Best Online Prenatal Workouts

The Bloom Method promises parents-to-be they’ll get stronger during pregnancy and heal faster after birth when they stream the 350+ on-demand classes. 

Recommended by midwives, doulas, doctors, nurses, and physical therapists, The Bloom Method includes everything an expecting parent needs to feel strong during pregnancy. While many people are drawn in by the over 350 on-demand classes, they’re pleasantly surprised to find everything else the program offers, such as a community Facebook group, a recipe bank, and a pelvic floor therapist who shares expertise. 

The private Facebook group offers a safe place for folks to chat about all things pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. The recipe bank makes it simple to plan delicious, nutritious meals to help fuel your pregnancy. With meditations, a stretching program, and the opportunity to have a free consultation with the in-house pelvic floor therapist, you’ll find yourself logging on more often than you might think. 

The workout videos are high-quality, and the additional resources make this our choice for the best overall prenatal workout program. We also love that The Bloom Method is well priced, at $29 per month or $240 per year.

Move with Nicole offers parents-to-be easy, free access to a variety of Pilates, yoga, and barre classes that you can pause, rewind, and rewatch as much as you want to.

Move with Nicole is a popular YouTube channel that lets viewers sweat along with a variety of workout classes, all without paying a dime. This channel offers yoga, Pilates, and barre classes and, while these classes are not prenatal-specific (you won’t see any baby bumps), modifications are simple to make, and many workouts won’t need much or any modification to be comfortable during pregnancy. 

This channel does not offer as wide a variety of classes as some other programs do, but, without fees to participate, it’s worth it to find a few favorites and stick with them. Each month, Move with Nicole also pulls together workouts for each week, to help create a balanced, enjoyable fitness plan. 

All you need to do to enjoy these workouts is navigate to YouTube and press play. There are no subscriptions or membership requirements and you can enjoy these classes at your leisure.

There’s a wide range of workouts here that can be applied through all four trimesters, plus a variety of workout lengths and challenges to suit your changing needs. 

Looking for ways to address your specific fitness concerns throughout each trimester? The Sculpt Society Mama has got you covered, with a program divided into four parts: first, second, and third trimester and postpartum. Led by fitness expert Megan Roup as part of her dance cardio studio The Sculpt Society, the pre- and postnatal programs are modified to fit every one of your pregnancy exercise needs.

This all-skills-friendly digital streaming platform invites expectant and postpartum parents to stretch, sculpt, and deep-breathe their way through those nine months and beyond with videos hosted by Megan (while she was pregnant herself). The library includes roughly 45 videos targeting different muscle groups and emphasizing different skill levels. Whether you’re looking to sculpt your butt or your legs, strengthen your core, get in some quickie cardio, or give your whole body a gentle workout, there are several videos for you to watch on your own schedule. 

Basic fitness equipment is recommended for these workouts, as Megan often incorporates bands and hand weights into her videos. But she also relies on things found around the house, like chairs and stools, so the equipment commitment is pretty minor. We love that you can snag a 14-day free trial to see if this program is a good fit before signing up; once you do, you can choose from about a $20 per month payment plan or a roughly $119 annual charge.

Enhance the mind-body connection with your baby with these classes, taught by yoga instructors who are also doulas and replayed throughout the day for maximum scheduling convenience.  

Under the direction of Deb Flashenberg, an advanced yoga instructor and labor support doula, the Prenatal Yoga Center (PYC) is based in New York City but offers livestream access to their classes via its website. The livestream includes both new daily classes taught at the NYC studio and recordings of those classes aired throughout the day (which are available for 24 hours).

Many of the classes are taught by Deb; other instructors teaching through the PYC have similar qualifications in both yoga instruction and doula support. Because yoga is a practice of both the mind and body, we love that these prenatal and postnatal yoga classes focus on balance and alignment of the body as well as preparing your mind for coping with the pain and discomfort of pregnancy and birth. The center suggests having a few inexpensive items on hand, like a mat and yoga blocks, but also offers creative ways to improvise with what you have at home.

A one-month unlimited pass costs about $190 and is valid for 31 consecutive days. You can opt for two- or three-month unlimited passes as well, or choose an 8-class package valid for 10 weeks for about $180 (PYC also offers a $20 promo code for this package option).

One of the few downsides to this program: We did find some of the restrictions and limitations on packages frustrating. While it’s a bonus that you can suspend your membership after you have your baby until you’re ready to resume exercising again, you essentially have to roll leftover classes into the postpartum period unless you don’t mind letting your membership payment go to waste. 

Easy access to a comprehensive library of Pilates workout videos makes the investment in this program worthwhile for pregnancy, the postpartum period, and life as a new parent.   

Pregnancy and Pilates fit together naturally: As a low-impact exercise, Pilates poses little risk to expectant parents, and with its focus on building strength, balance, alignment, and flexibility, it perfectly complements all the changes a pregnant body goes through. Bodylove Pilates knows this, which is why it has created a separate branch of its studio devoted to pregnancy and postpartum called Bodylove Mamas.

Bodylove Pilates was founded by Ali Handley, a pre- and postnatal Pilates instructor who was born in New York City, raised in Sydney, Australia, worked in NYC for 10 years, and is now back in Sydney. The Bodylove Mamas program, though, is fully digital—which means you can access it via your browser or the Bodylove app from anywhere in the world. The large library of prenatal and postnatal videos covers workouts for different trimesters and different muscle groups (we love the core and pelvic pain collections) and offers a wide variety of workout lengths, ranging from short, 10-minute blasts to comprehensive, 60-minute sessions.

Because Pilates focuses mainly on using your own body weight, there isn’t much in the way of equipment required. Monthly plans cost about $20 and a yearly membership comes in at roughly $200. Keep in mind that communicating with the Bodylove team if you have questions or problems may take a bit longer since they’re in the southern hemisphere.

A fan favorite, the Peloton app is oriented toward community and designed to be easy to personalize and access from any smart device.  

The insanely popular Peloton program launched a prenatal yoga class hosted by Kristin McGee, and thanks to its success, the company branched out again at the end of 2020 to offer prenatal strength and cycling classes with instructor Robin Arzón. Several of those courses are available now with a Peloton app membership, which makes setting aside time to participate in classes and track your progress easier than ever. 

What do you get with a Peloton app membership? For starters, access to a massive library of workout videos is categorized by activity, like cardio, meditation, cycling, yoga, boot camp, and more. Within the app, you can search for classes and bookmark the ones you like, along with viewing a class description, the difficulty level, the average user rating, and any equipment needed. You can also start the class right there on the spot, set a calendar reminder to join the next live class, or schedule a convenient time to take it.

As far as pregnancy-related content goes, the app is a little light—plus, the classes are difficult to actually locate within the app itself, which doesn’t seem to have a search feature for a keyword like “pregnancy.” But here’s a tip: If you browse classes by instructor, you can click on Robin Arzón’s name to view her listings, several of which are pregnancy strengthening and cycling classes. 

Overall, the Peloton app has a lot of great features, but definitely has some room to grow. But for the price of an app-only membership (about $13 per month), it’s an easy-peasy option for expectant parents. And don’t think you need an actual Peloton to participate: While you can use the machine and pay for a monthly digital membership for roughly $39, it isn’t necessary for the app.

Gentle movements informed by physical therapy modalities make The Bump Method the perfect workout for high-risk pregnancies to prevent and heal common pregnancy problems with the core and pelvic floor. 

We should first note that if you’re having a high-risk pregnancy, always clear any exercise plans with your doctor before committing to a program. (Technically, this is true for all pregnancies, but it’s especially important for high-risk ones.) 

Once you get the go-ahead, consider the workouts offered by The Bump Method. Designed by certified Pilates instructor Nikki Bergen, The Bump Method modifies online studio The Belle Method's combined Pilates-and-pelvic-health approach to create a workout program specific to pregnancy and the postpartum period. 

Using physical therapy methods of fitness and exercise, The Bump Method focuses on the prevention of common pregnancy issues, such as diastasis recti and pelvic floor dysfunction, and on healing. Since high-risk parents experience core and pelvic floor issues more commonly—often carrying multiples, which also means carrying more weight—we love this program for pregnant people in need of a little TLC during and after pregnancy.

You don’t need a lot of equipment for this program, but the downside is that the class offerings are limited to one 40- to 50-minute class per trimester and an hour-long postpartum recovery class (so four classes in total). There are several package options available, starting with the postpartum recovery class for about $47, the prenatal workout series for roughly $97, and the complete series, including the prenatal trimesters and postpartum class, for around $119.

This super trendy online studio has branched into prenatal and postnatal workouts, bringing you low-impact workouts (for a low price!) designed to ease you out of the postpartum recovery phase and back into a stronger, more confident form.

With a focus on low-impact movements, strengthening, and sculpting, the prenatal and postpartum classes offered through Melissa Wood Health are perfect for the nine months of pregnancy and beyond. Certified health and wellness coach Melissa Wood runs this online-only studio and is the featured instructor for just about all the workout videos. 

There is a large library of existing prenatal and postpartum videos available on-demand, and Melissa’s approach to postpartum recovery is a flexible one: With workouts ranging from beginner to challenging, the entire postpartum collection works for you, whatever your needs are. Want an express workout? There are several. Want to work your whole body? Cue up a 28-minute session. Friendly flow, chair sessions, ball and band workouts—it’s all there.

We love that the postpartum videos are also tagged for “anyone easing back into movement,” because there’s zero shame associated with needing to start small and slow. You don’t need many props for Melissa’s videos; in most cases, she says you can use your own body weight, unless you’re doing a class that specifically utilizes a prop. Comparatively, ponying up for the Melissa Wood prenatal or postpartum videos is affordable: A monthly plan is only about $10 and an annual membership is roughly $100.

Obé Fitness offers a huge variety of prenatal classes such as yoga, Pilates, strength, and more. And that's not where the variety ends. You can take free prenatal classes on YouTube, or join Obé Fitness for full access to its enormous catalog of live and prerecorded classes.

Obé Fitness has everything you need to get motivated and stay accountable to your workout plans. With 20 live classes per day and a library of over 8,000 on-demand classes, you’ll never have trouble finding just the class you’re looking for. Choose your music, choose your moves, and get ready to stretch, move, and feel good. 

If your partner wants to get involved (or you have a pregnancy pal you want to stay fit with), Obé Fitness allows you to sweat with friends live with Workout Parties, share class calendars, and see one another’s favorites. 

While Obé Fitness is slightly pricier than some other options, and it’s not designed specifically for parents-to-be, the unique features make it well worth it. If you’re not quite sure if it’s for you, you can try Obé for free before your monthly or annual membership begins.