5 Workout Must-Haves for Moms

Motherhood brings incredible joy, but it also comes with physical challenges that require strength, mobility, and endurance. Whether you're pregnant, newly postpartum, or a seasoned mom looking to feel stronger, these five workout must-haves will help you build a resilient body for both daily life and fitness goals.

1. Isometric Exercises: The Foundation of Strength

During pregnancy, your body releases relaxin, a hormone that loosens your joints to prepare for birth. However, after childbirth, it can take months for your joints to return to their normal stability. This is where isometric exercises come in.

By engaging your muscles without movement, isometric exercises—such as glute bridges, wall sits, or plank holds—help strengthen and stabilize your body without placing unnecessary strain on your joints. This makes them especially beneficial during the early postpartum months when joint stability is still returning.

Benefits of Isometric Exercises for Moms:

• Improve joint stability post-pregnancy
• Strengthen deep core muscles
• Provide a low-impact way to build strength

2. Unilateral Exercises: Addressing Imbalances

Pregnancy and postpartum recovery often reveal imbalances in the body. The shifting center of gravity, carrying a baby primarily on one side, and postural changes can leave certain muscles overactive while others become weak.

Unilateral exercises, which focus on one side at a time—such as Bulgarian split squats, single-leg deadlifts, and single-arm rows—help you recognize and correct these imbalances.

Why Unilateral Training is Essential for Moms:

• Helps balance out muscle discrepancies
• Improves core stability
• Increases strength in everyday movements like carrying a child or lifting groceries

3. Activating Exercises: Ditch the Traditional Warm-Up

Instead of passive stretching or a generic warm-up, muscle activation exercises help wake up the right muscles and improve your mind-muscle connection before a workout.

This is particularly important for postpartum moms, as the core and pelvic floor often need intentional activation before jumping into movements. Exercises like glute band walks, deep core breathing, and shoulder activation drills ensure the correct muscles are firing, reducing compensation patterns that can lead to injury.

Benefits of Activation Work:

• Prepares your nervous system for movement
• Helps you target the right muscles (instead of overusing others)
• Reduces the risk of injury

4. Compound Exercises: Maximize Strength & Time

As a mom, time is precious. Compound movements, which involve multiple joints and muscle groups, allow you to build strength efficiently. Instead of spending time isolating different muscles, compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, and push-ups mimic real-life movements—such as picking up your baby, carrying a car seat, or playing with your kids.

Why Compound Movements Matter:

• Save time by working multiple muscles at once
• Improve functional strength for daily mom life
• Boost metabolism and overall fitness

5. Mobility & Stability: A Mom’s Secret Weapon

Pregnancy shifts your center of gravity, and postpartum recovery often involves stiffness, aches, and tightness from feeding, carrying, and caring for a baby. Prioritizing mobility and stability exercises will reduce pain, improve movement quality, and help you feel more comfortable in your body.

Mobility drills, like hip openers, thoracic spine rotations, and deep squat holds, paired with stability work like single-leg balances or core-focused movements, help retrain your body for optimal movement.

Key Benefits of Mobility & Stability Training:

• Reduces postpartum aches and stiffness
• Improves movement efficiency and control
• Lowers the risk of injury during workouts and daily activities

Final Thoughts: Build Strength for Motherhood

Your body goes through incredible changes during pregnancy and postpartum recovery. Incorporating these five workout essentials into your routine will help you feel stronger, move better, and prevent injuries as you navigate motherhood.

✨ Which of these workout essentials do you already include in your routine? Let me know in the comments!

🔹 Follow @getmovingwithjen on Instagram for more prenatal and postpartum fitness tips!

 

References:

1. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). "Exercise During Pregnancy." ACOG.org
2. Mayo Clinic. "Postpartum Exercise: How to Safely Rebuild Strength." MayoClinic.org
3. National Institute of Health (NIH). "The Benefits of Strength Training for Women." NIH.gov
4. Harvard Health Publishing. "The Importance of Core Stability." Harvard.edu