First of all it’s really important to get assessed along the way. This will allow you to be doing the right things at the right times during and after your pregnancy. We normally recommend a visit once per month leading up to the delivery to tailor your exercises and then we start rehab 5-10 days after delivery.

“At each stage of your pregnancy there will be more and less appropriate exercises to do, it’s important to get assessed to know where to start.”

In the video you can see quick and easy ways to make the plank harder or easier. Using an exercise ball and by starting in kneeling you will have one of the simpler ways to plank. You may be using this version in the second trimester to keep up core strength. We would normally take it out in the third trimester due to the pressure it puts on your belly…. Then straight after delivery we would re-introduce it again.

This is a harder version which really gets your belly firing. We would use this in the 1st trimester to really strengthen up our belly and then we would re-visit it for rehab around 6-8 weeks post-natally if everything was going well and feeling strong.

Again, a great one for strength in the 1st trimester and for rehab around 8-12 weeks post natal. This open position can stress your low back and tummy muscles so timing on doing this one is crucial.

In the normal toe plank position we can trial just lifting 1 foot of the ground for 1-2 seconds and then alternating feet. We call this the toe tap plank. This is end stage rehab after delivery and we would be looking at this before return to gym or sport around the 12-16 week mark post natally.

This looks a bit awkward… why are we doing this?

Too commonly we see people only strength training in one plane of motion. Think squats and planks just being in one straight line. Everyday life tends to have us going side to side and diagonally. Particularly changing nappies, putting bub in the car and picking stuff up off the floor usually has some rotational component. We want to strengthen in those planes too!

Because this is a standing drill we want to start off in a nice neutral spine. To find this, imagine your pelvis is a bucket of water, tip it all the way forward, so the water is pouring out the front. Then, tip it all the way back, so the water is pouring out the back. Then, find the middle of those two end points. You will find this is a relatively neutral spine and probably requires some muscular effort to hold this.

Once you have found that neutral position you can do this with feet shoulder width apart or split stance like in the video. Then, slowly rotate away from the band. Make sure on the way back you are even slower, take about 3-5 seconds, this is where the magic happens.

This rotational drill has many variations which can be done throughout the whole pregnancy and very soon after the delivery.

Again, a funny looking one, but so beneficial. This works your belly, your quads and your pelvic muscles. It’s a great ‘capture all’ exercise that is quite safe to do throughout pregnancy and soon post natally.

Because this is a standing drill we want to start off in a nice neutral spine. To find this, imagine your pelvis is a bucket of water, tip it all the way forward, so the water is pouring out the front. Then, tip it all the way back, so the water is pouring out the back. Then, find the middle of those two end points. You will find this is a relatively neutral spine and probably requires some muscular effort to hold this.

With a slight knee bend and a slight ‘bum out position’ you will engage your quads as well as allow the muscles on the side of your hips to work. People will often say they are getting a workout soreness or lactic acid feeling at the side of the hip. This muscle is called glut medius and is a really important muscle for pelvic stability.

Quite simply to progress or regress this, depending on what stage you are at, you can simply change the colour of the band. Yellow, being the lightest, will allow you do 10-15 reps the green band will allow 8-10 reps and the grey band, is like pulling a tire and would be tough to do 6-8 reps, we would save this for very end stage like 12-16 weeks post delivery.