PRENATAL DETAIL

Pelvic floor exercises. To strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, sit comfortably and squeeze the muscles 10-15 times in a row. Don't hold your breath or tighten your stomach, buttock or thigh muscles at the same time. When you get used to doing pelvic floor exercises, you can try holding each squeeze for a few seconds.  

It is very common to get backache or back pain during pregnancy, especially in the early stages.

During pregnancy, the ligaments in your body naturally become softer and stretch to prepare you for labour. This can put a strain on the joints of your lower back and pelvis, which can cause back pain.

It's been said that if you only do one workout move, it should be a squat. While we never advocate sticking to one move exclusively, there's something to this advice: Squats work so many different body parts. And yes, one amazing side effect of doing your squats is that you'll likely have your best butt ever—but there's more to the move than just that.

Pregnant women can definitely benefit from squatting... As long as they take appropriate precautions. Like with everything else, it's all about listening to your body, consulting your doctor and modifying the moves to suit your pregnant body.

If you hit your second trimester, you’re probably sporting a tiny little bump instead of just looking out of shape and should generally start feeling a lot better and more energetic. But for some women, this is when hip pain begin to appear.

Some experts relate it to sciatica, which is a condition where your sciatic nerve gets pinched and radiates pain into the buttocks, thighs and hips, or round ligament pain in your groin area, which is a result of the ligaments stretching to accommodate for pregnancy and childbirth.

If you find yourself on the receiving end of this pregnancy ailment, here are eight exercises to help alleviate and stretch away the pain. As always, please check with your healthcare provider before trying any new exercises.

Yoga breathing is a form of controlled deep breathing (pranayama). In sanskrit, "prana" means energy, and "ayama" means distribution of energy. 

When we breathe in, we inhale oxygen, which our body needs to function. When we breathe out, we exhale carbon dioxide, a waste gas that our body doesn’t need. Most of us take quick, shallow breaths, which don't benefit our body as much as deeper breaths. 

Pranayama teaches you to breathe well, with an equal balance of nourishing oxygen inhaled and toxic carbon dioxide exhaled. This helps you to take good care of yourself and your baby.