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Your abdominal and pelvic floor muscles experience the biggest changes during pregnancy.
Abdominal Muscles:
Your abdominal muscles stretch to more 50% longer than their original length while you are pregnant.
Because your abs are the main supporting muscles of your lower back, as they stretch you may experience back pain.
Your rectus abdominus aka “six pack muscle” splits to allow your uterus to have enough room to grow. This split is called “Diastasis Recti”
This split happens in 95% of women- there is nothing you can do to prevent it, but you can keep it from getting bigger than it needs to be.
Exercises such as crunches, and even bending from your waist, can increase the split. See Exercises page for some safe, effective exercises to tone your abs and alleviate back pain during pregnancy.
Pelvic Floor:
Your pelvic floor is made up of 36 muscles that form a “hammock” that all of the organs of your pelvis rest on.
These are the “stop the poo, stop the pee” muscles.
Also known as Kegal muscles.
As your ligaments relax and stretch, the pelvic floor becomes the main supporting muscle for your growing uterus against the effects of gravity.
Exercising your pelvic floor will not only tone the muscle, but because you will have better control over the muscle fibers, you will be able to more effectively relax it during labor.
