exercises such as farmer carries, offset carries, step ups, and many other split stance or single leg exercises. With strength training you are building good muscle memory and teaching your body how to stabilize and support itself when your balance and stability are challenged.
Finally, strength training can support you if and when you start to experience things in your pregnancy like pelvic pain, back pain, ribcage discomfort, and many others that may arise throughout your 40+ weeks.
I could go into much greater detail on all the points I made above, but besides the fact that you are building a healthy body and mind for yourself and a healthy baby inside, you are building the strength you need to care for that baby in the days, months and years that follow. There is so much purpose behind a prenatal strength training program and that purpose holds more power than any other purpose you have had up until now.
If you’re looking for some guidance, reach out to me directly or check out my guides here.
