Sets: 1

Reps: 20 (10 each side)

• Stand up holding the pilates ball at your chest.

• Inhale to prepare for the movement, allowing ribcage and pelvic floor to expand.

• Exhale and blow out through a straw. Press your palms into the ball and draw in your pelvic floor and core. Shift your weight to one side and march the other leg up.

• Feel your core keeping your trunk in midline, avoiding leaning excessively to one side. Think about centering ribcage over pelvis.

• Perform slowly to practice gaining balance.

• Inhale reset. Exhale press and lift as you alternate to the other side.

• Additional note: Pregnancy causes a shift in center of mass so it is common to feel off balance in the early postpartum days. Use this exercise to find balance and make your core a part of the movement.