Kegel Exercises for Men and Women

There are a group of muscles interwoven like a powerful hammock holding your entire bottom pelvis in place. These are your pelvic floor muscles and most people have no idea how important they are. It is only when you age, give childbirth, or experience some type of trauma that this area can slowly weaken. When this happens, you can experience a variety of difficult symptoms which may include:

• Urinary Incontinence (lack of voluntary control over urination)
• Reduced orgasm sensation
• Decreased lubrication 
• Bladder/vaginal prolapse

Kegel exercises for men and women are a simple way to strengthen your pelvic floor. These can lessen your chances of developing conditions due to weak pelvic floor muscles and enhance your current, as well as future health. 

Dr. Kegel

Your pelvic floor muscles extend from the front of your pelvis all the way to your tailbone (coccyx). In 1942 after eighteen years of research, Dr. Arthur Kegel (an American gynecologist) published ‘A Nonsurgical Method of Increasing the Tone of Sphincters and their Supporting Structures’. This paper described how thousands of patients, often women with a weakened pelvic floor due to childbirth, were able to strengthen these muscles by doing simple contraction exercises. 

Dr. Kegel discovered that even after years of disuse, the pelvic floor muscles were resilient enough to recover strength by using his technique which inevitably became known as Kegel exercises. It was noted that women experiencing urinary incontinence were able to experience symptomatic relief within only two to three weeks of diligent Kegel exercises. In addition, Dr. Kegel also reported of another positive effect of a Kegel protocol which is achieving orgasm more easily, more frequently, and more intensely.

The work of Dr. Kegel has been reaffirmed by many subsequent studies making it an essential addition to intimate muscular health which has improved the lives of men and women throughout the globe. 

Impact of Pelvic Floor Training 

It is important to note some of the studies that have researched the impact of pelvic floor training (Kegels). As mentioned, these studies have exhibited significant results for many levels of pelvic floor compromise. Even after almost 75 years since Dr. Kegel’s work, researchers continue to study his technique. 

In 2018, a literature review titled, ‘The impact of pelvic floor muscle training on the quality of life of women with urinary incontinence’ was published in the journal, Clinical Interventions of Aging. 

This review concluded that, 

“The results of this literature review demonstrate that PFMT [pelvic floor muscle training] is an effective treatment for UI [urinary incontinence] in women. PFMT significantly improves the QoL [quality of life] of women with UI, which is an important determinant of their physical, mental, and social functioning.”

In 2010, the text ‘Principles of Gender-Specific Medicine’ described the technique as follows, 

“Kegel Exercises help to strengthen the pubococcygeus (PC) muscle, which supports the pelvic floor. The potential benefits of doing Kegel exercises on a regular basis include: greater ease in achieving orgasm, increased intensity of orgasm, increased lubrication, heightened control over sensation during penetration, and protection against urinary incontinence and bladder prolapse.”

The impact of pelvic floor training Kegel exercises work without medication, surgery, or any other conventional approach. It is a simple, natural way to keep this inconspicuous part of your body in top shape for optimal results.

The Kegel Guide

Harvard Medical School offers this guide for the proper way to perform Kegel exercises. 

Women:

• Pretend you are trying to avoid passing gas.
• Pretend to tighten your vagina around a tampon.

Men:

• Pretend you are trying to avoid passing gas.
• While urinating, try to stop your urine stream.

Note: You’ll feel the contraction more in the back of the pelvic area than the front.

Contract and relax

• Contract your pelvic floor muscles for 3 to 5 seconds.
• Relax for 3 to 5 seconds.
• Repeat the contract/relax cycle 10 times.

Tips

• Don’t contract your abdominal, leg, or buttock muscles, or lift your pelvis. 
• Place a hand gently on your belly to detect unwanted abdominal action. 
• Gradually increase the length of contractions and relaxations. 
• Work your way up to 10-second contractions and relaxations. 
• Try to do at least 30 to 40 Kegel exercises every day (not all at once).

This is all it takes to tighten up your pelvic floor muscles. Do them in the privacy of your own home or while sitting at your desk, while traveling, or even while walking. The more you strengthen your ‘pelvic hammock’ the more you’ll be able to experience some significant benefits. 

Kegel exercises for men and women are another natural option that offers you the opportunity to help yourself remain in control of your health. Don’t end up struggling or suffering for no reason at all when you can implement this technique to easily improve your quality of life starting right now.