8 Full-Body Exercises That Do More for Your Pelvic Floor Than Kegels Alone
When it comes to pelvic floor health, Kegels get way too much credit.
Your pelvic floor doesn’t work in isolation—it works reflexively with your breath, hips, glutes, core, and even your thoracic spine.
If you want a pelvic floor that functions well through pregnancy, postpartum, and everyday life, you need to train it as part of your whole-body system.
These 8 exercises will help you do just that.
Breathwork for Pelvic Floor Health
Before we talk about strengthening the pelvic floor, we need to talk about releasing it.
During pregnancy and postpartum, your pelvic floor is under more pressure than usual—constantly adapting to baby weight, breath changes, and new demands. Without adequate release, it can get stuck in a tense, overactive state (which is a major contributor to pelvic floor dysfunction).
These two breathwork exercises help restore diaphragm movement, rib mobility, and deep core coordination—giving your pelvic floor the space it needs to actually engage and relax.
Want more insight into how breath, alignment, and the pelvic floor connect during pregnancy and birth? Check out my blog post:
🔗 How to Prepare Your Pelvic Floor for Birth
1️⃣ Hero Pose with Lateral Rib Breathing
Why: Encourages full rib expansion and diaphragm mobility, helping the pelvic floor release and coordinate more effectively with your breath. This is key for releasing pelvic floor tension, building 360° core strength and managing intra-abdominal pressure.
How: Sit in Hero Pose (elevated on a prop with knees in, ankles out). Wrap a workout band, towel, etc. around your ribs. Inhale into your ribs, sides, and back, feeling expansion in all directions into your band. You should feel gentle pressure into the band. Exhale fully, letting your ribs move back toward center. Keep your shoulders relaxed and neck soft as you breathe.
2️⃣ Side-Seated Breathing for Side Core Release
Why: Helps release the lateral abdominal wall and improves rib-pelvis alignment, freeing up the pelvic floor to move through its full range of motion during both breath and movement. A stiff lateral core can pull on the pelvic floor and restrict its function.
How: Sit with your legs in a comfortable side-seated position (both on the same side). Reach across and grab onto your top knee, shin, belly, whatever you can reach. Thread your opposite arm under and place your hand on your ribs. Slump slightly, rolling gently over your tailbone and allowing back to round and expand. Inhale into the hand on your ribs, feeling expansion and release through the side of your body/lateral core. Repeat on both sides.
Mobility for a Healthy Pelvic Floor
Pelvic floor health isn’t just about what’s happening down there. It’s also about how your hips, spine, torso, and pelvis move as a unit and how they coordinate with your breath.
Tight hips and a stiff spine can make it harder for your pelvic floor to function well—especially during labor, recovery, or high-impact movement postpartum like running.
These two mobility-focused exercises improve hip rotation, core coordination, and pelvic stability—all without creating strain on your abdomen.
P.S. Both of these are safe and helpful during pregnancy and postpartum.
3️⃣ Shin Box to Hip Lift
Why: Builds hip mobility and stability, glute control, and dynamic pelvic stability—all vital for reflexive pelvic floor engagement and release.
How: Sit in a shin box position with your feet wide and hands behind you. Drop both knees to one side; keeping that side’s hand on the floor, reach your opposite arm into the air and lift your hips into extension, feeling length through your ribs, side, and hip flexor. Lower back to the floor with control, then switch sides.
4️⃣ Hip Airplanes
Why: Trains 3D hip mobility and pelvic stability, helping the pelvic floor work dynamically with full-body movement.
How: Position yourself next to a chair or a workout bench. Stand on the outer leg, curling the close leg so it’s bent at about 90° at the knee. Rotate your pelvis so the center seam of your pants moves toward your standing inner thigh, feeling a big stretch on the standing out hip and glute. Pause then rotate your pelvis to bring the center seam of your pants towards your chair/bench.
Full Body Strength Exercises that Naturally Recruit Your Pelvic Floor
Your pelvic floor needs strong teammates to do its job well.
That means glutes that fire, inner thighs that stabilize, hamstrings that support alignment, and a ribcage that actually moves. These four strength exercises train your entire body in a way that supports your pelvic floor—instead of isolating it.
And guess what? None of these require doing a single Kegel. (In fact, if you’ve ever wondered why Kegels might not be working for you, you’ll want to read this:
🔗 Why Kegels Alone Aren’t Enough—Especially for Birth)
✨ Want quick, targeted workouts that support pelvic floor function from multiple angles?
Grab my Free Mini Workout Series—you’ll get 6 short workouts that target hips, glutes, core, shoulders, and inner thighs. Perfect for pregnancy or postpartum.
5️⃣ Chest Press with Thoracic Rotation
Why: Your ribcage and spine need to move well to support optimal pelvic floor function—and this move helps integrate breath with upper body rotation, improve thoracic mobility, and improve core-pelvic floor coordination. This also helps your external obliques fully lengthen, which can help with a rib flare, stiff ribcage, diastasis, and pelvic floor pressure.
How: This can be done with or without weight when you’re just starting. Lie on your side with a prop between your knees, knees bent. Bring one arm in the air, stacked over your body. Keeping your knees and hips as still as possible, rotate through your mid/upper back to bring the arm towards the floor, allowing your ribs to expand and chest to open. Rotate back to center as you press up.
6️⃣ Split Lunge with Row
Why: Builds glute and opposite lat strength, which stabilizes the pelvis and helps balance pressure through the core and pelvic floor. You need strong, functional glutes for optimal pelvic floor support—and that means glutes that can fully lengthen and shorten…your glutes should move and adapt, not stay clenched 24/7.
How: Set up in a split lunge position with a band or cable in the opposite hand of your front leg. Lower into your lunge while reaching the arm forward, then row as you exhale and rise back up. Focus on maintaining rib-hip connection and not letting your back arch as you pull.
7️⃣ Elevated Copenhagen Plank
Why: Strengthens adductors, which act as anchoring points for the pelvic floor and support optimal pelvic stability. The adductors share overlapping fascia with the pelvic floor and naturally assist in lifting the pelvic floor during contraction.
How: Set up with your top leg supported on an elevated surface, side-lying plank position. Exhale to unweight your bottom leg and hold. Keep ribs stacked and hips level.
Regression: Perform a side-lying adductor lift with a ball or pillow between the knees. Press gently into the ball as you lift the bottom leg—this provides compressive stability and helps cue reflexive pelvic floor engagement—not just clenching on demand.
8️⃣ Poor Man’s Leg Curl
Why: Hamstrings are key players in pelvic alignment and stability. Strong hamstrings help maintain proper rib and pelvis stacking, which improves pelvic floor function and reduces strain.
How: Lie on your back with heels on an elevated surface and a prop between your knees. Drive your heels down and drag them back as if you were trying to pull the surface toward you. Keep pulling your heels toward you, and your hips slightly tucked as you exhale to lift your hips. Return with control and repeat.
Your Pelvic Floor Deserves More Than Just Kegels
If you take one thing from this blog, let it be this:
Your pelvic floor doesn’t work in isolation.
And your core recovery, mobility, strength, and breath all affect how it functions—during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
When you train your body this way—holistically, intentionally, and with a focus on supporting the pelvic floor instead of just squeezing it—you’ll feel stronger, more stable, and more resilient—whether you’re lifting weights, carrying a baby, or navigating birth and recovery..
✨ Ready to go beyond Kegels and start building real pelvic floor support? Here are a few ways we can work together:
🔥 Free Mini Workout Series — 6 short workouts (hips, glutes, core, chest, shoulders, inner thighs) designed to support your pelvic floor and full-body strength.
📖 Still Lifting, Just Shifting E-Book — My guide to modifying strength workouts safely during pregnancy, with pelvic floor-supportive movement strategies built in.
📞 Book a Call — Want a personalized strength or recovery plan that supports your pelvic floor? Let’s talk and create one that fits your body and life.
💬 DM Me — Not sure where to start? I’d love to help. Shoot me a message and let’s chat about what you’re experiencing and what your next best step could be.