Kegel Tightening Exercises

Learning to tighten the pelvic floor muscles can help men and women reduce urinary incontinence and increase sexual pleasure. Aging and obesity, as well as pregnancy and childbirth in women, can put a strain on pelvic floor muscles and weaken them. Performed correctly and regularly, Kegel exercises strengthen these muscles and help prevent incontinence in men and women.

Find the Pelvic Floor Muscles

• First, identify the pelvic floor muscles: Women, while you are urinating, pull in and tighten the muscles surrounding your urethra and vagina to try to stop the flow. If you are successful, you have found the correct muscles. Another method is it imagine you need to urinate, then pull in and tighten those interior muscles as though you need to wait. This is the contraction you will use to practice Kegel exercises. To be sure you have identified the right muscles, insert a finger into your vagina and try to squeeze the finger.

  Men: you also can practice controlling the flow of urine to identify the correct muscles. To test if you are using the right muscles, insert a finger into your anus and try to squeeze the finger.

Exercises for Men and Women

• While you are standing or sitting, contract your pelvic floor muscles and hold the position for three seconds, then relax. Rest for three seconds. Repeat this sequence 10 times. Tighten only the pelvic floor muscles, not your stomach or buttocks muscles.

  Gradually increase the length of time you hold the contraction to 10 seconds. Repeat the sets several times a day.

  Alternatively, contract the muscles a little at a time. Hold the contraction at the highest point, then slowly release. The ability to control the contraction of the pelvic floor muscles can help strengthen and tone the muscles after pregnancy and childbirth, help prevent urinary leakage, and even help enable non-orgasmic women to achieve orgasm.

  Weakening of the pelvic floor muscles in men can lead to premature ejaculation as well as urinary and bowel incontinence. Men can exercise the muscles by using the same pattern of contracting, holding and releasing as women.

  Because Kegel exercises are done inside your body, you can perform them almost anywhere without being noticed---sitting at your desk, waiting for a traffic light or talking on the phone. Kegel contractions during intercourse could be pleasurable for both you and your partner

Equipment

• A number of devices to assist with Kegel exercises are available in health product catalogs and online. They might be helpful, but they are definitely not necessary.