Strength matters. But so do awareness, control, and the ability to let go.
Women are often encouraged to stay physically active during pregnancy.
There is good reason for that advice. For most women with healthy, uncomplicated pregnancies, regular physical activity is considered safe and beneficial. It helps maintain cardiovascular and muscular fitness, supports the body as it adapts to pregnancy, and may reduce the risk of certain pregnancy complications.
The NHS puts it particularly simply: the more active and fit you are during pregnancy, the easier it may be to adapt to your changing shape and weight gain, and physical fitness can help you cope with labor.
But there is one remarkable part of the body that deserves particular attention throughout this journey: the pelvic floor.
What Is the Pelvic Floor?
The pelvic floor is a group of muscles and supporting tissues forming something like a hammock at the base of the pelvis.
These muscles help support the bladder, bowel and reproductive organs. They also contribute to continence, stability and sexual function.
And during pregnancy, their job becomes considerably more demanding.
As the uterus and baby grow, the pelvic floor must accommodate increasing weight and pressure. Pregnancy also produces hormonal and structural changes that allow tissues around the pelvis to become more adaptable in preparation for birth.
Research has found that the pelvic floor changes in shape and distensibility during pregnancy. In other words, this isn’t simply a static group of muscles carrying a heavier load; the system itself is adapting.
Then Comes Delivery
During vaginal birth, something extraordinary is required of these muscles.
The pelvic floor must accommodate substantial stretching as the baby passes through the birth canal.
That is why preparing the pelvic floor shouldn’t simply mean making it stronger and tighter. A functional muscle needs more than strength.
- It needs the ability to contract.
- To maintain appropriate tension.
- To coordinate with surrounding muscles.
- And importantly, to relax when relaxation is required.
This distinction matters because childbirth ultimately asks the pelvic floor to yield and lengthen rather than remain continuously contracted.
So Can Being “In Shape” Make Delivery Easier?
There is some truth behind the familiar advice; but it deserves careful wording.
Being physically active during a healthy pregnancy can help maintain overall fitness and prepare the body for the physical demands of pregnancy and labor. Evidence also suggests that pelvic-floor muscle training during pregnancy may provide benefits, although research into specific labor and delivery outcomes continues to evolve.
What exercise cannot do is guarantee an easier delivery. Every pregnancy, labor and birth is different. Baby position and size, maternal anatomy, medical circumstances, labor progression and many other factors influence delivery.
So rather than thinking:
“If I make these muscles strong enough, childbirth will be easy,”
we prefer a different idea:
Learn to know your body before you ask extraordinary things of it.
The Mère De Vie Approach: Awareness Before Repetition
This is where the philosophy of gTonnicks® becomes particularly relevant.
Through IPCM (the Intentional & Purposeful Contraction of the Muscles) we practice consciously identifying muscular engagement rather than simply performing repetitions.
- Can you recognize the contraction?
- Can you engage intentionally?
- Can you maintain control while breathing normally?
- And equally important: Can you release it?
That relationship between contraction, control and release is especially meaningful when thinking about the pelvic floor.
The objective is not simply a stronger body. It is a body with which you have developed greater awareness.
Practice: Pelvic Floor & Abs Shaping
Our Pelvic Floor & Abs Shaping short practice introduces intentional muscular engagement around the pelvic floor and core within the broader gTonnicks® approach.
Rather than thinking of pelvic-floor work as an isolated exercise, we invite you to consider its relationship with your core, posture, breathing and overall movement.
[Practice Pelvic Floor & Abs Shaping →]
Explore the 6-minute practice in the Mère De Vie Movement Studio.
Before Motherhood. During Motherhood. Beyond Motherhood.
The pelvic floor isn’t important only because a woman may give birth. It remains part of her strength, stability and physical wellbeing throughout life. Pregnancy simply reminds us how extraordinary the demands placed upon this relatively unseen part of the body can become.
So, perhaps preparing the body for motherhood begins not with pushing it harder, but with understanding it better.
Engage with intention. Learn to release. Move with awareness.
Practice with elegance.
A note from Mère De Vie: Every pregnancy and postpartum recovery is different. Exercise should be appropriate to your individual circumstances. Pregnant and postpartum women—particularly those experiencing pelvic pain, pressure, urinary or bowel symptoms, or other concerns—should discuss appropriate exercise with their obstetric healthcare professional and, where appropriate, a pelvic-health physical therapist.