First, a little background: Kegels tone and strengthen the pubococcygeal (PC) muscles — three sets of muscles that run like a hammock from your back to your pubic bone, encircling the openings to the vagina and the rectum. “During orgasm, these muscles contract rhythmically. The stronger they are, the more intense the sensation,” says urogynecologist Hilary Cholhan, M.D., director of the Rochester Regional Continence Center in Rochester, NY. Another sex bonus: A woman with strong PCs can grasp her partner’s penis and heighten his sensations by contracting and releasing her muscles.

Locate the right muscles by stopping your urine stream the next time you’re in the bathroom. (Don’t routinely do Kegels while urinating or with a full bladder, though, because this can actually weaken the muscles.) You can also find your PC muscles by inserting a finger into your vagina and trying to squeeze your finger. Make sure you’re not tensing your thighs, buttocks, or anal muscles. Then try these exercises:

The basic Kegel: Slowly contract your muscles, drawing inward and upward. Hold for a count of three; then slowly relax for three seconds. Repeat as many times as you can, working up to 25 or 30 three-second squeezes.

Flutter Kegels: Squeeze and relax the PC muscle rapidly, in a pulsing motion. In the beginning aim for consistency of pulses, rather than speed; that will come with time and practice. Work up to 25 or 30 pulses.

The Kegel push-out: After releasing the contraction, gently push down and out with your PC muscles (no bearing down!). Create Kegel sequences that combine long and short repetitions with push-outs — for example, 10 short squeezes, 10 long squeezes, and five push-outs (any sequence will do).

Elevator Kegels: Picture your vagina as an elevator shaft, with the elevator car at the opening of your vagina. Slowly tighten your muscles as you imagine raising the elevator, pausing at the top, and then lowering it again. Repeat 10 times.

Finally, to really work the PC muscles, do Kegels in various positions — while sitting, standing, lying down, or kneeling — two or three times a day. If you do them regularly, you’ll feel the difference in eight to 12 weeks.

The strengthening and toning of the Kegel muscles may eliminate the need for expensive surgeries and incontinence products. The increased circulation of blood flow to the vaginal muscular area causes greater sensitivity to any stimulation and a tremendous decrease in the vaginal opening. This is extremely helpful for those who suffer from medical conditions like stress incontinence, urge incontinence (overactive bladder-frequency), pelvic pain, bladder prolapse (cystocele), uterine prolapse or rectocele. Although Kegel exercises have been done for years, they are simply not as effective without added resistance. The Kegelmaster™ adds dynamic progressive resistance to kegel exercises to strengthen the vaginal area muscles rapidly and effectively. To discover the many benefits of using the Kegelmaster™, please browse our web site and read any information that may answer your questions regarding our product. Read understanding incontinence. Don’t take that step to diapers, it’s not necessary! This is a way for you to avoid that for the rest of your life!

Kegels are done by women before and after childbirth.

Before childbirth, the Kegelmaster helps prepare and strengthen your muscles, helping you during labor. After childbirth, a woman is concerned about her vagina returning to normal size. Kegel exercises are the first recommendation a doctor makes, to regain vaginal strength and tightness. Click here for more details.

Kegel exercises help strengthen your pelvic muscles, which weaken during childbirth. Why would you want to strengthen these muscles? If they are weak, you could have bladder control problems. You may also find that intercourse is more fulfilling when you have control of your kegel muscles.

Not sure how to do your Kegel’s? Pretend that you are trying to stop the flow of urine the next time you are sitting on the toilet (or anywhere for that matter). Those are the very muscles you need to contract in order to do your Kegels. You can also insert a finger into your vagina and try squeezing just like you are trying to stop the flow of urine. If you feel tightness around your finger, you are performing the exercise correctly.

Be sure when you are doing your Kegel’s that you concentrate on the pelvic floor muscles specifically; try not to do any other exercises. You should squeeze for about 15 seconds several times per day.

It is important that you don’t overdo your Kegel’s particularly in the early weeks after birth, or you may become very sore. Consider working up to doing three sets of ten repetitions over the course of the day.

Of course other exercises are important to get back in shape for new moms, remember to try and enjoy the experience.

Article by Beverley Brooke, author of “Ensure a healthy safe pregnancy for you and your baby”, visit http://www.pregnancywizard.com for more on kegal exercises

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One brave woman opened up an asked this question in a women’s forum:

Let’s talk about kegels. Or rather, incontinence. I know, it’s a very delicate subject, and I have frequently been embarrassed, ashamed, etc. about this little problem. For one thing, I didn’t think I’d even face this until into my 80s or so. I’m too young to have to wear pads every day. I do kegels, when I think about it. I’m probably 10 pounds overweight, most of it in my belly and thighs. I don’t have health insurance, so getting that little ‘tie-up surgery’ is out. And besides, my little sister had that done and 6 years later, it’s no longer effective. Anyone else struggle with this?

So, let’s talk about urinary incontinence (UI) in women. To begin with, there are several types, but we’ll focus on the two main ones here.

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) (that’s the kind that occurs when you sneeze, cough, lift something, etc) is the most common form, affecting about 50% of those who experience incontinence. It seems to be more common in younger women, though occurs in older women as well.

Urge urinary incontinence (UUI) is more common with advancing age (this is the kind that when you gotta go, you GOTTA go NOW!).
Many women will have a mixture of both.

There are various causes, but interestingly enough; studies have been inconsistent in identifying factors that regularly contribute to UI. Some contributing factors may include:

* childbirth – the more vaginal deliveries, the greater the overall risk

* current smoking status as been associated with UI (though the results are inconsistent in former smokers)

* obesity (it does improve with weight loss)

* constipation

* hysterectomy – Some studies show a 60% greater risk of UI following a hysterectomy.

* hormone therapy (A recent study showed that hormone therapy actually has been shown to increase the incidence of UI. JAMA. 2005;293:935-948.)

Kegels become and important part of treatment with SUI since frequently the pelvic floor muscles are weakened. Just like we need to do strength training for our overall health, we need to do pelvic muscle strength training to support our bodies.

When doing Kegels, it’s important to make sure you are doing them correctly. To identify the correct muscles, sit on the toilet and try and stop your urination. You may notice that your attempts at stopping urinary are ineffective…well those are the very muscles you need to work on. Use this as a bench mark for yourself and re-test yourself weekly.

Kegels must be done several times each day. Fortunately, they can be done anywhere and no one need know what you are doing. When they are done frequently enough, most women will be able to tell a difference. In addition to the contractions, try holding the muscle tight for a count of 8-10.

Other possible treatments include: behavioral modification therapy using biofeedback, physical therapy using weighted cones to help strengthen pelvic floor muscles, bladder training, acupuncture, medications and surgery.

Treatment often takes a multi-pronged approach beginning with an evaluation to discover the exact type of UI that is present (they have different treatment approaches). Often times, treatment will consists of a few different modalities.

For women who wish to try self treatment first, do consider doing kegels, and increase your fluid intake. While that sound counter-intuitive, concentrated urine, along with caffeine are actually bladder irritant and will make the problem worse. Keep a diary to assess how often this is a problem, what may be some contributing factors, and what you are doing to address the problem. When you do see your health care provider, take this diary with you.

If you are faced with this issue, please do see your health care provider for an exam. Left untreated, it generally does not get better on its own, but can improve with the proper treatment.

©2005, Barbara C. Phillips, Nurse Practitioner and founder of OlderWiserWomen™ inspires women to embrace the freedom, magic and wisdom of Successful Aging. Visit http://www.OlderWiserWomen.com for your copy of “Celebrating You: 50 Tips for Vibrant Living”.

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Your PC, or pubococcygeus muscle, is a hammock-shaped muscle in your pelvic area. It runs horizontally from front to back and in daily life you rarely put it to any major use. It does come into play however when you have an orgasm. This is why so many people want to exercise their PC muscle with what is known as Kegel exercises. Stronger ‘orgasm muscles’ can provide you with more intense orgasms….something not too many people would complain about.

Why are they called Kegel exercises?

A leading gynecologist in the early 1900′s named Dr. Arnold Kegel created a set of exercises for women to do after pregnancy. Women have PC muscles, but Dr Kegel figured out that when women exercise their’s after childbirth that they can re-tighten their body and eliminate many of the problems associated with loose muscles post-pregnancy. What women found was that after performing Kegels they were experiencing better orgasms than ever before.

What are the benefits of making my PC muscle stronger?

The benefits span across a few different areas. First, sexually the benefits are obvious. Better orgasms that are stronger and last longer are the most obvious benefits.

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The answer is yes! The enormous strain of having a baby can weaken the pelvic floor muscles. But by doing regular Kegels after delivery, you can easily strengthen these small but important muscles again. Other added benefits include enhanced sexual pleasure both for you and your husband so read on!

Named after Dr. Arnold Kegel, this exercise is designed to strengthen the pubococcygeus muscles, or PC muscles. To find these muscles, try stopping and starting the flow of urine. Bingo! Now simply tighten and relax these muscles over and over again, as if you’re trying to stop the flow of urine. There are many variations of the exercise:

1. Tighten and relax the PC muscles throughout the day (shoot for 200 times)

2. Tighten slowly in increments going in and out, like an elevator stopping on several floors

3. Hold the muscle tightened for five seconds and then release. Gradually work up to holding each Kegel for a count of ten

Make sure you don’t do these when you’re actually going to the bathroom or with a full bladder. This could increase your risk of a urinary tract infection. Otherwise, you can do Kegels sitting at the computer, standing in line, even when you’re lying in bed. It’s a little invisible exercise that can be done anywhere, whether you’re alone, talking to a friend, or in a crowd of people.

By having a strong pelvic floor, you will be better prepared for your next pregnancy, experience more sexual pleasure with your husband, and reduce the risk of incontinence in the future. Now granted, if you have a little one in diapers, you may not be thinking of having another now or incontinence in the future, but wouldn’t you welcome a boost to your sex life? Kegel exercises are great for strengthening a healthy body and a healthy marriage, so don’t forget about them since baby has arrived. Kegels are always in vogue for moms of any age.

Today’s Action Step: What variation of Kegel exercises will you do today?

Arlene Pellicane, mother of a toddler and infant, helps women lose their baby weight and thrive as wives and mothers. Her weekly podcast “Losing Weight After Baby” is full of practical ideas that work for busy moms. Visit Arlene’s website for free articles and exercises at http://www.losingweightafterbaby.com and blog at http://losingweightafterbaby.wordpress.com

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