10-Minute Pregnancy Abs Workout (Safe For ALL Trimesters, No Equipment)

Hi, I'm Lindsey Baumgren of Nourish Move Love. And today I'm walking you through eight pregnancy ab exercises. Okay, these are eight exercises you can do in your first, second or third trimester. I'm at the tail end of my second trimester. I'm about 26 weeks pregnant. And I'm going to show you how you can safely and effectively continue to work your core through pregnancy as your bump continues to grow and you grow with it. Okay, so we have eight exercises. There's no warmup, no cool down. We're going to just do each exercise for around 40 seconds of work and it's going to round us out around a quick 10 minute ab workout. Of course, you can come back, you can repeat it. Use these exercises how you want to stay strong throughout your pregnancy. Okay, so we're gonna jump right in and our first move is transverse abdominal breathing, also known as belly breathing or ta breathing. Okay, so it's where you take a big inhale and your belly expands and then you exhale and you pull that core nice and tight. You're using your deep transverse abdominal muscles. So not your rectus abdominis, your six pack, but your transverse that wraps around you like a corset. And I think the easiest way to show you this is to do it against a wall or a pole. So I'm gonna come back, I have this awesome pole here. So I'm gonna come back to this pole. I'm gon mic pack around and I'm going to place my back against it. Now you could use just a standard wall at home. It's just a really good visual and a good marker for you. So I'm going to inhale, belly expanse, and then as I exhale, I'm going to pull that belly nice and tight and I'm going to tuck my pelvic floor. So I'm going to tuck my tailbone underneath me, pushing my back into the wall. And then inhale. My back's going to pop off the mat. Exhale. I'm going to try and push my back flat to that wall. So it's just a really good visual marker as we move through this. So let's go ahead. Big inhale, belly expands, exhale. Pull that belly nice and tight. Big inhale, belly expands, exhale. This is something you can just continue to do with you throughout your day. You'll notice my hands are wrapped around my belly. I like using this as a visual to help me think about my core, making that mind muscle connection. So my hands are Going to come apart. Belly is going to expand, and then as I exhale, hands are gonna come together and wrap around my belly. I can feel that belly getting nice and tight. Sucking baby in. Inhale. Last one. Exhale. Nice. So that's just your first move. And we're already done. We made it through our 40 seconds, so we're gonna come back to the mat and come back to a nice standing position here. All right, so we're gonna move on, and we're gonna come down to a nice tabletop position in a quadruped position on all fours. And you're gonna give me a cat cow. So you're basically going to drop the belly, inhale, and then as you exhale, you're going to look at baby, look at your belly and pull it nice and tight again. So continuing that ta Breathing into this exercise. So go ahead, drop the belly. Inhale, and then exhale. It's a good chance for you to gaze at the baby. Pull that stomach nice and tight. And on the cat. I'm not getting overextend my belly. I'm just slightly letting it hang heavy. Coming back to a kind of neutral spine. And then exhale. Pull the shoulder blades apart. Staring at belly. Nice big inhale, belly drop, Exhale. Looking at baby, pulling that transverse abdominal. That's the main muscles we're going to focus on today. Those transverse abdominals, those deep core muscles. One more big exhale. Awesome job again. That was about 40 seconds. Goes really fast. When you're moving through these exercises, you can always hit pause and hold them longer. And now we're gonna go into bird dog. So I'm gonna stay right here. Bird dog. As my right arm reaches, left heel goes. I'm gonna tap the knee. Reach, reset, Opposite arm, opposite leg. Tap, reach, reset. So I'm just gonna work through this. Opposite arm, opposite leg, Tap, reach, reset again. I'm keeping that belly pulled nice and tight. And then we're focusing on the backside of the body this time, so we're really focusing on those ta. Those transverse abdominal abs. Now we're focusing on my other part of my core, the back side of my body, my low back, my glutes, my hamstrings, my lumbar spine, my back extensors, Right reach and tap. Bird dog. Probably one of the most common prenatal core exercises you'll see, right? Building it into a lot of workouts. Nice. Awesome job. You got about three more seconds here. Going to finish off this side. And we're done resetting. So that's Exercise number three. Moving on to exercise four. We're going to stay in this quadric position. We're going to actually go to that belly breathing. So I'm going to inhale and then exhale, pull the belly tight. I'm going to lift my knees off the mat. Bear crawl. Hold for three, two, one. Walk my hands back to my feet. Heels plant on the ground, stand up, come back down. So let's go for it. Quadruped position. That belly breath, big inhale, exhale, pull the belly tight, tuck the toes, hover the knees, hold for three, two, one. Walk my hands back, heels get flat, drive through the heels, stand tall. So why are we doing this exercise? This is, in my opinion, the safest way to get off the floor. Belly breath, reset, tuck the toes, hover the knees, hold for 3, 2, 1. Walk the hands back, drive through the heels, stand. Okay. This is the bear crawl to a stand. What I would say is the safest way to work your core and get off the floor. Hold for 3, 2, 1. This is the last time you're gonna do it. Walk your hands back, drive through the heels, stand tall. Okay. The reason being, a lot of times when we get off the floor, we go like this into a split stance. And standing up can cause that pelvic floor to shift, cause that pelvic girdle pain or SPD that you can experience. All right, side plank. So we're going right into a side plank hold. I'm going to take this from my inside knee down. I'm just going to simply lift, and I'm going to hold. I'm just going to hold here. Okay. You can always go up into a full side plank. I'm doing a modified side plank right here with my knee on the mat option. This leg can rest on the ground or I can lift it. Really get these glutes and hips involved. Your option, alternative option is always you could come up to an incline, so I could scissor my feet and hold just like this right here at an incline. So you can do this from an incline. You can do it with your knee down on the mat. Whatever suits you and your pregnancy best. You're going to hold it here for about five more seconds, and then we're just going to do the other side for 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. So I don't have to put my backside to you. I'm just going to come down to the mat on the other side. I want to make sure that my elbow is stacked directly underneath my shoulder. That inside knee is going to be bent at 90 degrees, and I'm going to lift those hips off the ground option. I'm going to lift this outside leg up. We're going to come right here. We're just going to hold. Okay? So there's a lot of variations you could add to this. You can just hold this. This leg can rest on the ground. You can lift it. You could add some crunches to this. If you wanted to add some crunches to this, you could even add a little hip dip. Tap the hip, lift up high. Tap the hip, lift up high. So I'm working the obliques, which are my side ab muscles. Right. Also involved right here are these outer glutes, my gluteus medius, and my hip abductors. Right. Strengthening those. Those help support my pelvic floor. You're gonna hold here for about 10 more seconds, and then you're gonna get a rest and we're gonna move on. Come on. You got this? Yes. You can stay strong for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Nice. I'm gonna come into a seated position. Okay. So I find a nice seated position. You can take your legs nice and wide, Roll the shoulders down and back. I'm gonna place my hands behind me to gently support me. Fingertips face my butt. I'm just gonna slide one heel out. Slide it in. Slide the other heel out. Slide it in. So I'm just creating distance. The longer the lever, the more core engagement. Sliding those heels out. We're going three, two, let's go. So slide the heel out, pull it back in. Slide the heel out, pull it back in. Okay. Alternatively, if you still feel good laying on your back, you could do this from a glute bridge hold. So I could hold a glute bridge as I alternate sliding heels out. The other option is, if that's too easy for me, I can bring my legs right here, brace my core. I could go for a leg lift. Set it down. Leg lift, set it down. That's a lot harder, right? Nice work. Set it down. So you choose your level here. Depending on where you're at in your pregnancy, both, all of them great options to engage your core. Gonna do one more each way. Nice. Last one. Awesome. We're gonna come back up to that standing position, and we're gonna safely get there through our bear crawl. Walking our hands back and standing up. We're gonna come up to a sumo squat stance. So heels in, toes out, you got two moves left, guys. Hang in there with me. Going to find a nice sumo squat stance hold. Fire up those Legs. And I'm going to do some oblique reaches. Reaching and reaching. So join me when you're ready. Hold that nice sumo stance. Squat. Heels in, toes out. I'm just reaching. Sliding my hand down to my calf. Ankle reach and reach. We're hitting the obliques here again, those side abs. One of the ab muscles we can continue to safely work throughout our pregnancy. Focus on those obliques. They support our bodies as well as our deep transverse abdominals. We're not really focusing on our rectus abdominis. That's our six pack ab muscles. We're not focusing on those because they run this way. Right. And we're not doing a lot of crunching during this time. We're making plenty of space for baby. Nice. 10 seconds here, guys, and then we're on to our final move. You got it. Final five, four, three, two and one. Nice final move. We're gonna go into a plank so you can take plank from the ground on your knees. I prefer an incline plank during pregnancy. Okay. So slowly I went from like my first stair to my second stair to my third stair on my staircase. Okay. You determine what works for you. So I'm just going to find an incline plank hold. Shoulders are stacked over wrists. I have a nice stable base with my feet. I'm just going to hold that belly nice and tight and breathe through it. So it's that transverse abdominal hold and I'm continuing to breathe through it. I really want to make sure I'm avoiding any coning or doming of my midsection. So if I took a plank from the ground right now, my midsection would come to more of a point due to my existing doctor. So I just want to avoid that again. You can option just hold plank and really focus on that. Sometimes no movement is harder. Option you could add a little instability by adding some shoulder taps. Shoulder taps. Slow and controlled shoulder taps right here. Okay. Trying to keep those hips not moving or rotating as you transfer the weight from one arm to the other. So really up to you how hard you want to make these exercises. You're here for 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. And those are your eight pregnancy friendly AB exercises. So you could just do this 10 minute ab workout with me. You just walk right through it with me. You could choose a couple of these that are your favorites that you want to start including into your everyday fitness routine. However, it works best for you. But you can take these with you through your first, second, and into your third trimester of pregnancy. Keep that core nice and strong. And if you like this workout. We'd love if you'd drop a subscribe to our YouTube channel. And of course you subscribe can can find more pregnancy friendly, some postpartum and even in just to beyond into motherhood. Lots of workouts that are going to keep you nice and strong@nourishmoodlove.com thanks for checking this out and I hope to see you back here soon.