6 Exercises to Help You Poop When You’re Constipated, per Experts

It can be hard to think of anything else when you’re constipated, making you highly motivated to get things moving again. High-fiber foods play a big role in keeping you regular, but sometimes you need a little more…immediate relief.

That’s where physical activity comes in: Movement can work in several ways to get your bowels back on track—making certain exercises appealing if you need some help pooping fast.

It’s important to keep in mind that no specific exercise or movement can be the cure for constipation. But some can make your gut feel a little bit better—and the rest of your body can always benefit from exercise, too. Here’s what you need to know.

Meet the experts: Kylee Staky, P.T., D.P.T., a pelvic floor physical therapist with Corewell Health; Ashkan Farhadi, M.D., a gastroenterologist at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA

There are a few reasons for this. Regular physical activity stimulates the muscles in your gut, helping to move waste better through your system, explains Ashkan Farhadi, M.D., a gastroenterologist at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA. Exercise can also enhance blood flow to your gut, supporting its overall health.

Stretching your pelvic floor is “essential” to help ease constipation, too, according to Kylee Staky, P.T., D.P.T., a pelvic floor physical therapist with Corewell Health. Your pelvic floor muscles have to coordinate and relax during a bowel movement to help get things out, Staky explains.

“By adding stretching to your routine, the pelvic floor muscles will increase their tissue length and mobility, and decrease their tone, allowing for improved ease of defecation,” she says.

Then there’s a more holistic benefit of physical activity, which helps your gut, too. “Another area where exercise can help is stress management,” Dr. Farhadi says. “When the effect of stress on the gut is removed, you see less inflammation in the gut, along with more regularity and movement.”

This can get slightly complicated. You’ll find a lot of exercise suggestions online to help you poop, but the movement itself is really what matters, Dr. Farhadi says. “The general concept of doing exercise and activity is more relevant than any particular move,” he says.

Aerobic exercise in general is great for boosting blood flow, and a recent study found that just 20 minutes of walking on a treadmill significantly increased three markers of gut motility. So, simple cardio options could be just as effective for helping you to poop as any specialized moves you might spot online. You may want to try:

Add Prevention as a preferred source in your Google search results.

Use your Google account to add this to your settings.

Add to Google settings

• Going for a walk
• Jogging or running
• Riding a bike—outside or on a stationary bike at the gym

But Staky suggests adding specific yoga moves to the mix in addition to exercises that get your blood pumping. “Yoga poses are a great way to reduce tension in the pelvic floor,” she says. Staky recommends trying these stretches and pairing them with an abdominal massage to try to encourage gut motility.

• Cat-cow. Get on all fours in a tabletop position on a mat. Gently push your butt and head toward the sky, curving your spine downward, so your back looks like a “U” shape. That’s cow position. Hold that pose for a breath, before arching your back like a cat. Hold again, then go back and forth between the two poses.
• Child’s pose. Get on all fours, and splay your knees out to the side. Push your butt back toward your feet, while continuing to spread your knees. At the same time, keep your back flat and walk your arms out in front of you. Your belly and upper torso should be close to the ground or on it.
• Happy baby. Lie on your back and bend your knees so they’re up toward your chest. Open your knees wide, then grab a toe in each hand and gently rock back and forth on your back.

Finally, keep in mind that while there are a lot of suggestions around the best exercises to help you poop fast, actual hard evidence is limited, Dr. Farhadi says. Still, he says it can’t hurt to try certain exercises to get things moving again.

Exercise shouldn’t be the only thing you rely on to ease constipation. Consider a multifaceted approach: “More than one thing usually helps,” Dr. Farhadi says. If you’re stopped up, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) recommends doing these things in addition to exercising regularly:

• Try to eat 22 to 34 grams of fiber a day.
• Drink plenty of water (your urine should be a pale yellow color), especially if you eat more fiber.
• Try to “train” yourself to poop at the same time every day to encourage regularity.
• Talk to your healthcare provider about your medications. (Certain antidepressants, blood pressure drugs, and antacids may raise your risk of constipation.)
• Consider taking over-the-counter medications to get things moving again, like fiber supplements, osmotic agents, stool softeners, lubricants, and stimulant laxatives.

It’s normal to have constipation here and there, Dr. Farhadi says. But if you find that you’re regularly backed up, you’re uncomfortable, or your constipation is affecting your quality of life, it’s time to talk to a healthcare professional. There are different prescription medications that can help, along with biofeedback therapy to retrain your gut muscles. And if you notice any changes in your bowel habits that persist longer than a couple of weeks, that’s a sign to call your doctor as well.