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Easy Guide to Kegel Exercises

Kegel exercises, named after their founder, Dr. Arnold Kegel, involve contracting and releasing your pelvic floor muscles. Pelvic floor muscles help in supporting the bladder, uterus, and bowel. Strengthening those muscles will help to avoid problems that occur with age such as poor bladder control, or urinary incontinence. Kegel exercises are most often prescribed for pregnant women and those experiencing urinary incontinence.

  1. Get the Feeling

    • You may not realize you are familiar with the muscles of your pelvic floor, but if you have ever had to hold your urine, or stop a urine stream during its natural flow, you have used the muscles of your pelvic floor. If you are not sure what these muscles feel like, you can experiment by trying to stop a urine stream, but do not make a habit of it as it can start to weaken the muscles.

    Exercise Routine

    • Once you have the feeling of contracting the pelvic floor muscles, you can start your Kegel exercise routine. Be sure to empty your bladder first, and then find a comfortable position either sitting or lying down. Contract the muscles, and hold it for a few seconds. Release for a few seconds and contract again. Contract and release ten times, each for a few seconds. Work your way up to ten second cycles, contracting for ten seconds and releasing for ten seconds. Make sure that you are only contracting your pelvic floor muscles as you do this. Relax the rest of your body in order to obtain the best results.

    Different Technique

    • Another effective technique is to imagine your muscles are an elevator. As you contract, imagine that the elevator is going up to the fourth floor. You can feel a rising motion as you contract. Hold the elevator up at the fourth floor for a few seconds. Then release the elevator down to the third floor and hold for a few seconds. Release to the second floor and hold, and then finally release completely as your elevator arrives back down to the first floor. You can experiment with this technique, rising slowly one floor at a time, lowering one floor at a time, or both.

      Perform the Kegel exercises three times a day. As they can be done in any position, you can do them while talking on the phone, riding the bus, or during any number of activities throughout the day. If you are consistent with the exercise, you will begin to see results in two to three months.

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