Top 5 Postpartum Exercises to Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor
During postpartum recovery, focusing on exercises that strengthen the pelvic floor muscles is vital. Many might find this surprising, but a strong pelvic floor can greatly enhance core stability and overall well-being. The pelvic floor is intricately connected to over 40 muscles above and below it, all working in harmony with your core. These muscles are essential for bladder control, core strength, and preventing conditions like prolapse. They even play a role in your breathing, which in turn influences everything down to our stress levels.
In this blog post, we’ll cover the top 5 postpartum corrective exercises, starting with breath work and progressing to more advanced movements like core alignment exercises, pelvic tilts, squats and Kegels, to help you regain strength and stability.
1. Diaphragmatic Breathing: Essential Postpartum Exercise for Pelvic Floor Strength
Diaphragmatic breathing, also known as 360 degree breathing, is a foundational postpartum exercise that helps re-establish the connection between your breath and pelvic floor muscles. It’s crucial for healing your core and pelvic floor muscles, enhancing core strength, and supporting recovery after childbirth.
How to do it:
Sit or lie down comfortably with your knees bent.
Place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen.
Inhale deeply through your nose, allowing your belly to rise and your ribs to expand.
As you exhale, draw your lower belly in and upward toward your rib cage. I often say to “scoop” your lower abdomen from pubic symphysis toward your belly button.
Repeat for 5-10 breaths, focusing on deep, controlled breathing.
Can you feel your entire torso expand on the inhale and slightly contract on the exhale? Can you feel your pelvic floor muscles respond similarly?
*Pro-tip. Relax your shoulders from your ears and your tongue from the top of your mouth while performing these breaths to get the most out of them! Then, when you are done practicing, gently suction your tongue to the roof of your mouth to help with resting pelvic floor tension.
2. Pelvic and Rib Cage Alignment: Postpartum Exercise for Core and Pelvic Stability
Proper alignment of the pelvis and rib cage is so important for effective postpartum recovery and core/pelvic floor strengthening. This exercise improves pelvic floor function, supports proper posture and breathing, and is vital to be able to perform while doing any core exercises.
How to do it:
Stand sideways in front of a mirror with feet hip-width apart and knees slightly bent.
Check in on where your neck, shoulders, rib cage and pelvis are lining up as you initially stand.
Correct your form to stand tall through your neck and pull your shoulders back ever so slightly.
Inhale deeply, expanding your rib cage. Exhale and draw your rib cage down without letting your shoulders roll forward.
Ensure your pelvis remains neutral and that you don’t have excessive arching or tucking throughout the movement.
Hold this alignment for 5-10 breaths. Then transfer this alignment to your form while performing core exercises.
*Pro-tip. When you stand tall, pull your shoulders back and your rib cage down you should feel something deep in your stomach area engage. That is your deep core muscles maintaining that position. This is the key to core strengthening. I’ve had several clients say that it feels “stronger” to do this.
3. Pelvic Tilts: Core Stabilization and Pelvic Floor Recovery
Pelvic tilts are a gentle yet effective postpartum exercise to regain core control and improve pelvic alignment and strength. This movement helps in reconnecting with your pelvic floor and abdominal muscles, which are often weakened during pregnancy. Keep in mind, use the core alignment from #2 above when performing these exercises.
How to do it:
Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
Inhale to prepare, then exhale and tilt your pelvis backward, pressing your lower back into the floor.
Gently engage your pelvic floor muscles as you tilt backward.
Inhale as you return to the neutral position or slightly forward.
Relax your pelvic floor muscles on the inhale.
Repeat for 10-15 repetitions, maintaining a focus on smooth, controlled movements.
*Pro-tip. It is even more important that we are able to relax through our pelvic floor than it is to be able to contract. Don’t skip the relaxing part of the inhale, whether you roll your pelvic forward or not.
4. Squats with Core Control: Functional Postpartum Exercise for Pelvic Floor Strength
Integrating core control with functional movements like squats can be extremely useful for strengthening the pelvic floor postpartum. Squats are particularly effective because they engage the core, pelvic floor and lower body muscles, making them an essential component of postpartum fitness routines. Additionally, squats help lengthen the pelvic floor muscles, which is just as important as strengthening them. A healthy muscle, regardless of its location in the body, should be able to fully lengthen and contract on demand.
How to do it:
Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, toes pointing outward.
Inhale deeply, maintaining a neutral pelvis.
Exhale as you lower into a squat.
Return to standing on the exhale, ensuring your core remains engaged in the alignment that you practiced above.
Perform 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions with a focus on alignment and controlled breathing.
*Pro-tip. Sit back into the squat while keeping your feet grounded (no toe lift). Also, sitting in a deep yoga squat and taking your deep breaths can not only bring more awareness to movement through your pelvic floor muscles but can also help with that all important lengthening.
5. Kegels: TO do them or Not to do them?
Kegels are a targeted exercise that directly works to contract the pelvic floor muscles if done correctly. They can be very beneficial for improving bladder control, supporting pelvic organs, and enhancing sexual health after childbirth. However, you must be able to fully relax your pelvic floor muscles prior to beginning Kegels. Oftentimes, we think that we just need to do Kegels to strengthen these muscles but if your muscles are overly tight (as many are) then they can make the issues worse if you are not also focusing on the relaxation aspect.
How to do it:
Sit or lie down in a comfortable position.
Inhale, feel your pelvic floor muscles relax.
Exhale, gently engage your pelvic floor muscles.
Hold the contraction for 5-10 seconds, then relax.
Perform 10-15 repetitions, gradually increasing the hold time as you strengthen. Continue to work on a full relaxation in between engaging the muscles.
Pro-tip. Check out the eBook and postpartum exercise program “Getting to the Core of Postpartum Fitness” here for more advanced Kegel instructions.
Conclusion
Strengthening your pelvic floor with these postpartum exercises is an important aspect in a healthy recovery after childbirth. Starting with diaphragmatic breathing and progressing through core alignment exercises, pelvic tilts, squats, and Kegels will help you rebuild core strength and support your pelvic health. When you incorporate these exercises into your daily habits you begin to see and feel the results quickly.
