Pelvic Floor Progressions to Return to Skipping & Jumping
Do you want to get back to skipping, jumping, and running after baby with confidence & without leaks? The good news for you is there is a method to the madness & a progression you can follow. Of course, it always pays to work with a coach, but if you don’t want to or don’t have the resources to, this progression break down should help you.
There are a few VERY IMPORTANT things to remember on this journey.
Your pelvic floor is injured/stretched, regardless of whether you had a vaginal birth or a c-section. Don’t skip the rehab. Start with breathing exercises to coordinate your core & pelvic floor again. Then start to coordinate breathing with simple movement. Slowly work your way back up to total body strengthening, while still incorporating control of your core & pelvic floor with breath. Check out this blog post if you need more information.
Wait 10-12 weeks after birth to start these progressions. Your connective tissues in your core & pelvic floor needs longer to heal than your muscles do. Respect them and give them time to heal before you start to stress/load them with impact.
Now let’s get into the meat of it. Here is a step-by-step breakdown of how to progress back to jumping. Each line item has a link to a quick YouTube video that shows an example of the progression.
Important note: You don’t do all these exercises in one training session. You sprinkle a few in for a week and see how your pelvic floor responds. If all is well (no leaking, pain, heaviness, bulging feelings), then move onto the next progression the next week.
Learn how to breath - In order to effectively manage pressure during impact exercises, you need a coordinated and responsive pelvic floor. Breathing takes your body back to basics on learning this coordination. Once you’ve reestablished this coordination, your body will be better prepared to automatically respond during impact exercises. Here’s a video on diaphragmatic breathing.
Learn how to stack - you want to learn what it feels like to have your rib cage stacked over your pelvis. Your pelvic floor & diaphragm work together to manage pressure in your system. They work optimally when they are stacked. If you can maintain this stacked position during impact/jumping exercises, you’re setting your pelvic floor up for success. Here’s a video on finding a stacked ribcage over pelvis.
Start horizontal (feet on the wall) - start by taking gravity out of the equation. Work on using a quick forceful exhale to create a slight pelvic floor contraction as you catch yourself horizontally. You can practice drop catches, which work on accepting force quickly in a lengthened position and you can work on horizontal hops where you create an explosive force and then also catch yourself when you come back down.
Take it vertical - let’s make it more challenging by adding gravity back in. I like to start with yielding/catching exercises on two legs then one leg. This helps you learn to accept the force your body creates, but with less impact than if you were jumping.
Drop catches & small jumps - Start with a very low box and step off it. Work on softly catching yourself at the bottom while keeping a stacked rib cage over pelvis position. You can take it to a single leg and make it a little quicker/more explosive. If this feels good, turn it into a little hop up onto a small box. Work on landing softly and maintaining the stack.
Pogos - Before I progress to big drop catches & big jumps, I like to add in pogos and yielding exercises with weight. Pogos challenging your pelvic floor’s automatic response, your ability to stay stacked, and your endurance. I would take 1-2 weeks to build up pogos. Start with both legs, then go to a single leg. Start with 10-15 seconds and then aim for 30-45 seconds with comfort. The yielding exercises with weight progress all of the other work you’ve been doing, but add some extra force to imitate the extra force you’ll need to catch with a big jump.
Big drop catches & big jumps - now let’s really add gravity in. These are many of the same movements you’ve been practicing, but you’re doing it from a higher surface, therefore accepting or creating more force. Take a week or so and add these into a few of your workouts & see how they feel. Here’s a drop catch from a high box and here’s a box jump. Work your way up in height, you don’t have to go right to a full on box jump!
Skipping! I think skipping and trampoline jumping are some of the most challenging movements for your pelvic floor. With all of the strength, coordination, and endurance you’ve built up, I think you’re ready to tackle it! Take all of the skills you’ve learned building up to this point and slowly add skipping back in. Remember to try to maintain a stacked position (it’s a lot easier to flare your rib cage when skipping for a long time). Use quick little exhales to help you create an automatic pelvic floor response as you land. Start small (10-15 seconds for a few rounds), and slowly work up to higher reps/higher time. You got this!
There’s a lot more to returning to impact than just these jumping progressions. Make sure you’re also training thoracic rotation, single leg strength, core stability, hip mobility, glute lengthening… But that’s for another blog post. Hopefully this one gave you a good place to start!
If you need help with any of this, know that my Functional Empowered Fitness membership has an 8-week postpartum program and a 6-week return to impact program that walks you through these progressions, as well as total body strength. If you want more information about the membership, you can check it out here.
