Moms are no strangers to muscle aches, especially during summer vacation. Holding babies, giving piggyback rides, or even just pushing the stroller can feel like a Herculean task when your muscles are stiff, achy, or unresponsive.
Muscle inflammation, spasms, stiffness, and joint pain aren’t just uncomfortable. They’re often reminders that our bodies are shifting. Whether it's changes in how we carry weight (hello, bigger bra size) or the strain left behind by pregnancy, childbirth, or simply the demands of parenting, stiffness and aches can show up in unexpected places.
As women, we have been taught - and told - that body pain and ‘minor’ injuries are just part of life in a female body. So, when normal life changes occur, we understandably become scared, thinking it's the beginning of an inevitable and irreversible path of decline. I'm here to not only call out that false narrative, but to help you rewrite it. With the right guidance and support, this summer can become an opportunity to embody and cultivate intelligent, thriving strength and freedom in your life.
Summer is a whirlwind of activity, outdoors, and packed camp schedules. With a few simple moves, you can loosen tight muscles, engage your core, reduce inflammation, and transform all your family time into activities that help you stay healthy and thrive, rather than just cope with achy backs and shoulders. Here are my go-tos.
Foam Rolling
Whether you’re a long-time fitness lover or just starting out, there’s one thing you should know from the start. It is essential to take care of your fascial tissue. It’s the gateway to relaxed, functional muscles. Foam rolling exercises are a fantastic way to help ease muscle tension, reduce aches and pains, and prevent future injuries.
Foam rolling after light or intense exercises like weightlifting, running, and even swimming can help alleviate muscle tension and keep muscles agile. Foam roll at night to flush out the accumulation of fluids and inflammation from earlier in your day. You’ll sleep better, your nervous system will re-regulate, and your body will wake up feeling ready to start the day. Remember, agile, tension-free muscles can help you do more in your day-to-day life, like running errands and playing with the kids.
Here are some of my favorite, go-to foam roller moves and their respective areas of focus to use this summer:
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Feet: Grab a small ball, like a tennis ball, and work the bottoms of your feet over it. Roll your feet over the ball, making sure to roll back and forth from the heel to your toes.
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Hips: Have a seat and roll them out. Place one leg on top of the other in a criss-cross position, and focus on rolling along your hipbones. Rotate your hips slightly to get more coverage and shift from rolling out tendons to rolling out your glutes.
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Back: Lie flat on your back and roll up and down, get your sacrum, bra line (thoracic spine), and neck. Feel how your spinal alignment is at the beginning and see how it changes once the muscles surrounding the vertebrae are a little more relaxed.
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Hamstrings: Snow angels for the win! Lie down with your foam roller in a vertical position in the middle of your back. Place your legs like you would in a bridge position with your arms on either side of you. Slowly lift your arms above your head like you would in a jumping jack and hold for a few seconds, then gently guide your arms back down. This will really help you unstick those tough tendons.
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Quads: While this exercise primarily targets the quads, it can also help you engage the hip flexors, IT bands, and lower abs. Lie face down on the foam roller in the horizontal position. The roller should be placed just below your ribcage and above your pelvis. Use your elbows to stabilize yourself as you roll forward and back, covering your abs, your pelvis/hips, and your quads.
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Inner Thighs: Your hips and pelvic floor will thank you for this one, I promise. Lie down on your stomach with one leg extended out and bent at the knee. Place the foam roller vertically underneath your inner thigh. Prop yourself up on your elbows and forearms and slowly roll out the inner thigh all the way down to the knee cap. This will help reduce muscle tension in that area and improve blood flow.
Focus on these key areas to help you relieve muscle tension throughout your body. Take 15 to 20 minutes to roll out these muscles every day and watch how much better you'll feel in your body.
Need some help with foam rolling techniques? Here's a Roll + Release video that I swear by all summer long!
Lunges With Weights
It might seem counterintuitive to lift weights to help with muscle aches, but here's why you should. Building muscle mass, slowly and intentionally, can actually help them become more agile and activated. When muscles are more engaged, inflammation tends to decrease, and strength increases.
Functional muscles also help support your joints, like your knees and hips. Easeful joints and a functionally mobile pelvis mean a more stable pelvic floor, and happier summer time adventures with your kids.
So, a move like weighted lunges targets core, leg, glute, and back muscles, which are all essential for happy lower body joints.
To incorporate weighted lunges into your exercise routine, start with three sets of ten repetitions using the lowest weight you feel comfortable with and build up from there. Remember, building incremental strength produces the most positive results both physically and mentally.
Calf Stretches
Calf pain can make or break a day, don't you agree? When calves are tight, your feet, glutes, and hips also become restricted, essentially creating a self-fulfilling cycle of tension below the knee and muscle dysfunction above.
With a few daily stretches, you can help take your calves from tight ropes to freedom. The most effective way to achieve this is through calf-targeted stretches. Standing calf stretches, wall stretches, and downward-facing dog all help release tension in your calves and flush out lactic acid.
If you find yourself experiencing calf pain regularly, start with some calf stretches in the morning to help loosen you up before the busy parts of your day begin. Do them again during a lunch break to help you maintain movement and keep lactic acid from building up. This is especially important if you sit at a desk all day! Then, get the ball on your feet before bed to help open the fascial line from your feet to your pelvis and prepare for sleep.
Rotational Back Stretches
The back body is often a lost realm in motherhood. It feels simultaneously tight and weak, but since it's behind us and our kids are in front of us, it tends to go unnoticed until it's screaming for attention.
In my experience, back injuries and chronic back pain are among the most limiting and life-impacting injuries in parenthood. But we fight through it, because our children need us to hold them, and the stroller isn’t going to fold itself. So, the mental and emotional toll that chronic back pain has is incalculable in moms, leaving you more irritable and less patient than you hope to be with your family.
So, let’s unpack back pain and get you feeling more easeful, happy, and capable this summer.
Step 1: Alleviate pain with gentle rolling and stretching.
Step 2: Build foundational strength in your TVA (transversus abs), pelvic floor, diaphragm, and the whole constellation of back muscles.
You need to ensure your core is strong enough to keep you balanced and grounded. Without a strong core, everything else will crumble. Here’s your daily core workout for the win.
You need to keep your vertebrae mobile and supported by strong muscles. Like knees, your spine is like a long coil of joints. Each one needs to be able to move with stability. The roller and gentle rotational moves will get things moving. This video will strengthen your back + core as a system.
Keep those back muscles engaged but not strained. Lifting heavy picnic baskets at the campsite? Lift with your legs, AND your back - meaning, ‘put your tights on’. Not sure what that means? This video will teach you how to reliably transfer strength through your pelvis, abs, and back safely and effectively.
Need a quick fix? Here’s what to do before you get out of bed in the morning.
Lie on your back and gently pull one knee to your chest with the other leg outstretched. Do a few circles with the bent leg - essentially lubricating your hip joint. Drop the knee across your body for a supine twist and stay for 3 deep + full breaths. Repeat on the second side. Then, do a figure-4 (ankle over bent knee) stretch on each side. Finish with knees to chest, roll up and with feet together, knees apart, do a few rib circles and a forward bend.
Once you’re standing up, if you want to keep going, rotate your torso from one side to the next, keeping your hands up and inward to your body. Engage your obliques and stretch slowly through those rotations. Add small hand weights to the mix for an extra oomph!
Bridge Lifts
Bridge lifts aren't just a great workout for the glutes; they also help you rebuild your pelvic floor and, when done correctly, layer in back and core strength.
Bridge lifts are an excellent exercise to target the hamstrings, hips, knees, spine, and transverse abdominal muscles simultaneously. For women, especially, your knees are going to be the most delicate joints in your body as you age.
This is because women typically have wider hips, and the Q-angle (the angle at which the thigh bone is connected to the knee) can increase the stress placed on the knee joint. This is a contributing factor to why many female athletes suffer from ACL tears.
But bridge lifts can help you build up some strength in those areas. So, add them to your workout routine. Start with parallel lines - knees, feet, hips, and ribs all aligned. Gather your pelvic corridor and flex your booty as you lift your hips up. Do three reps of fifteen and see where you can go from there. Remember to move slowly, intentionally engaging your muscles, not just relying on momentum, and focus on your breath to help keep your TVA engaged.
Harness the Energizing Spirit of Summer!
Summer with little ones is nonstop. Pool days, snack runs, stroller naps, and belly laughs are all part of what you want this summer. If your body’s feeling the strain, you don't have to brave it alone. The daily exercises in this article are designed to ease tension, prevent injuries, and help you rebuild strength where you need it most. You don’t have to push through the pain and miss out on the joy. A stronger, more supported summer starts here.