Kegel/pelvic floor exercises

Many doctors recommended Kegel, or pelvic floor, exercises for various reasons especially to pregnant women and women who are newly postpartum. Why should you be doing these little "invisible exercises"? What exactly does doing Kegel exercises offer you? Plenty, as it happens!

If you have never heard of Kegel exercises, we'll refer you to our previous post What are Kegel exercises? to find out how to perform pelvic floor exercises. If you know what Kegels are but are not yet sure whether you should be doing them, read right on!

Kegel exercises were, quite apparently, named after the person who first took formal note of their effectiveness. They are also called pelvic floor exercises, because they target the pelvic floor muscles. The pelvic floor muscles are there to hold your pelvic organs in place, something that goes for both men and women.

Both genders benefit from doing Kegel exercises, but they are especially noteworthy during pregnancy and right after, because pregnancy and birth cause the pelvic floor muscles to sag and lose strength. Kegels will help prevent or cure urinary incontinence, prevent pelvic organ prolapse after pregnancy (trust me, this is something you don't want first-hand experience with!), and may increase sexual pleasure for both partners.

Pelvic floor exercises may be the only work out you can do without anyone knowing about it. You can make use of your daily commute by doing Kegels, or you could perform pelvic floor exercises while you are in a boring meeting at work. Kegels ensure that this area of muscles gets a work out and the pelvic floor muscles are certainly none less important than your abdominals, biceps, or any other group of muscles that you target regularly during your work out routine. Ask anyone who has ever had a problem with weak pelvic floor muscles, and you will be convinced. Or don't, actually. Just do the Kegels!