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Sam Freed - Pregnancy & Postpartum Fitness

@samhumanlywell

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Building strong moms in pregnancy + postpartum
Your core + pelvic floor deserve more
Pre/postnatal | BS Kines | Founder @strollersculpt
👇Train with me

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Save this routine if you’re doing alllll the ab exercises but still can’t heal your diastasis recti postpartum…

🔑Healing diastasis recti isn’t just about the abs—it starts with breath, posture, and rib positioning!

🤰Most women experience 1-3” of rib flare in pregnancy to accommodate growing belly and baby…stretching the diaphragm, core muscles, and connective tissues.

👉Abdominal Separation:
Rib flare and diastasis recti are closely connected because the position of the ribs affects the tension and function of the deep core. When the ribs flare outward, it places a pulling force on the rectus abdominis, making it harder for the linea alba (connective tissue between the abs) to heal.

😩This can leave a persistent abdominal separation (diastasis recti), especially in the upper abs where rib flare is most noticeable.

👉Pelvic Floor connection:
The diaphragm, core, and pelvic floor work together as a system. Rib flare creates imbalanced pressure, leading to issues like pelvic floor dysfunction.

👉Posture:
When ribs stay flared, posture shifts—leading to an arched lower back, weak core engagement, and tight hip flexors.
This makes it harder to properly activate deep core muscles and recover from diastasis recti.

🪧Signs you may have rib flare:
• tops and bras are fitting tighter after pregnancy
• ab separation, esp upper diastasis recti
• pelvic floor issues disfunction
• lower ribs stick out

Save and try this mini rib flare recovery routine!

Using a light resistance band:
1 Thread the needle
2 March pull down
3 Wood chopper
4 Bear hover taps
5 Diagonal pull
6 Overhead reach + leg extension
7 Single arm reach quadrupled
8 Seated thoracic rotation

More routines like this in the 12-week Core & Pelvic Floor Restore program on the HumanlyWell app📲 by @samhumanlywell

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2 years ago

PREGNANT MAMAS, stop bouncing on your birth ball, try these moves to prepare for birth instead🪩

What’s so special about these moves?

Sure, they feel amazing and will help you roll over easier in bed (3rd trimester struggles over here🙋‍♀️)

But they also help…

✨lengthen posterior muscles of the pelvic floor (often overlooked in prenatal prep) for a smoother labor and delivery.

✨relieve tension and fatigue in hips + low back + round ligament pain.

✨reduce discomfort during labor👉 more effective contractions, faster labor time, and reduce the need for pain meds or unnecessary interventions.

✨one study found significantly higher rates of vaginal delivery and lower rates of episiotomy for women who used a birth ball in mid-late term pregnancy.

Save and share this routine with all your expecting mama friends💃

30 seconds each:

1. Hip circles
2. Pelvic tilts
3. Hip flexor release
4. Child’s pose Internal rotation rock backs
5. Half kneeling roll out
6. Supported child’s pose + internal rotation roll out

⏳When should you start these moves?
You can incorporate them anytime in pregnancy, it’s never too late!

Instead of sitting on the couch or laying in bed scrolling…try these moves. For expecting mamas with littles, try rocking on the ball during their bath time 🛁

Check out the Pelvic Floor Push Prep for more juicy hip opening flows to prepare for labor and birth🤍
First 7-days free! by @samhumanlywell

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2 years ago

Pregnant mamas📣📣SAVE this pelvic floor birth prep routine!

Did you know your pelvic floor does NOT push your baby out? Your uterus does.

So why am I so obsessed with pelvic floor and birth?

Because the pelvic floor needs to yield (lengthen and GTFO of the way) so baby can descend down the pelvis and pass through the pelvic floor muscles.

But a tight pelvic floor can make things more difficult…leading to labor stalls and other potential challenges.

**a tight pelvic floor can also lead to symptoms like leaking, low back pain, SPD, & pelvic girdle pain.

I typically recommend starting these stretches in the 2nd trimester…but it’s never too early or too late to start!

Save & share with all the pregnant ladies in your life🤰

1. Calf stretches
2. Deep squat * focus on lengthening with the inhale
3. Single leg hip rock backs
4. Thread the needle
5. Child’s pose rock backs
6. Windmills
7. 90-90 sit & reach

I know it’s not the demure, mindful, or cutesy nighttime routine aesthetic…as a boy mom, excavators are my new aesthetic apparently…

BUT these moves will help lengthen and release your pelvic floor so it can easily get out of the way for a smoother labor and delivery🤍 by @samhumanlywell

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2 years ago

Why birth ball hip circles aren’t enough for birth prep👇
Don’t get me wrong… I love a good birth ball flow, and hip circles are beneficial!

But if hip circles shouldn’t be the only thing in your birth prep routine, and this is where I see a lot of the ‘birth prep videos’ missing the mark👀

Understanding how to use different movements to create space at the:

1. Top of the pelvis: inlet
2. Mid-pelvis
3. Bottom of the pelvis: outlet

can help release tension and create space for baby to shift into optimal position for labor as baby rotates and descends‼️

1. Inlet: this is the top of the pelvis where baby’s head first enters.

Focus on external rotation, so think:
• pelvic tilts on the birth ball
• deep squats
• child’s pose
This is where your good ol’ birth ball hip circles can be helpful!

2. Mid-pelvis: this is where baby needs to rotate and navigate through the bony pelvis as they descend. This is where I want you to think asymmetrical movement and shifting your weight side to side.

• deep lunges
• 90/90 sit
• knee drops
• rocking + swaying

3. Outlet: this is the bottom of the pelvis where baby eventually needs to pass through.
And this is the one I see left out of birth ball prep ALL the time.

The outlet opens with internal rotation.
Think: knees in, ankles apart.
Feels weird. Looks weirder…works well 🙌

• hero’s pose
• child’s pose with knees in, ankles apart

And I also encourage my expecting mamas to practice positions that aren’t just upright and seated.

The goal is to practice moving your pelvis in different directions and positions so you have options when you’re actually in labor!

👉These are the types of movements I teach inside Pelvic Floor Birth Prep.
👉7 quick videos to help you practice movements, positions, and pelvic floor strategies for birth, with and without the birth ball.

Your first week is FREE inside the Humanlywell app📲
Comment BIRTH and I’ll send you the link! by @samhumanlywell

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13 hours ago

WE DID IT AGAIN🥹🏆

Stroller Sculpt was named Best Fitness Class in Tampa Bay AGAIN!!

This award means the world to me. Because it represents so much more than a workout class...

It’s not just the core and pelvic floor strength we’ve built, but also the strength in our community.

Three years ago, I was in the early postpartum fog with my first baby when I pitched the concept of Stroller Sculpt. I taught the first class at 8 weeks postpartum to just 4 moms, with my baby along for the ride.

I kept showing up.
Same time, same place.
And so did you.

And now, that little workout class has grown into so much more than I ever imagined.

Thousands of moms have moved with us since that first class.

A community that continues to grow, evolve, and show up for each other.

They say motherhood takes a village, and I am so honored to be part of the best village around🤍

This recognition also gives us an even bigger opportunity to reach more moms and let more women know about Stroller Sculpt - the workout and the village available to them right here in Tampa + St. Pete.

So THANK YOU!

Thank you for showing up, for yourself, and for each other!

Let’s keep moving together🤍

Every week🌴

Wednesday 11am @orlandohealth

Thursdays 10 am
@midtown tampa

And if you’re not local, you can join us every weekday morning at 9:30am on Zoom💻

Link in bio to rsvp for free! taken in Midtown Tampa by @samhumanlywell

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a day ago

What do you mean this free little Mommy & Me class that started with just four moms was named Best Fitness Class in Tampa Bay two years in a row!? 👏

Truly the honor of a lifetime.

Thank you for showing up, for voting, and for making Stroller Sculpt the Best Fitness Class in Tampa Bay once again. ❤️

And to think, we’re still just getting started!! by @samhumanlywell

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5 days ago

📣NEW MOMS: Your workout isn’t the only thing affecting your core…

Your posture throughout the day matters, too.

The way you sit, stand, carry your baby, and even breathe can influence how your ribs, core, and pelvic floor work together.

And as new moms we are in funky positions ALL DAY.

Feeding. Contact naps. Carrying. Wearing.
Bending over. Picking up toys.

So we end up spending hours reinforcing ‘mom posture’ before we even get on the mat.

That’s why postpartum core work isn’t just about doing more ab exercises.

It’s about learning how to stack, breathe, and manage pressure in the positions we actually live in!!

I’m not giving you another thing to “fix” or think about all day…Just start noticing it.

How are you sitting?
Where are your ribs?
Are you holding your breath?

From there, we can start changing the way your body moves without adding another thing to your already-full mom brain 🧠

That’s why I built (and then re-built) the Core Restore 4-week Program inside the HumanlyWell app🤍 by @samhumanlywell

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9 days ago

35th birthday celebrations🥳with the best day ever!

The birthday card said:
“I’ll pick you up at 6:50 AM, wear a bathing suit.”
👀

We started the day with a beach sunrise meditation, followed by journaling and dolphin watching.

❤️‍🔥that is my LOVE language.

Along with some meaningful conversations, reflecting and setting intentions for the year ahead.

Interrupted every minute by “look, another one!!” as the dolphins played in the water🐬

The day could have stopped there, but we continued…

Headed over to @thedoncesarhotel for a full beach day🌊

More friends surprised me and joined in on the perfect beach day - heart is exploding❤️‍🔥

I’m actually in heaven at this point. A beach burger just hits different. And the fries with the right ratio of Lawry’s seasoning 🤌

Mocktail in hand and TURD-ing into ✨35✨
Feeling stronger, more aligned, and more confident than I ever have.

T.U.R.D. =
*t!ts up, ribs down*

Pinching myself that I get to start this next trip around the sun surrounded by *and feeling so deeply loved by some of the most beautiful humans on earth!

Gratitude is an understatement, thank you!!!
🌊⛱️🐬☀️

Not pictured:

❤️‍🔥The incredible husband who helped coordinate AND sent adorable pics of kids throughout the day to let me know they were thriving and to keep enjoying my day.

❤️‍🔥The amazing friends who couldn’t join, but their love was felt!

❤️‍🔥I did NOT sunburn, LFG.

❤️‍🔥It’s gunna be a good year. taken in St. Pete Beach, Florida by @samhumanlywell

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10 days ago

“Why is my back SCREAMING at me when I sit on the floor with my baby?”

A question I got from a new mom @strollersculpt yesterday…

She assumed it was because she “had a weak core”
But that’s not the whole picture and that’s not always the answer to everything in postpartum(!!)

I’m a big believer that understanding your body (and all the pregnancy changes) will help you move better.

➡️Pregnancy pushed your rib cage up and flared out. If that position never gets retrained, your diaphragm can’t fully help stabilize the spine = your low back muscles compensate to hold you up.

➡️ Add in a year of carrying your baby on the same hip, nursing in the same position, reaching for them the same way… and your pelvis and ribs settle into an asymmetry. One side of your low back ends up doing more work

➡️And your glutes…
Deep hip flexion (hi, crisscross applesauce on the floor) If your glutes haven’t been retrained postpartum (mom butt is reallllll), your pelvis loses its anchor and tips forward (anterior pelvic tilt), and once again your low back picks up the slack.

❌More crunches won’t help you here.

Your ribs, pelvis, and glutes aren’t coordinating the way they need to, so your low back steps in. We need to retrain the SYSTEM, not just one piece of it.

This is the coordination and strength that we work on in the Humanlywell app! So you can sit and play with your littles on the floor - without pain.

Comment “back” for the link to a free weekly of workouts🤍 by @samhumanlywell

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13 days ago

Plot twist: your core strength isn’t stalling because you need harder exercises…

Sometimes you need to focus on the foundations.

If you’re months, even years, postpartum and you still feel disconnected from your lower abs, notice bulging or doming through your midline, experience rib flare, or leaking and heaviness in your pelvic floor…

👀These are two places I’d tell you to look first:

1. Pressure management
2. Alignment

Because you can do every random “postpartum ab workout” you save on Instagram…

But if you aren’t managing pressure or maintaining proper alignment, you’re missing a huge piece of the puzzle🧩

That’s the difference between doing core exercises and actually learning how to use your core + getting real results.

You hear me talk about this all the time @strollersculpt and in every Zoom workout…Because this is the type of cueing and programming I’ve seen get moms to connect to their lower abs and finally feel their core again!!

It’s all inside the Humanlywell app📲 so you can progress with a plan and stop second-guessing yourself!

Head to the link for a free week of workouts on the app🔗 by @samhumanlywell

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16 days ago

Comment READY and I’ll send you a free week of workouts on the HumanlyWell app (choose your path: pregnancy, early postpartum, and beyond💪)

While I’m calling myself out, one of my other biggest postpartum mistakes was waiting until my 6-week appointment to move because I thought I needed to be “cleared” first🫠

ACOG has since updated its guidelines: newly postpartum women can begin gentle movement as soon as they feel physically and emotionally ready.

And yes, rest and nourishment are essential. But so is movement. Movement can have a huge impact on mental health and maternal well-being.

Our postpartum bodies aren’t fragile. They’re healing.

We don’t need to rush recovery. But we also don’t need to be afraid of movement.

🍁🍁FALL HARD 6-week Challenge starts Monday 9/14!! Approved for pregnancy and postpartum.

Comment READY and I’ll see you on the mat🤍 by @samhumanlywell

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23 days ago

Hey at least we will keep you accountable 😂🫶

Join us every week for the only mommy & me workout designed for pregnancy and postpartum!

• Wednesdays 11am St Pete
• Thursdays 10am Tampa
+every weekday morning LIVE on Zoom 9:30💻

RSVP for free at the link in bio! by @samhumanlywell

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a month ago