Pelvic Floor: How & Why

Many factors can weaken our pelvic floor muscles; pregnancy, childbirth, and aging. Although hidden from our view, the pelvic floor muscles have an important role in supporting a woman’s womb, our bladders, and our bowels. If the muscles are weak and inactive, these pelvic organs may not be supported. This can be uncomfortable and painful, and lead to issues such as urinary incontinence.

Our pelvic floor muscles tend to take the back seat. Our pelvic floor muscles, are just as important, if not more important than our other main muscle groups, and need to be strengthened on a daily basis. We can be consciously control and train our pelvic floor muscles and we do not need to be at the gym or use special equipment to do to.

Like every other muscle in our bodies, the pelvic floor muscles will become stronger with a regular exercise program.

Identifying Your Pelvic Floor Muscles

The very first step in performing your pelvic floor muscle exercises is to correctly identify pelvic floor muscles.* Stop or slow the flow of urine midway through emptying your bladder. Please note, stopping the flow of urine while on the toilet is not a pelvic floor exercise, but it is a way to help you identify your pelvic floor muscles. This will identify which muscles are needed for bladder control. **

How to Exercise Our Pelvic Floor Muscles

Step 1:

Sit, stand or lie down with your legs slightly apart. Relax your thighs, butt cheeks and your abdomen muscles.

Find your pelvic floor muscles (see above).

Step 2:

Once you know which muscles are in fact your pelvic floor muscles, slowly squeeze and tighten the ring of muscle that is found around the front passages of the vagina, drawing the pelvic floor muscles up inside. It is as if you are trying to stop the flow of urine. Squeeze in the muscles around the back passage, as if trying to stop passing wind. Identify the muscles that contract when you do both these two contractions together. Then relax and loosen them.

Step 3:

Do this about ten times.

Step 4:

Repeat 3 times every day.

The benefits of regularly training your pelvic floor muscles include:

•improved bladder control

•after certain surgeries, and even childbirth, woman are at an increased risk of prolapse, but regular pelvic floor training reduces this risk

•increase sexual pleasure and orgasmic potential

*Before starting a pelvic floor muscle training program please seek guidance from your trainer here at The Yummy Mummy Club. It is essential to identify your pelvic floor muscles correctly before starting an exercise regime.
** This is not recommended to be done regularly