#36 - Kegel Exercise

This week you will be introduced to a new exercise mainly focused on your pelvic muscles called kegel exercises. You will learn techniques on doing this exercise correctly, its benefits as well as common mistakes.

For the information, let’s review what is a pelvic floor of a human: it is the base of the muscles where your reproductive organs are, and functioning as a protective bowl for your urinary tract organs. Also contracting to meet your physical urges like urinating and defecating.

These muscles work with the deep abdominal, back muscles and the diaphragm (the breathing muscle) to support the spine, and control the pressure inside the abdomen.

Pelvis floor is made of layers of muscle and other tissue. These layers stretch like a hammock from the pubic bone at the front to the coccyx (tailbone) at the back, and from one ischial tuberosity (sitting bone) to the other (side to side). The pelvic floor muscles are normally firm and thick. Besides, the pelvic floor muscles normally wrap around these passages to help keep them shut, helping you control your bladder and bowel, also assisting with sexual function.

[Few months of regular practice healed my sexual life and opened completely new possibilities.]

It is important to keep pelvic floor muscles strong. That's one of the reasons why you should exercise the kegel muscle.

Kegel exercises, also known as pelvic floor muscle training.

I incorporated these exercises into my morning routine when I still lay in bed. You can also practice it after you urinate, doing an activity that puts pressure on the abdomen, sneezing, coughing, laughing, or heavy lifting.

But in reality you can practice them anytime, sitting on the bus, on the lecture or laying down in bed.

Kegel exercises strengthen the pelvic floor muscles which support the uterus, bladder, small intestine, and rectum.

Both females and males feel benefits after exercising kegel.

For men:

• bigger, harder full erections,

• prevent or even reverse erection problems,

• it allows you to last longer during sex,

• you will also have deeper and longer orgasms,

• improve prostate health and heal from incontinence (leaking urine),

For women:

• can help reduce bladder leakage and incontinence,

• it helps make the vagina stronger and tighter,

• especially important for women who had given vaginal birth,

• deeper longer orgasms,

• including multiple orgasms, and this again, benefits your partner,

• gain more control over your vaginal muscles which is especially for women who sometimes have pain during intercourse,

• improve whole pelvic floor health, especially beneficial for older women,

It's important to exercise kegel because of pregnancy and childbirth for its benefits as well.

Physically it’s tightening and loosening the pelvic muscles. Contract and release exercises that you do in order to strengthen your pelvic area. However, you should make sure you’re contracting the exact muscles, since the pelvis is formed by a series of muscles and tissues.

Start with finding the right muscles. One of the easiest ways to identify your pelvic floor muscles is to stop urination in midstream. So when you urinate, stop in the middle, tighten these muscles even more. Congrats, you just identified pelvic floor muscles. Simple as it is.

Once you've identified your pelvic floor muscles you can do the exercises in any position, although you might find it easiest to do them lying down at first. I practice them usually in the morning, still laying down.

To get more benefits you can do it 3 times a day. Aim for at least three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions a day, increase with time until you reach satisfactory results. There are also some free apps that will count your rounds and reps.

Perfect your technique. Tighten your pelvic floor muscles, hold the contraction for three seconds, and then relax for three seconds. Try it a few times in a row. Play with it. Usually I do quick contractions, contractions with maximum capacity, also I increase the time of contraction, as well as the number of repetitions.

Maintain your focus. For the best results, focus on tightening only your pelvic floor muscles. Be careful not to flex the muscles in your abdomen, thighs, or buttocks.

Breathe freely during the exercises.

Important to know.

Do NOT make a habit of using kegel exercises to start and stop your urine stream, as it’s only to identify them, otherwise, there are bad consequences of such action that would harm your health, especially the urinary tract.

Mistakes:

• Hold completely and relax completely, and NOT only halfway.

• Don’t overdo it, especially if you just started. Balance it, not too much or too hard which might lead to pain or even injuries.

• Forgetting to apply kaizen philosophy (remember, you can always make or do things better, but slowly, even if they seem to work well in particular moment).

You already know how regular physical exercises improve your overall condition when combined with eating healthy and sleeping well. Pelvic floor practice is no different from other strength-building routines, it's a muscle after all.

As you might notice, there are many things to remember when it comes to self-care. We are complex beings and every part of us needs a lot of attention. It would seem that small part is not important, but then you find out that it has great benefits. And soon you are going to experience them on yourself.

Kegel exercise is very helpful for lower abdominal health which is essential in digestion, urination, and other important functions keeping you alive.

Practice kegel whenever you remind yourself about it, set reminders, or find any other memo which can work as a routine.

Let others know about our Facebook group after some time, how did it improve your life. Maybe that will encourage them to practice regularly?

Strengthen your kegel muscles and experience all of its benefits!