Pregnancy changes a person’s body in many unique ways. Some people may find it only positively impacts their body. This is especially true for women who were exceptionally fit before they became pregnant. While the changes may not all be positive, many women make the best of their changing body and continue to challenge it long into pregnancy.

One of the many changes that occur during pregnancy is the hormone called relaxin being released by the ovaries. This hormone helps a woman's body prepare for labor in many ways, including loosening her pelvic joints. Relaxin can also affect other parts of an expectant mother’s body by loosening all of her joints. In some cases, this can cause pain and even injuries, but for the already flexible mother, it may further their bendy lifestyle and hobbies.

Exercise is beneficial to pretty much every living thing, pregnant women are no exception. It used to be common to think a woman should only rest during her pregnancy, but science has proven that old wives tale to be incredibly untrue. In fact, in the case of a normal healthy pregnancy, physical exercise can be exceptionally beneficial. Exercise during pregnancy can give an expectant mother more energy, more even moods, and help with blood circulation, which in turn will relieve swelling. Exercise can even help a mother have the endurance for labor, and potentially a quicker labor with fewer complications. That being said, every expectant mother should check with her doctor to see what type of fitness plan is safe for her to engage in; as it all relies on the level of fitness they held before pregnancy.

15 Hilaria Baldwin

Hilaria Baldwin is perhaps best known as actor Alec Baldwin's wife when in fact she had her own successful career before she met Alec Baldwin. She was born in Spain and has always been passionate about yoga as a mind and body healing practice. Hilaria is a yoga instructor and has even released yoga fitness videos designed for prenatal yoga. She has also been a regular poster on social media showing off her impressive yoga skills during pregnancy.

Yoga is believed to be a practice that is around 5,000 years old. While it is hard to know exactly how old it is or how it has evolved over the years, it is easy to see the benefits. People everywhere say yoga is why they are so thin, yet also strong, and able to stay relaxed. Hilaria is no different. She believes that yoga, during all three of her pregnancies helped her to stay healthy, have healthy babies, and the strength for labor and recovery.

14 Chontel Duncan

Chontel is perhaps best known in America for her social media post comparing her and her friend’s baby bumps. Chontel’s baby bump was significantly smaller than her friends, who was at a similar stage of pregnancy. The point of her post was that all women carry babies differently and that each woman is usually doing the best for herself and her child. Before her viral fame, she lived in Australia and even competed in Miss Universe. In other words, long before she became famous for her pregnancy physique she was physically fit.

Chontel had the added benefit of being a HIIT gym owner and trainer during her pregnancy. Being able to have an entire work day become time for fitness would certainly help any expectant mother stay in shape while pregnant. Chontel also practices Muay Thai. Muay Thai is a type of full body combat sport similar to kickboxing, but involving the whole body. She even adapted her Muay Thai workout for use during her pregnancy and practiced through her third trimester, thus making her a very flexible expectant mother.

13 Ciara

Ciara is an amazing artist, best known for her hits like Goodies and Like a Boy. She is in excellent shape and is always dancing in ways most people could only dream of and constantly showcasing her insane flexibility, including while pregnant. For proof, check out the fabulous video, on her Instagram of her dancing and jumping on furniture while very pregnant right here. Ciara is currently pregnant with her second child (first with her husband Russel Wilson). She has spoken out about indulging in little things but says she mainly tries to maintain a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy.

Ciara practices dance, and even has performed since she's been pregnant. She says dance has kept her strong and makes it easier to lose post-pregnancy weight, as well. While not all expectant mothers can dance as energetically or flexibly as she can, many can still get the cardio and strength benefits from dancing during pregnancy. A plus side of dance during pregnancy is it may get the baby kicking along to the music and movement.

12 Maura Rassman

Maura Rassman is quite the flexible woman. She practices inversion yoga, which is basically complex yoga done while hanging from the ceiling on specialized bands. She also happens to have degrees in both biology and education and a background in working as an acrobat; suffice it to say she's flexible. She even owns her own dome shaped studio with over 10 yoga inversion swings. Through yoga, Maura helps her students to fight chronic pain and recover from injuries. By helping them find harmony and peace through focusing on the connections between spirit, body and mind.

How did Maura’s practice go when she became pregnant? Well, as anyone can see from the photo, pregnancy didn’t slow her down. Maura still practiced acro yoga and even some inversion yoga during her pregnancy. Maura continued to teach yoga inversion classes well into her pregnancy. Maura Rassman is a very flexible woman even during a time when most prefer Netflix marathons as their main workout.

11 Kristin Mcgee

Kristin McGee is a yoga instructor and personal trainer to hundreds of people, including celebrities. Some of the celebrities she has been known to train include actress Tina Fey and singer Leann Rimes. Many celebrities have praised her training as being very beneficial to them both physically and mentally. McGee has spoken about the fact that she always went easy on her pregnant clients until she became pregnant herself, and realized how capable the pregnant body is.

After Kristin McGee became pregnant she realized just how much of her prior yoga practice she could still do comfortably. In fact, she once spoke out about continuing yoga handstands whilst pregnant. Most pregnant women certainly don't do handstands, making Kristin McGee not only more flexible than most pregnant women but also stronger. She also has recommended being flexible in another way. Being flexible in what a woman can do while pregnant and be willing to change routines.

10 Randi Greene

Randi is a woman in Ohio who practiced intense and advanced yoga until literally the day before her baby was born. She then reportedly had a ten-minute labor! She credited her advanced and intense yoga workouts as the reason for the short labor. While a ten-minute labor sounds like a miracle to some people, doing the workouts Randi did while pregnant still sound like torture even if they ensured a ten-minute labor.

If a woman has a healthy pregnancy and was in excellent physical shape before they are pregnant, their chances of maintaining and even advancing their flexibility are very likely. In the case of Randi Greene, it is likely that she was able to practice her yoga skills far more often than the average woman since she owns her own yoga studio. Randi, however, does believe that many women with the right dedication and a healthy pregnancy can certainly develop strength during pregnancy that will help with labor, even if they don’t own their own yoga studio.

9 Tracy Anderson

Tracy Anderson is a fitness guru, to put it simply. She owns multiple fitness studios throughout America and even has fitness videos she sells, as well as particular methods she uses. She is also known as a celebrity trainer, with clients such as Shakira and even Madonna. The goal of all of her training techniques is to lengthen and elongate the appearance of muscles while maintaining a thin frame.

Tracy Anderson also taught classes and did personal training throughout her own pregnancy. In fact, she recommends that everyone that is allowed by their doctor, continue a strength training routine during pregnancy, in order to maintain fitness and recover sooner after birth. Anderson also recommends that no woman lift more than three pounds regardless of pregnancy or not, she fears more weight than that could cause bulk. While she certainly is flexible and looks great, many experts disagree that a woman would bulk up. Scientists say women’s body don’t produce enough testosterone to bulk up like a man does, regardless of how much they lift. So while her fitness may be inspirational and even helpful, following all of her advice may not be so helpful. However, anyone as flexible as Tracy was during pregnancy is still inspirational.

8 Saranlux "Wah" Wunjina

Saranlux is quite the inspiration to yogis and pregnant women everywhere. She is a social media star because of her intense yoga routines that she continued through pregnancy. She received quite a lot of negative backlash and people telling her she was endangering her child by doing such intense yoga while pregnant, her mom even was against her practicing yoga during pregnancy.

Where there was negativity on her social media there was also plenty of positivity, with people praising her for remaining so healthy throughout her pregnancy. Saranlux has even stated that she didn't do yoga for the first twelve weeks of pregnancy to ensure she was healthy enough. However, after those twelve weeks, she felt more flexible than ever and ready to get back on the mat. There may be plenty of pregnant women practicing advanced yoga, but another inspiring fact about Saranlux is she has maintained this intense flexibility while having a geriatric pregnancy, which is any pregnancy with the maternal age of 35 or older.

7 Hayley Calgary

Hayley Calgary owns a gym that specializes in rock climbing, as well as acro yoga. She also happens to have a massive social media following because of her impressive flexibility. When Hayley became pregnant, she feared she wouldn’t be able to keep up with her fitness. That fear ended up being far from true. Throughout her pregnancy, Hayley continued with her yoga

As Hayley’s pregnancy progressed, she still practiced couples acro yoga, bending herself into shapes most people didn’t know were possible. Not only did she continue the acro yoga, but she even increased her rock climbing grade, while pregnant. She stated that the increased flexibility she gained during pregnancy actual helped her in some of her fitness goals. After her pregnancy, Hayley has even begun practicing acro yoga with her partner, and her baby.

6 Massy Arias

Massy Arias is not a celebrity except through her amazing social media presence. Massy is known for insane fitness including doing acro yoga with her spouse, rock climbing, and even weight training. The routines Massy practices, in particular, her acro yoga, showcase her immense flexibility, that makes most of us sore just watching.

When Massy became pregnant, most of her followers assumed she would slow down her routines and even lose some of her ability. However, that was far from the case. In fact, Massy not only continued her weight lifting but even continued doing couples acro yoga and balancing herself on her partner's extended legs while twisting herself into difficult positions for a non-pregnant woman. She is an exceptionally flexible pregnant woman, showcasing flexibility most women wish they had when not pregnant.

5 Carrie Underwood

Most people know Carrie Underwood from where she first gained fame, on the popular TV show American Idol. After winning the season she appeared on, she became an incredibly popular country music artist winning multiple Country Music Awards. She later married hockey player Mike Fisher and they share one child. She regained her pre-pregnancy shape quite quickly after she had her first child, in fact, many people thought she looked even stronger after the baby.

Carrie credits having a strong core and good flexibility before becoming pregnant for her ability to keep working out into her pregnancy. She has said she likes to do a workout like squats and pure Barre during pregnancy and avoid high impact sports like running since they aren't as comfortable. Anyone who has taken a pure Barre class knows the intense strength and flexibility it requires, most people would never consider trying it while pregnant. Carrie takes her fitness so seriously that she has even designed her own line of fitness clothing, and gear called Calia. Anyone that has even been to her concerts has probably witnessed how incredibly flexible she is while she’s dancing and singing, which she continued long into her pregnancy.

4 Pink

Pink is an outspoken celebrity that has stood the test of time, she has maintained an immense following, while her fellow celebs had breakdowns, DUI’s, and other drama. This could be in part due to the fact that her concerts often include her doing acrobatics, which makes her concerts seem like so much more than just watching a singer. Obviously, for her to participate in these type of acts she has to be incredibly flexible. During her pregnancy, she has said she likes to indulge in more treats than usual but also knows the importance of fitness for prenatal health.

During Pink’s pregnancy, she maintained strength by participating in strength centered workouts. It appears the fitness during pregnancy worked well for her since she was spotted at the DC Women's March just three short weeks after giving birth. The ability to get out and travel, and march only three weeks after having her baby, shows incredible flexibility in more than one way. For example, she did not care about being seen as perfectly thin in her first post-pregnancy photos and instead cared about the cause. However, that is not to downplay her physical flexibility, though. Physically speaking Pink regularly does acrobatics for fun and during her performances.

3 Sarah Joel

Sarah very well may be the most shocking woman on this list, and the most flexible. Sarah Joel is an aerial contortionist and a pole dancer. Sarah was formerly a performer for Cirque du Soleil and hasn’t let pregnancy keep her from enjoying her acrobatics. That’s right, this woman is a pole dancer and has even performed throughout all four of her pregnancies. During her latest pregnancy, she performed in strip clubs while pregnant and forty-five years old.

Most pregnant women don’t dare to let their husbands see them fully naked at the end of pregnancy, and can barely manage to bend over to put on shoes, but Sarah Joel felt better than ever during her pregnancy. Sarah still contorted her body and even danced suggestively for strangers, all while very pregnant. Not only did she keep up her contortionist pole dancing behaviors but she said it helped her to bond with her children since she didn’t feel held back during pregnancy.

2 Mary Helen Bowers

Mary is perhaps best known for being the ballet trainer to Natalie Portman during her training for the film Black Swan. However, Mary has a far more impressive resume than just training a celebrity, she was a member of the New York City Ballet at just 16-years old and performed for the company for a decade. She then opened her own studio and released ballet inspired workout DVDs. So, how did she handle becoming pregnant with the demands of ballet? Simply put, she handled it gracefully and with incredible flexibility.

During Mary's pregnancy, she continued walking on her tip toes in pointe shoes and doing complex ballet moves most people would find impressive while not pregnant. Mary also continued to teach ballet in her studio throughout her pregnancy. However, her most impressive feat during her pregnancy would probably be the fact that she could balance in pointe shoes, on one leg, while lifting the other behind her head while 9 months pregnant.

1 Every Pregnant Woman

Pregnancy is demanding and challenging, not only physically, but mentally. Women have to give up alcohol, caffeine, sleep, and much more. All these changes can be a lot for a woman to handle mentally. Mental strength is required as is flexibility in lifestyle and plans.

No woman knows exactly what each pregnancy will be like. For some pregnancy is life as normal with hardly any change, for others, it could mean strict bed rest or even hospitalization. Regardless of what a woman’s pregnancy is like, she will have to learn to be flexible with what she can do and what she can’t do because sometimes the baby might just need their mother to rest in the hospital instead of going to work. In reality, relaxin makes most any pregnant woman more flexible than one who isn’t. The body is preparing to allow that small watermelon through a usually very small space. However, for all those flexible mothers out there, use that relaxin hormone and showcase those flexible abilities, with the doctor's permission of course.

Sources: CalmMother.com, AmericanPreganancy.org, Wikr.com, DailyMail.co.uk, Cosmopolitan.com, ThryveStudio.com