How Coordinated Pushing is Important During Delivery

There is plenty of research and studies done to show the importance of core strength and breathing techniques during labor and contractions. However, there is not much education for pregnant women on what muscles to use and what muscles to relax when pushing their baby out.

It's key to think about what actually happens during the pushing phase of delivery. When it's time to bear down and start pushing, what tends to happen is that the mom will tighten all of her muscles: abdominals, buttocks, legs, and pelvic floor. Although this is natural (being in severe pain and fatigue obviously makes it hard to relax and let your body do its thing!), what happens is while the mother pushes her baby down the birthing canal, she is also moving her baby's head up against her tight and contracted muscles in her pelvic floor. 

Learning and practicing coordinated pushing can help prevent this (along with other things, like tearing) and encourage an easier and faster delivery. It can be hard to learn at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's so important to practice and use during delivery!

Performing belly breathing is a great way to practice contracting and strengthening the abdominals. Kegel exercises are just as important and great for strengthening and relaxing the pelvic floor muscles. The trick to coordinated pushing is including both of these exercises in a combined manner. As the saying goes, "push with your gut, not with your butt!". Practicing by contracting the abdominals and relaxing the pelvic floor is exactly what should also be done during the pushing phase of delivery.

Check out this video from the Oh Baby! Fitness blog on combining Kegels and Belly Breathing to perform Coordinated Pushing.

To strengthen your core, pelvic floor, and learn more about coordinated pushing, sign up online today for a Prenatal Oh Baby! Fitness class taught in Berry Hill in Nashville. More than just prenatal yoga, we focus on cardio, upper and lower body strengthening, core and pelvic floor health and strength, and some yoga stretches!

Click HERE to sign up!

Contraction Squats - Practicing For A Contraction

Wanting to have a natural birth? If so, it's important to practice your mind-body connection through discomfort. This is key during labor and delivery. Learning that what you are going through is "positive pain" instead of "I can't do this!" or "I'm going to split in half!" is a hard thing to practice and to master. This is why I have my prenatal clients practice "contraction squats". 

After teaching my clients their belly breathing (inhale-push the abdominals outward, exhale-pull the abdominals in and upward), I have them use it during a 1 minute squat hold. This helps them to focus on their breathing, increases their muscular stamina, and teaches them to work through their discomfort with positive reinforcement. It also gives them a very SMALL glimpse into how their mind and body will work together through a contraction. This offers great practice and preparation for the real thing.

Different squats I try with my prenatal clients:

Wall sit

Wall Sit With Ball

Deep Squat

Chair Pose

Practice never makes perfect, but it definitely helps you get better! And that's all you can do, is your best. Getting ready for labor and delivery is hard and can be scary. But getting prepared and strong will not only increase your physical strength, but also your mental and emotional strength as well. Making a strong bond with your mind-body connection is key. This squat is a great way to get that started!

New Oh Baby! Fitness Prenatal Classes!

Wow, it's been a long time. Sorry for being so busy!

I'm very excited to announce that I will now be teaching Oh Baby! Fitness Prenatal Toning, Fitness, & Yoga Combo classes at Results Fitness on Music Row! Starting May 27th-July 24th (no class July 1st or 3rd), so sign up now and get your Oh Baby! Fitness ON!

From the website:

At Oh Baby! Fitness, our focus is to give new and expectant moms a place to find support, make friends, get fit and bond with their babies. We offer the widest variety of fitness classes designed to take moms from pregnancy through birth, and then into the toddler years with their child. Our programs allow Mom to get out of the house, get her body back in shape and spend time with baby.

All of our instructors are specially trained in a nationally recognized pre/postnatal fitness certification, so they really know what they’re doing. Our instructors will help you make the modifications you need to build strength and lose weight. We've also partnered with area hospitals because they offer a safe environment for our classes and because doctors need to know what kind of exercise their pregnant and postpartum patients are participating in. 

If you live in or close to the Nashville area, go to ohbabyfitness.com to check out the classes and sign up. Classes are small and will fill up soon, so get a move on!

Top 5 Exercises to Prepare for Labor

Although prenatal yoga and stretching is great and important for women who are pregnant, but so are strong muscles! Labor and delivery is THE toughest and biggest marathon a woman's body will ever go through, and will be pushed beyond its limits. This marathon requires some muscular strength and endurance!

This is true for both vaginal deliveries and c-section deliveries. Having a strong lower body will help a mother recovering from a c-section by allowing her to use her strong legs for simple things like getting up and down, using the restroom, and walking around. With stronger legs, the abdominals can relax and recover more efficiently.

Try doing these 5 exercises for the rest of your pregnancy and you will definitely notice a difference in your labor, delivery, and postpartum recovery!

1.  Squats

Squats, lunges, and wall sits encourage the baby to face backward in the birth canal, which helps avoid "sunnyside up" babies who are facing foward, which increases painful back labor. They also increase leg and glute strength which is helpful during labor and pushing.  If your glutes are strengthened, that also means your pelvic floor is strengthened and the lower back is more naturally aligned.

 

Feet a little wider than hip width apart, and instead of arms out, I would say hands on hips. Pull the belly button in and lower your body to just above a 90 degree angle in the knees.

 Do 3 sets of 10 repetitions.

2.  Lunges

 

 

Notice how big of a forward step you need to take. Keeping you feet hip width apart, take a big step forward with a chair next to you giving you support and balance. Keeping your weight in the heel of your front foot, dip the back knee straight down and then lift back up. Stay in this position, and lower and lift until you complete 10 repetitions. Then switch sides. Do 3 sets of 10 reps on each side.

3.  Wall Sit

 

 

Wall sits can be done with or without an exercise ball. If you use an exercise ball, you will find that it gives a little back massage and makes it easier to get in and out of the squat. Choose what you like best and stick with it.

Keep feet hip width apart and knees in line with hips as you lower down to a 90 degree angle in your hips and knees. Keep your weight in your heels and toes relaxed. Sit here for up to 2 minutes. This is also a great time to do belly breathing, giving you a chance to focus on your breathing and pushing through the squat discomfort, similar to a contraction.

Feel free to do up to 3 wall sits and holding it there for 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

4.  Seated Pelvic Tilts

Pelvic tilts help decrease back pain and it also helps get the baby to be head down in the birthing position. They are also helpful during labor as they help women breathe through contractions. 

 

Sitting on a ball, chair, or couch and with correct posture, pull your tailbone under and contract your abdominals, tilting your pelvis forward. Your glutes will automatically contract; however, try to make your abdominals do more of the work. Release and go back to your regular posture. Do 3 sets of 10 repetitions.

5.  Plank

Plank is an exercise that utilizes the transverse and rectus abdominis muscles. This is a very efficient exercise and a very important one. Having strong transverse abdominals will help during the pushing stage of labor and will also help recovery from diastasis recti (the central splitting of the rectus abdominis).

Forearms and Toes

 

Forearms and Knees

For a more advanced plank, do it on your toes. But for beginners or for those who feel unstable on their toes, go on your knees. Just make sure elbows are directly under shoulders, hips are in line with your torso, and your abdominals are pulled in with your chest engaged.

Do 1-3 planks holding each for 30 seconds to up to 2 minutes.

 

 

Doing these 5 exercises 2-3 times per week will be extremely helpful during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum recovery. They will also help with any prenatal ailments (back pain, sciatic pain, leg pain, etc.).

 

 

 

 

Hate Squats? Try These 3 Leg Exercises

Some people do not like to do any type of squat due to bad knees, bad back, bad hips, or because they just hate to do squats.

Although squats can be inappropriate for some people, it's also important to keep leg muscles strong, especially in the hips and around the knees. Here are 3 appropriate and safe leg exercises to not only keep those lower body muscles strong, but to also decrease joint paint and increase joint stability.

Bridges

Lying on your back, feet and knees hip width apart, brace your abdominals and lift your hips up to the ceiling, squeezing the glutes at the same time while pushing through your heels.

Bump it up!

To make it more challenging, touch your knees together when your hips are at the top, then widen the knees again as you lower your hips back down.

Knee to Toe

Knee to knee

Toe to toe

Obviously just starting out with no band, lying on one side, bend the knees. While keeping both legs bent, lift the top leg and rotate the hip forward, bringing the knees together. Then rotate the hips back and bring the toes together. This works the entire range of motion of the hip, making it strong and stable. Be sure not to rotate the back as you bring the hips forward and back. And keep the core tight!

Bump it up!

Feel free to add a band as shown to increase the difficulty!

Table Top Hip Extension

Another way to strengthen the glutes, low back, hips, and hamstrings is this hip extension exercise in the table top position (all 4's).

On all 4's, make sure shoulders are above wrists and hips are above knees. Keeping the back completely straight and core tight, straighten a leg behind and lift up to hip height. Bring the leg back in and repeat with the same leg. Then switch sides. Make sure the chest is engaged and elbows are slightly bent.

Bump it up!

Keeping the working leg extended, lift it to hip height, then tap the toe on the floor, and lift again. Doing all of this while keeping the back straight and core tight will definitely make it tougher!

Just trying these 3 lower body and core exercises instead of squats will increase lower body strength, endurance, balance, and joint stability.

Why Exercise?

We are told almost every day that exercise is something important that we should incorporate into our lifestyle. And then an entire list is rattled off to us about why we should move and be active. And we understand and even agree that these are legitimate reasons. So why don't we get off our butts and make it happen?

These are MY reasons why I'm active. And this is the actual truth.

-I sleep better at night

-I like fitting into my favorite pair of jeans

-It helps me not be as anxious, stressed out, or depressed

-It means I can have a treat now and then without feeling a bit guilty!
-Keeps me strong for activities of daily living

-Gives me self confidence

-Allows me to have some introverted time, or extroverted time when I hike with my friends or husband

-Keeps my back strong and decreases back pain

-Yoga gives me peaceful meditation

-Feelings of accomplishment

-Clears my head and gives me perspective

Why do YOU exercise?

Too busy to exercise?

We all have such busy lives. Family, work, friends, church, hobbies, children. Where does health, wellness, and fitness fit into our daily lives? It's easy to let the day get away from us. To say "I'm just too tired" or "I have too much work to do" or "just another 20 minutes of sleep". But what we don't realize is we're just cheating ourselves out of some legitimate and healthy benefits that would actually counteract those feelings! Exercise will wake you up. It will get those brain juices flowing and help you complete tasks in a more efficient way. And it will help you sleep better throughout the night, making you feel more rested!

It's easy for me to say all of these things. And sometimes life really does get complicated with legitimate stuff. Having a baby, a big presentation at work, the basement flooding, losing a loved one, or discovering that you yourself have some type of illness. 

But for those who use a lot of those excuses that I mentioned at the very top, then this post has your name written allllllllll over it! ;)

So to prove that you are NOT too busy to exercise, I've come up with some workouts and facts to help you get your booty into gear!

****According to ACSM, one continuous session or multiple shorter sessions (of at least 10 minutes) are both acceptable to accumulate the needed amount of daily exercise.

(click here to read the entire article)

****Exercising helps you fall asleep faster, and sleep deeper!

****Being active lowers your chances of feeling depressed, anxious, or overall edgy.

(click here for the article)

****Exercise has been shown to improve work productivity, from better time management, to increased work output, to even creating a friendlier workplace between coworkers.

(click here for the whole article)

So with just these four facts, I'm going to give you five (3 cardio, 2 strength) exercises that you can do in your office, at your desk, in the stairwell, or in your home. These exercises will get your entire body working which increases your heart rate, gets your lungs working hard, and activates those muscles!

#1 --- Squat jumps

(cardio: works glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, abdominals, back, and shoulders)

#2 --- Plank

(strength: works shoulders, chest, abdominals, back, and legs)

#3 --- High Knee Twists

(cardio: works glutes, quads, hamstrings, abdominals, and back)

#4 --- Pushups 

Pick your own level!

Wall Pushups

Pushups on knees (for the 2 methods below: shoulders over hands, back straight, abs contracted!)

Full pushups

(strength: works shoulders, chest, abdominals, back, and legs)

#5 --- Jumping jacks

(cardio: works quads, outer thighs, inner thighs, shoulders, abdominals, and back)

Be sure to do what is right for YOU. Use your discretion. If you have bad knees, maybe no jumping jacks, or just squat instead of doing jumping squats.

Do 1-3 sets of 8-15 repetitions. Feel free to repeat this quick and simple circuit however many times you would like! I would say repeat 4-6 times. But if you only have time for 1 circuit, then that's one more for that day!

Feel free to contact me for more information or if you have any questions. I do in home personal training, but I can also come to your work!

Now stand up and get moving!