25-Min Pelvic Floor Workout For Postpartum Recovery

What's up, SELF family.

I'm glad you're here today.

My name is Lita,

and I'm joined with the lovely Brittany.

And today we're going to do

a postpartum pelvic floor workout.

Now, I like to think of the pelvic floor

as a barrel in your core, right?

The upper is your diaphragm

that's gonna go in and out or upper and down rather

with every inhale and exhale.

The bottom of that barrel is a woven group of muscles

that we call the pelvic bone muscles.

They support our bladder,

our bowel, and our overall core.

And we need this so we can walk confidently,

cough confidently, and all around, be strong

and have great posture in our overall anatomy.

Let's get started with the very first movement.

Nice and simple, we're gonna do a breathing technique

that's gonna require a block.

If you don't have a block,

perhaps rolling up a towel to sit on.

I want you to bring your feet close

to your stomach right here

and let your knees kind of fall forward.

Shoulders back and find yourself

elongated up the spine, right?

Grab your hands in a diamond position,

put them right at your lower belly here,

your pelvic area.

And I want you to just close your eyes if need be.

And what we are gonna do is breathe in.

Inhale, hold for eight seconds.

That might seem like a long time for some.

If so, count for six, and then exhale.

Eight seconds, we're gonna do this for 60 seconds total

with eight second holds.

In here, breathing in, [inhales]

hold for eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one.

Exhale, nice and gentle.

You'll find that your shoulders relax.

Again, we'll go up for eight,

in three, two, one, up, inhale,

hold for eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one.

Exhale, gentle.

Intentionality here is the key.

Inhale again, up, breathe up.

There we go, for eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one, exhale.

All right, take your time, we are gonna go back in.

Inhale, nice and big.

We've got 10 seconds here guys.

Counting down from six, five,

four, three, two, one, exhale.

Let's do that one more time,

driving the belly to the spine.

Inhale for me. [Brittany inhales]

Hold for eight, seven, six, five,

four, three, two, one, exhale. [Brittany exhales]

So we are gonna move right into the next move,

a squat pulse on our knees.

So get rid of that towel, get rid of the block.

People find this easy and comfortable

to have their toes tucked under.

I like to keep them nice and flat here.

Knees shoulder-width apart,

and we are really just gonna pulse.

We're not gonna come up and do like a full squat.

We also do not want to overextend our hip flexors

'cause we are gonna keep it right here

and the tension right here,

the lengthening of our pelvic muscles

by simply here, right?

We've got 60 seconds on the clock,

in three, two, one.

And right here, try not to drop

your hips down into your feet.

Again, don't overextend

'cause you will be engaging your hip flexors.

You might find a nice little bone through the quads,

completely normal. I feel it.

You feel that? Yeah.

And if you do, a modification here, Brittany,

you can just come back down,

take a rest for a few seconds,

but always come back up.

We have 20 seconds less.

Just a nice pulse, nothing too fuss, right?

Again, we're strengthening,

stretching our pelvic floor.

Be very intentional also about the very muscles

that we're moving or working out right now, okay?

Again, come back down if you need to.

These quads will feel a little on fire,

especially if they're tight.

So if you ever feel like you need

to stretch them beforehand, do that.

Here we go, right here you should feel it.

There we go, coming down, if you need be, five seconds.

[Brittany breathing sharply] [timer beeping]

And down a rest, easy. Whoo!

All right, third movement, which is a Cat Cow.

All right, I like this one,

'cause this is almost like a nice

little morning stretch that I do.

Elongate our spines, curling in,

driving your belly button to your spine,

and then releasing in your breath,

coming up, and stretching up,

finding a nice little curve in your spine here,

and then repeating.

Now, this is no rush.

Again, intentionality is nice and important

because you can also be really mindful

about the very movement

and the very muscles that you are trying to engage.

And Brittany, you keeping be on a nice pace there.

Also, I'm not trying to do too much.

You never wanna rush these

'cause I'm feeling a nice stretch.

These feel so good. Right?

And the core completely engaged.

[upbeat music]

You are never back here

and you're never too forward,

because we are not working shoulders,

we're leaving these delts alone,

[timer beeping]

working on these pelvic floor.

Okay, nice and easy, we're gonna finish up there.

Sit back, relax, movement number four coming up,

some Bird Dogs.

Love. Okay, never my favorite

to be completely honest with you.

It's also a little bit of a mind exercise also.

What we are gonna do

is take our right hand, extending out.

As we're doing so, the left leg comes out.

Find that little tension there,

bring it right back down to the mat, right?

We have two points of contact here,

meaning one hand, one knee stays on the floor, right?

Again, you'll find that your glute is activated,

core is activated, but we are going to be mindful

and visualize the pelvic floor muscles.

The woven muscles at the bottom of our barrels

is getting a nice stretch and some tension in this.

Visualization here is nice and important,

'cause these are very small and neglected muscles.

I find that visualizing helps remind us

exactly what we're trying to target.

We have 20 seconds left here, guys.

Feeling this one too, yeah.

A modification too, Brittany,

if you just wanna keep three points of contact,

extend the arm, alternating, then do that.

If you have it to give by putting a hand up

and a knee up, please do that.

Here we go, and we're gonna finish here, rocking back.

Almost done here with our first progression,

we're gonna do a hydrant lift.

So we're gonna focus on one side.

Let's start with our right,

then we'll move on to our left.

We're gonna go right back into that plank position.

From here, engage the core,

bring your belly to your spine.

Before we start moving,

what I'm gonna have you do

is bring your knee up laterally

and then bring it back down, with breath,

I should always be mindful of mentioning your breath.

Inhale, exhale when you bring the knee

close to your body, okay?

We're gonna do, sorry,

we're gonna stick with our right side.

Perfect. I feel like you wanted

to remind me of that.

Yes, and I'm gonna touch down to my elbow-

Beautiful. Just in case my wrists

are bothering- There we go.

If you do find there's pain in your wrist,

as Brittany is showing you here,

you can always drop down to that elbow.

Now I'm feeling the booty.

Yeah, the glutes are always activated.

Be mindful that when we are training

the pelvic floor muscles,

the inductors or our inner thighs,

glutes, transverse muscles,

which is our core muscles, are always activated here.

We have about 20 seconds left on this side

before we switch the left.

Again, easy movements guys.

We are not trying to rush.

We're just trying to engage the very muscles

that we're here to target today.

Coming back down.

How's that breath?

[instructors breathing sharply]

Exhale on the way out.

Looks good, and done, perfect.

Brittany, we're gonna have you come back up.

I'm gonna have you drop again,

'cause I love that they're seeing this alternative move.

Left feet comes up, easy on the way down.

Again, I'm not thinking about my glute personally,

I'm thinking about this pelvic floor.

Again, I'm gonna speak to visualization

'cause I think that it's important

when we're doing movements that seem minor.

These are movements that are often neglected.

But if we can visualize what we're working on here,

we'll find that we can really tap in

and focus in on those very pelvic muscles

we're here to target today.

Looks good, guys halfway.

Only halfway? I know.

Oh my.

The timer doesn't lie.

[Brittany laughs]

So extending our pelvic floor outwards,

bringing it in.

Don't drop that knee,

be in control of the upward and the downward motion.

10 seconds left.

I definitely feel my glues going.

Me too. Right?

Try not to shift too much.

Keeping those shoulders hovering over those wrists,

and then we are gonna finish right there, nice.

Rock it back if you need to.

Feels good, all right. [Brittany sighs]

Guys, we're gonna move right into our second progression.

You'll find that these are a little bit more intense.

But again, this is super beginner-friendly,

so I want you to stick with us.

We're gonna move into our bridge hold.

Now, we're gonna come up to the front of our mats,

backs down into a bridge, we all love a bridge.

All right, here's what we're gonna do with the bridge.

We're not gonna just hold a bridge forever for 60 seconds,

driving our hips up, holding for 10 seconds,

then lowering back down, okay?.

All right, again, you could focus on the glutes,

because you'll find that they're engaged the whole time.

Instead, I'm gonna find the contraction in my pelvic floor

to make sure that we are targeting

the muscles that we are here for.

Here we go, driving through the floor with our heels,

bringing those hips nice and high.

Holding for 10, nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one,

lower, nice and easy.

Okay, let me go back up again.

Again, belly button, spine connect,

holding for 10, nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one.

Back down, I love it.

Up, hold for 10, nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one, back down.

If you find the ten second hold

is a little too challenging for you,

again, bring it down, hold it for five.

But we're here for 60 seconds total,

counting down from five, four, three, two, one,

lowering back down.

We got one more, let's go.

Hips high.

[timer beeping]

And one, lower back down

nice and easy. Whoo!

The next movement we are going to do

is we are gonna take that towel or our block.

What we are going to do is put it between our knees.

You can choose to do it narrow or wide in the bridge.

We're gonna raise our hips high,

hold for 10 seconds again, lower back down.

The reason why this is a little bit more challenging

is because we are then squeezing our knees together,

again, finding contraction in our pelvic floor

and abductors, AKA inner thigh,

which makes it a little bit more challenging.

So let's get started.

Hands on the ground,

pressing through the ground for stability,

pressing through your heels, hips to the ceiling.

Hold, squeezing your block, squeezing your towel.

10 seconds, and with me counting,

I'm gonna count you down from five here.

Five, four, three, two, one, lower,

again, we're gonna do 10 seconds.

Nice and easy, hips high.

10, nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one, lower.

Ooh, I feel this one. You do?

I'm glad. Shaking. [laughs]

That's what we like, hips high.

We go counting you down,

'cause the talking does count,

from five, four, three, two, one,

come back down.

Here we go, 60 seconds total.

Mm-hmm! Giving you...

It's giving Pilates moves, right?

It is. All right, but again,

we're squeezing, squeezing those abductors.

All right, counting down

from five, four, three, two, one.

Lower back down. Whoo.

All right, I think we're done,

that's 60 seconds total. I hope so.

Yeah. [both laughing]

Ladies, I want you to stay on the mat.

We're gonna keep with the block and our towels.

But now we're gonna get a little bit more tense.

Instead of the hold now,

we're gonna rise our hips up and then pulse,

pulse for 10, then we lower our hips back down, okay?

Here it goes-

Yes ma'am. For 60 seconds total

in three, two, one, hips high.

Let's go pulse, one, two, three, four, five,

six, seven, eight, nine, and 10.

Lower back down, easy.

Take a second,

we're gonna go back up again, Brittany.

Great, now, let's drive hips high.

Pulse for 10, nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one.

Lower back down.

How are you feeling here?

Dying. Yeah, hips high.

Feeling the booty.

Yeah, I'm feeling in the booty,

I'm feeling in my hamstrings. Yes!

But again,

with the squeezing- My inner thighs.

Exactly, squeezing our towels,

squeezing our blocks, we are going to feel it.

Two more, lower back down.

Whoo. Looks good, ladies,

stay with me.

Here we go, last one here.

If we drive and finish up the 60 seconds,

hips high, let's go 10, let nine, eight,

seven, six, five, four,

three, two, and one, high, lower back down.

I like that.

Yeah. I think I like that.

I think so too. Pelvic floor likes that.

Okay, now we can get rid of our blocks,

get rid of the towels.

We're gonna stay in bridge position, guys.

What we are going to do when we drive up,

we are going to tilt out,

move our knees out laterally together,

and then we can bring 'em back in.

But we will not drop our hips,

that was me being the bad trainer.

We will not, okay?

If you need an alternative, Brittany,

absolutely drop, relax.

I don't want you to be hurting.

If you're finding yourself hurting,

then we are not focused on the pelvic floor,

you're focused on something else.

And my guess it'll be hamstrings or glutes.

Yes. Okay, we got 60 seconds

on the clock.

We are gonna come out, pulse, pulse, pulse,

60 seconds nonstop.

Again, if you need to, come back down,

but I'll let you know when you should.

We should get it through at least 20

before you need to.

Driving through the heels, Brittany, we're going up, out.

We're here for 60 seconds total,

and the clock is moving, okay?

Are we sure? [laughs] Yeah, we hope so.

Okay, if you are rounding out

and your feet are on the edges of the mat here,

that's totally fine.

Getting good range of motion.

Now think, think of the pelvic floor muscles, right,

and contracting every time you do so.

Again, if you need to rest, drop the hips down,

come back up and finish strong.

Right, we have about 20 seconds left.

Almost there- Rotating out.

I find if I push through the floor,

it helps with my stability, keeping my hips high,

not too high again

Leave those muscles alone

that we are not trying to target,

and the ones we are are finding that contraction.

Here we go, we count you down. Whoo.

In three, two, one, now lower.

Okay, that was pretty tough. That was tough.

I'm moving in a line- Very tough.

The next thing we are going to do now

is a bridge walk out.

Back down on the mat.

Here's what I want you to do.

Keep your heels close to the glutes, all right?

You can't start here,

you wanna start here, right Brittany?

Mm-hmm! Using the floor,

push through the floor to help you.

We are gonna go and drive our hips high,

walking out as here, an inch or two and then back, right?

Now, you can also alternate,

meaning whatever foot that I drive back in,

I go right back out again.

Now, you'll find, your core, front core here,

transverse muscles, which is like the ab muscles

that wrap around like a corset are definitely at play.

I feel them. You feel it.

Definitely playing. Perfect.

Now again, if you find this is too much to stay high,

come back down for a second,

come and join the party again, all right?

[upbeat music]

We go in three, two, one. [timer beeping]

Good, bring it back, lower yourself down.

Yeah, that was nice too.

Oh man, hard. That was nice.

Moving right along, we have bear planks,

and we're gonna hold these for 10 seconds.

Then we'll come and give ourselves some sort of release

by bringing our knees back down

before we go right back into that bear plank.

What is a bear plank?

So instead of our feet being extended,

our knees are going to be right below our hips,

shoulders hovering over our wrist,

holding for 10 seconds.

And again, the talking counts,

I'm gonna count us some of here.

Look, Brittany, you weren't up.

So we'll go 10, nine-

Me? Seven, six, five,

four, three, two, one.

Again, let the knees hit the ground, that's fine,

take your time, we're gonna come back up again,

hold for 10.

10, nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one, rest,

drop the knee.

Again, if this is too difficult, ladies,

count for five.

You can always modify the time

based on your comfort level.

I'll be modifying.

You gonna modify? Mm-hmm!

Perfect, do that if you need to, it's totally fine.

Remember, we're all at different stages.

Lots of us might have just had a baby,

others, like myself, it's been several years,

come back down.

And that's okay.

Here we go, one more time,

10, nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four, three, two, one.

Drop down, yeah.

Whoo. Yeah, I'm also breaking out

a little sweat, which I actually wasn't expecting.

Me too. It's pelvic floor, man,

I'm telling you.

So we're gonna move right

into the third and final progression.

The first move over here

is going to be a progression from the last move.

So we are going to be in bear plank,

but from here, we are going to step back,

hence why we call it, okay?

And I'm gonna alternate

which one I drive back and forward, okay?

We do have 60 seconds here, Brittany,

but I might be moving a little too fast.

If you need to slow it down as an alternative,

by all means, do so.

Again, another alternative

is to when you drive your knees underneath your hips,

just sit 'em down for a second.

Oh, I've been doing that. Yeah. [laughs]

Like I said, always come back to the party.

We are not here for a long time, guys,

we are here for a good time.

[Brittany breathes sharply]

I will say keep those shoulders over those heels

[Brittany breathes sharply]

We got this You got it.

[upbeat music]

Nice and easy, small moments, and done.

Oh!

We are gonna move right back

into an alternating leg drop,

this time, on the backs.

So this is what this looks like.

All right, Brittany, pushing through the floor,

knees hovering over your hips,

dorsiflex your toes for me.

Extend out, drop, alternating each side.

Now, as you can see,

Brittany is just dropping the heel down,

so it's closer to the body just as an alternate.

But if you can extend away from your core,

you'll find this a little bit more intense,

and then kudos to you.

So here we go.

[upbeat music] [Lita breathes sharply]

And heck, I might just do the alternative in between.

All right, cores engaged, here we go.

Now, 15 seconds left. [upbeat music]

What if I feel this in my low back?

Yes, if you feel it in your lower back,

you can also do diamond below the lower back,

giving yourself some more stability.

Ah! You feel that,

is a little better? Yeah, yeah!

[upbeat music] [timer beeping]

Whoo! there we go, last rep.

And down.

All right guys, from here,

we're gonna do the lying heel reach twist.

What that looks like right here, off the ground,

twisting, reaching for the toes.

Here we go.

[upbeat music] [instructor breathing sharply]

Keep that chin away from the chest.

Okay, more than halfway done.

I thought we're done with the hard work.

Yeah, again, come back down,

rest it few seconds, then come back to the party.

Here it is, countdown- In it?

Back in the pot. I know, last 15.

I would tell you to go slower,

but because the contraction is constant,

it doesn't matter.

Great. So go faster.

Last five, four, three, two, and one, down.

Oh, yep.

Just when you thought it was gonna be easy, gotcha.

From here guys, we're gonna do

the lying behind the knee reach.

So feet come up.

As an alternative, Brittany,

you can bring her knees down.

What we're gonna do here,

lower back off the ground,

upper back off the ground, excuse me.

And we're going to big circles,

reaching between, sorry, around our knees.

[upbeat music] [instructor breathing sharply]

There we go, I high-fived you.

Because our feet are above our waist,

those pelvic muscles are tight.

[upbeat music]

[instructors breathing sharply]

Exhaling always, going out in,

close to the body will be an inhale.

Or in my case, as I talk,

a bit of a hot mess, okay?

Last one, I love it, down.

Oh yeah. Oh man.

All right guys, we're gonna move

into the lying lateral alternating knee drop.

Lots of words, but let me explain by showing you.

Okay, what we wanna do, but yes,

knees stacked up over our hips, right?

You dorsiflex your toes.

We're not princesses, we're right here,

toes to the ceiling.

Now, you can drive your hands through the ground

by your side, or Brittany likes to put 'em

completely lateral to the shoulder, right?

And what we are gonna do here is drop the knee laterally,

come back up center, then do the opposite side.

Now, I always say the goal is to kind of really extend.

So you want to think about hitting a 90-degree angle.

If you don't have to give 90 degree

based on perhaps it being too challenging

or just your own personal flexibility,

by all means, hit the 45 right here.

My hips feel tight. Yeah, that's what happen.

Doing this movement, Brittany,

will help elongate those muscles,

which is part of the abductor, AKA, the inner thigh

that is connected to our pelvic floor, okay?

What we're doing here is strengthening

by finding, elongating that muscle, excuse me,

and then contracting it,

driving our knees together, all right?

A good 60 seconds here, guys.

Gonna count you down.

Ooh. Right?

I'm gonna count you from 10,

nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two,

and one, done.

Yep, and that'll do it.

Oh yeah, tuck it in, that's a good idea.

What is that called? Is that the self hug?

It is a self hug. I love that.

Checking myself on here. [Lita laughs]

The good news is though, Brittany,

is we are down to the last of it.

Yes! So from here guys,

in our third progression,

we're gonna do some dead bugs.

Love a dead bug. So I say the dead bug

is very similar to the Cat Cow on your reverse, right?

We are gonna stay laying on our backs.

Again, you are welcome,

and then extending the opposite leg and arm.

And extend, right?

Drive it right back to the starting position,

opposite side.

Now admittedly, I suck at these.

It's like a brain setup.

Wait, am I doing this right? [watcher laughs]

Yeah, you are.

That is hilarious. [laughs]

Can I also keep my leg bent here?

Yeah, perfect. Regression.

Me too, yes.

Okay, great. If it's too much

from that core, by all means,

just tap it here, nice and simple.

And again, if you need different points of contact,

just extend the leg, right? [Brittany breathes sharply]

This feels hard enough. Or extend the arm.

If you're keeping the contraction

right in your pelvic floor, it's a workout.

Definitely a brain tease for me.

Oh, wow. I'm not gonna lie.

Here we go, we got five seconds left,

thank goodness. [Brittany breathes sharply]

Two, one,

release. Whoo, oh man.

Release, and then this is where you hug yourself.

Oh man, I need it. [watcher laughs]

Here we go, guys.

We've just worked out our pelvic full muscles, all right,

again, those supportive muscles

that we need to keep strong, right, and flexible,

because they do so much,

not just supporting our bladder, bowel, and core.

Did I not mention our uterus?

Now, if you've just had a baby

and you've been given the clear to do this workout,

congratulations, you've done something basic and fun

with Brittany and I.

And if you're like me, that's two years-plus postpartum,

you're doing great too, mom, okay?

Or if you have not had a baby yet,

still great. 100%, because we all have

pelvic floor muscles, okay, men, women alike.

I'm glad you joined us today.

Brittany, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you. And we hope

to see you again soon. Bye.

[upbeat music]