How To Do Pelvic Floor Exercises

If you only manage one pregnancy or postnatal exercise (& please do more!), then it has to be pelvic floor exercises. All pre/post exercise programmes should include these – if yours doesn’t – get a new one! More on pelvic floor exercises here!

Your pelvic floor muscles act as a muscular ‘sling’ which supports your internal organs (it literally holds them in preventing prolapse), provides bladder & sphincter control & gives you better orgasms… So it’s pretty important.

If you’re pregnant now, you’re also going to need them to push your baby out.

Pelvic Floor exercises during Pregnancy are VITAL to keep your core muscles in shape as pregnancy progresses! If you have a vaginal delivery, strong muscles stretch more easily than weak ones, so a ‘toned’ pelvic floor has a better chance of avoiding episiotomy (cutting) & tearing. If you have a c-section, the pelvic floor is not spared I’m afraid – it will still have been stretched & put under pressure during pregnancy by the weight & gravity of your baby!

After your baby is born, postnatal pelvic floor exercises should be the first exercise you do – there is no time limit – start as soon as you can remember to! Many, many mums are all too familiar with ‘stress incontinence’: a slight leak (or worse) when coughing, sneezing, jumping, trying to run for a bus, laughing…

…and just like spilt abdominal muscles & a mummy tummy, a weak pelvic floor does not have be ‘just part of being a mother!’

Pelvic floor exercises (or Kegels named after the gynecologist who ‘invented’ them..) can be done anywhere, anytime. No one knows you’re doing them but you, & you don’t have to put your trainers on. You can be lying down, sitting or standing, in the car, in a meeting or feeding your baby.

How to do Pelvic Floor Exercises / Kegels:

Kegels are often described as stopping yourself from urinating, but there’s a bit more to it than that. (Um, the baby didn’t come out of that hole…) They can actually be more effective if you imagine you’re trying not to fart! Yes really – if you pull in your sphincter muscles, your vaginal muscles will also tighten slightly (the muscle system is all connected). Then imagine you’re trying to stop yourself from urinating – try to differentiate & identify front, middle & back. Squeeze & release them from front to back, then back to front… (having fun yet?! )

Once you’ve identified & focused on the very front (urethral opening) of the muscle, then  on the very back (sphincter), then you may find it easier to LIFT the muscles surrounding the middle, vaginal opening.

Try quick squeezes / lifts, as you contract & release the muscles for just a second at a  time. Do this 10 times, rest for a couple of seconds, then do another 10.

Also longer holds. Starting with 5 seconds, repeated 5 times. Take a minute break then do the set again. You can build up to 10 second holds with 10 repetitions.

Do both types, & aim to do the whole set 2-3 times a day. Seriously, it might not feel like much, but these exercises are the differences between post-baby bladder control & wetting yourself! They’re worth it!! Pelvic prolapse is the more extreme results of compromised pelvic floor muscles, & I’m afraid not as uncommon as yu may think

Important to remember when doing pelvic floor exercises / kegels:

• Don’t hold your breath! Try counting out loud to make sure you breathe
• When you release, don’t push out or down, just let go
• Make sure other, bigger muscles aren’t doing the work instead – there should be NO contraction in your backside or inner thigh muscles
• Your pelvis, tummy, shoulders or anything else shouldn’t move – make sure you isolate the important pelvic floor muscles
• MULTITASK! As you contract your pelvic floor muscles, gently draw your belly button towards your spine, activating your deep core muscle, your transverse abdominis

Finally, if you’re having trouble identifying the right muscles at all, try doing the exercises at first sitting on a fitball (swiss ball), as this can help you to feel the contraction in the early postpartum weeks when you may have limited sensitivity.

Good luck & get squeezing!