15-Minute Labor Inducing Workout (Prepare for Labor and Delivery!)

Hi, I'm Lindsey Baumgren of Nourish Movelove and I'm coming at you with a labor inducing workout. Now, I have to clarify, these exercises are all safe for pregnancy, but of course you should make sure you are cleared by your doctor or midwife for exercise. And we should not be trying to induce labor prior to 37 weeks of pregnancy. That said, I'm currently 37 going on 38 weeks of pregnancy. So I'm going to walk you through this labor inducing workout at my pace and you're going to take it at yours. You don't need any equipment for this workout besides a small step if you have one. You can do this with just your body weight. I'm going to be using this half basu ball as my incline. If I was at home, I'd use the bottom stair on a staircase. It's nice and stable. It's going to give you that small incline that you need, but you don't need to have that. The workout looks like this. You have five circuits. Each circuit has two exercises. The first exercise is your one minute of work. It's meant to simulate your contraction time and then it's going to be followed by 30 seconds of rest or recovery, which we're going to be doing in a birthing position, which would be ideally to get baby into an optimal birthing position. So it's one minute of work follow followed by 30 seconds of recovery and we'll be working through all five circuits. You only do each exercise once. It's going to be quick and effective, a great way to raise your heart rate in those final weeks of pregnancy. So let's go ahead and get started. I'm going to be using just my body weight today. We're going to start with a quick couple warm up exercises to get us ready. So feet are stacked underneath my hips. I'm going to take my hands right around my belly and we're going to do a couple belly breaths or trance to engage our deep transverse abdominal muscles. So I'm going to inhale, belly expand and on the exhale, I'm thinking about hugging baby in and up. My hands are simulating what my deep core is doing. Big inhale, belly expands on the exhale. Core wraps around me like a corset. Hugging baby in and up. Let's do two more. Just like it. Big inhale, open mouth, exhale. Hug the baby with your deep transverse abdominals. One more. Big inhale and exhale. Hug the baby. Nice. Can you keep hugging the baby and breathing through that that take a little bit wider stance if you need to. Hands come to the hips and we're just going to take a couple hip circles. So just hip circles side to side, getting some movement throughout those hips and joints. Like I said, you're going to take this workout totally at your pace. Okay? However you're feeling today in those final weeks of pregnancy, this is all about you doing what feels good for you. Give me one more hip circle each way. Nice. From here, we're just going to go to a simple march in place. So just pull those knees up and up. Just marching in place. Nice. You can take this all at your pace, your tempo. It's all timed intervals, so you do your best. Right? The goal is to find a pace that you can stick with for that one minute of work. Think about pacing yourself during a contraction. Right. If you've been through labor before, you'll have a mindset of what that feels like. If it's your first time, it's a great way to practice pacing yourself through that work interval and then finding that awesome recovery period. Let's march for 4, 3, 2, and let's take it to hamstring curls. So pull the heels towards the glute. Take those arms, squeeze those elbows back each time. Heel to the glute. Pull and pull. Just opening up the top of the thighs, the quads right there. A little side to side action. Nice. Just pull it here. We'll finish our warmup and jump right into that first exercise. 8, 7, 6. You got it. 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. Nice. Go ahead, just walk it up and I'm going to show you your first move. So first circuit, you have two exercises. Okay? Your first exercise is a little modified side to side squat and tap. So it's going to look like this. Step right, pull. Step left, pull. Tapping my heels together. A little side to side tap and pull. You're going to do that for one minute. So again, you find a pace that's going to feel good for you for one minute of work. And then we'll go into a 30 second recovery, which is just going to be sliding down into a squat and rounding through the spine. As I squat, I'm going to be inhaling, letting that belly open, letting that pelvic floor drop, baby. Getting into optimal position. Okay? That's what we're going to be working on. Let's tackle this first circuit together. All right? You do your best. Forget the rest. Move at your pace. I'm going to take a side step to my left. We'll Step left. One minute of work starts in three, two. Let's go. So, baby, squat. Pull, pull. Bend those knees. Nice. Tap those heels together. Thinking about getting a little bit lower in those legs each time if I can. Pulling those heels together, squeezing those inner thighs. You got it now. Nice work. It's one minute of work. You want to maintain that heart rate. I want to be able to continue to talk to you. So we're going to use the talk test, right? Make sure I can hold a conversation with you the entire time. I'm working through that contraction. Nice. You're halfway, guys. 30 seconds left. Nice work. Stay in it. Bigger the arms, higher the heart rate. Maybe squat and pull. Squat and pull. You've got it. Nice work. We're going to go right from this into that 30 second recovery period. We're just going to go squats. Inhale, down, exhale, round to stand. 10 seconds here. Yes, you can finish it. Nice. Final five, four, three, two. Recovery. Find a comfortable position. You let the heart rate come down. Hands are going to slide down the thighs. Inhale, exhale, Round to stand. Inhale, exhale, round to stand. Nice. Close through this. At your pace. Inhale, exhale on that. Inhale. I'm just letting everything drop heavy to the floor. Exhale. 30 seconds goes by really fast. You're in the final. 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. Walk it back in. Nice work. That's circuit one. Moving on. Circuit two. One minute of work. Half jacks. Kevin reach. Kevin reach. Kevin reach. Kevin reach. Okay, a little half jumping. Jack the tap. Think about tapping and punching overhead. Hands come back the hips. Or you can load them up and you can give me punches. I'll go for the punches. That feels good today. Let's go for punches. One minute right there. Now we're gonna do that same squat position, but we're gonna move back to a wall and put our arms overhead. Okay, Go ahead. Let's go. Right arm, right leg tap. One minute of work in three, two. Let's go. Half jack, half jack. You can jack it or punch it. Tapping out to the side. The bigger you make this movement, the higher that heart rate is going to get right. This is low impact cardio. This is my one minute of work, my one minute contraction. You're so strong, mama. Yes, you are. Come on, knock it out. Knock it out. You got this. Stay with it. Big punches overhead. Punch and tap. Punch and tap. Halfway, guys. 30 seconds. Yes, you can. Stay with it. Nice work, Nice work. Come on, you got this. Nice. One minute seems a lot longer. When you're working versus when you're watching. Like Netflix, doesn't it? Come on, come on. Nice work. So strong. That's what you are. Ten more seconds. Yes. You can finish it. We walk back to that wall in 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Nice work. 30 seconds. I'm gonna take it back here to a wall. I'm use this post. Okay. Hands are gonna go overhead. I'm gonna inhale, and as I exhale, stand, inhale. As I exhale, stand. Now, why am I doing this with my hands overhead? I could also, if I have a pole, inhale, exhale, stand, hands overhead. Is going to open up my lats. My lats are connected to my pelvic floor and my sacrum. Hands overhead Is going to open up the lats. Pull that sacrum open, create more room for baby Take it down and up. You're going to do one more inhale, drop, exhale, stand. That's meant to simulate, like the dancing move that I would do with my husband while I'm contracting and in labor. Okay. That's really popular. But know that putting your hands overhead is going to open up those lats, which are directly connected to the sacrum. It's going to create a little bit more room for baby to drop down. Circuit three. This is where we're bringing in that step. So if I have a bottom stair of a staircase, I could use that. If I have a nice little basu ball, this is what I'm going to use. Okay. I'm going to go out just a little bit. I'm going to be stepping right leg first. So my right leg would step up to my bottom staircase or my slight incline. You could always do this from the ground. Step, pull, tap back. I'm gonna go. Step up, tap, step down, tap, step up, tap, step down, tap, step up, tap. Okay, so little lateral step with a slight incline. I'll talk about why we're adding the incline as we work through this. Stepping up, right leg finds that stair or that slight incline in three, two. Let's go. Step up, tap, step down, tap. I might move a little slower. The basu ball creates a little bit more instability, makes my core work a little bit harder. Okay. We're adding this slight incline to improve pelvic symmetry. Right. So it's forcing my pelvic to shift, my pelvis, pelvic bones to shift a little bit here. Right. That right hip goes up. Left hip has to come up to meet it. It's good to have some movement in those hips. It helps baby drop into that position. A little bit of pelvic floor shifting helps baby drop. It's also good for pelvic floor function post birth. Right. If you research or if you google labor inducing, you might find the miles circuit online. The miles circuit has you doing lateral side steps up a staircase like this for 30 minutes, right? To help induce labor. It's one of the things they say can help induce labor, that lateral movement. You're in it for 3, 2, and 1. Recovery position. This right toe is gonna go slightly out at a 45 degree angle. I'm gonna sit into a squat and I'm just gonna pulse. Pulse pulsing down right here. Nice 45 degree angle here. Again, opening up that hip, that pelvic floor, creating a little bit of pelvic asymmetry. Help keep movement happening down there. Help baby shift down into that nice birthing position. Nice. Right here for 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Recover. Nice work, you guys. We're gonna do that same thing on the other side. This is the only circuit you'll repeat. Other side. So I'm gonna move my step over to the left. Now my left leg is gonna step up, right leg is gonna come to meet it. We're gonna be moving laterally to our left. One minute of work, those same two exercises. Ready? We go in three, two. Let's go. Step, touch, step, touch. Nice. Again. It's all your pace. This is your minute. Do with it what you choose. You got it. You just keep moving. One exercise, one rep at a time. That's where I'm always so grateful to just be able to keep moving in that third trimester. Right? This is my third baby. All those labor things are starting to come back to me now. Starting to get a little nervous, little anxious, but really just so stinking excited to meet this little bugger halfway. Guys, 30 seconds. Right here. You got it. Stay with it. One step at a time. Nice work. Big arms. Nice. Think about squeezing that back nice into that same hold, pointing the left toe out at that 45 degree angle. Squat pulses. You got it. Stay with me. Right here. Five. Nice. Four. You got it. Final three, two, one. Nice work. Find that wide squat. Left toes go out to a 45 degree angle. Opening up that hip, creating a little nice. Letting baby just shift down squat pulses here. Catch your breath. 30 seconds, guys. This is circuit number four of five. Legs are starting to feel a little fiery. You got it. Keep pulsing right here. 10, 9, 8. You got this. 7. You are so strong, Mama. Yes, you can last. 5, 4, 3, 2. Recover. Walk it off, walk it off. Nice work. I'm going to set my step off to the side here, and we're going to go into our final fifth circuit. Okay, we're going to hold a nice wide squat. It's going to be a little bit of legs on fire because it's one minute of squat pulses. Take a rest if you need to, but you're going to go heels out or. Sorry. Toes in, toes out, toes in, toes out. Toes to me. Toes out. So we're just going to be pulsing back and forth, moving the toes in and out, working that adductor. Okay, that's my inner thigh, hip muscle, and my adductors, which are really great for stabilizing the pelvic floor as well as helping that pelvic floor move. All right, so squat pulses, one minute. This is your final burnout, your final contraction today. All right, maybe, maybe not. We'll see if this labor inducing workout actually induces labor. Right, here we go. Squat pulses in three, two. Let's go, let's go. Toes out, toes in, toes out. Toes in, toes out, toes in. Nice. You can have your hands on baby, wherever it's comfortable for you. You can put them at your side. Nice wide squat. Awesome job. You're starting to feel a little bit of pelvic pressure and pelvic pain. You can always walk that squat in. The more narrow stance, the squat, the more stability you're going to have in that pelvic floor. The wider I get, the less stability. So if you're having SPD or pelvic pain, you can always narrow that stance. You got it right here. Come on. Halfway, guys. 30 seconds. Legs are on fire. I know. I feel you. You are so strong, mama. Yes, you are. Come on. It's this and then we're just going to drop into a low squat. I'm going to bring my little step back. You could use the bottom stair of a staircase, a yoga block. We're just going to sit into a nice low squat, relax that pelvic floor. Cool it down. Come on. 10 seconds of work here. Yes, you can. Stay with me. Come on. Last 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Nice work, you guys. Walk it off. I'm gonna bring my stepper bench back into play. You could grab a yoga block or that bottom staircase on a stair. And we're just gonna drop down to that nice seated position right here. Hands are gonna come to my inner thighs. Just gonna breathe. You can bring your hands to baby big inhale and exhale. Just think about letting everything relax down to the Floor, especially on that exhale, big inhale, exhale, everything relaxes. This time instead of contracts, think about relaxing that pelvic floor. So often we're told kegels and contracting that pelvic floor. This towards the end of pregnancy. Those final works, we're thinking about really relaxing that pelvic floor. Taking that stress off, making space for baby to drop down. Big inhale, exhale, Everything drops. Just like sitting that you can hold this seated position for as long as feels comfortable for you. Those final weeks they recommend hanging out here a couple times a day. Big inhale, big exhale, you can stay right here and that's how you can finish this workout. Otherwise I'm going to give you a couple additional stretches you could take if it feels good for you. I'm just going to take those legs a little bit wider. I'm just going to shift my elbows into one side and the other. Just stretching those adductor muscles. Those inner thighs that we worked right, we activated them and now we're going to stretch them. Especially if you have that pelvic pain because your adductors are overworking to support your core during this time. And so by stretching them, just that little stretch, opening up those inner thighs, you're taking a little bit of that pressure off that silver or that pubic synthesis area. Nice. Awesome job. From here I'm just going to bring my feet to a butterfly position. Nice little incline, feels really good. Soles of the feet to touch, roll the shoulders down and back. I'm going to take my hands behind my back. Inhale, chest expansion. Pulling those knuckles away from my body, just opening up the chest. A good stretch to keep in your back pocket. As we move into motherhood and find ourselves like this hunched over, feeding, snuggling baby. Just thinking about coming back to this big chest expansion a couple times a day. Rolling those shoulders down and back, opening up the front side of the body. Feels really, really good, doesn't it? Nice. Two more big breaths here. Let's take hands back to baby. Big inhale and exhale. You can let that belly drop, you don't have to contract it. You can just let everything go down towards the floor. Big inhale and exhale. Couple neck rolls side to side. Roll up that neck. Feel really good. Let's hold right ear to right shoulder. Hand can come on top of the head. Nice little gentle neck stretch. Back to the other side. Little wobbly in my seat when I close my eyes. Other side. And that is it you guys. That is your labor inducing workout. Awesome job making it through this. I'm sending you so many prayers. I'm wishing you a wonderful labor and delivery and keep up the good work. Mama. You've got this. You are so strong. Remember that. Have an awesome rest of your day. And if you want more pregnancy or prenatal workouts or an entire free postpartum workout plan, you can find it all@nourishmovelove.com have a great day. Thank you so much for joining me for that labor inducing workout. I hope you loved it. And if you did, please drop a subscribe to my channel right here. And if you want more of our pregnancy friendly workouts, you can find them right here. Here. Otherwise, if you want to bookmark a couple postpartum workouts for after baby, you can find those right here. Thanks for joining and have a great day.