Pelvic Floor Training 101: How to Start, What to Avoid, and What Makes It Easier
Pelvic floor exercises are the kind of training everyone knows about, and no one does. Despite being incredibly important for your health, and your future, it is often mistaken as something that isn’t needed as long as you are young. Sorry to bust it for you, but this is simply WRONG! Let’s get into it.
What Your Pelvic Floor Actually Does
Where is the so-called ‘pelvic floor’ anyway? Picture this: if your pelvis is a bowl, your pelvic floor muscles stretch across the bottom of that bowl–almost like a hammock, or a trampoline. If you actually want to feel them, you can pretend you are trying to avoid passing gas from your anus (that’s the back of the pelvic area), or pretend you are tightening your vagina (that’s the front of the pelvic area).
Pelvic floor muscles are so underrated. However, they accomplish several functions:
● They keep pelvic organs in places, such as your bladder, urethra, and your bowel. If you are a female, they also support your vagina and uterus. In males, they support the prostate!
● They not only support the weight of a growing fetus during pregnancy, but they also support vaginal delivery when you’re giving birth.
● They are engaged during orgasm when you’re feeling vaginal contractions. In males, they help with keeping an erection and ejaculating.
● They allow you to control when to release waste (in other words, pee and poop), and when to keep it in. For example, they work when you have to cough, laugh or sneeze.
Everyday signs you might be dealing with weak bladder control
How do you notice if your pelvic floor is weak? Or if it's normal? It’s simple. And YES-it's common to have a weak pelvic floor, even among young women.
You might or might not be experiencing symptoms of a weak pelvic floor, but even if you cannot see these muscles, they should be trained the way we exercise the rest of the body at the gym!
Do you ever…
● wonder why you’re leaking urine during sports or when you sneeze?
● experience constipation or pain when passing stools?
● feel pain during sex?
● find it difficult to start, or stop, peeing?
● have lower back pain, or hip pain?
Most women with a weak pelvic floor say they are always thinking about going to the bathroom. Some even panic if they know they won’t have access to one for a while. Others believe they have a “weak bladder muscle.” If this is you–good news–you’ve just identified the problem, and now we’re going to solve it!
Why Kegels Don’t Always Work (And the Mistakes Nobody Mentions)
Kegel exercises are a great place to start, but they are not a good fit for everybody! They were developed in the 1940s by an American gynecologist to help prevent women from leaking urine. Later on, they also became used for men suffering from incontinence.
Kegel exercises are all about contracting and relaxing pelvic floor muscles. You repeat sequences for a precise number of seconds, and you progress. With time, you build up control and reap all the benefits.
A common mistake plenty of people make when trying to strengthen pelvic floor muscles? They just cannot find them! You might be practicing, and be mistakenly exercising your abs, glutes, or even your thighs. The problem is you lack feedback that is crystal clear.
The #1 problem: you can’t improve what you can’t feel
This is the whole point, and the reason why we’ve studied, and developed, a practical solution. Learning how to control your pelvis can be simple, and even fun, if you do it with a tool that you can measure progress with.
Note that we used the word PROGRESS, because your pelvic floor must be trained gradually, and consistently. In other words, it’s not so different from any other exercise: 20 minutes, 3 to 4 times a week is way better than one hour, just once in a while.
A Simple Starter Routine (With Nova as Your Consistency Hack)
Kegel balls are a great tool if you want to improve your pelvic floor muscles’ strength in a reliable way. If you are a beginner, don’t worry: there are Kegel balls for all levels! Our favorite kegel exerciser? Our NOVA set of Weighted Kegel Balls: three toys coming together, designed to accompany you through different levels of training.
How to use a kegel ball safely, consistently, and without overthinking
NOVA kegel balls are super easy to use. You start with the big one, which is also the lightest. It’s the easiest to hold if you have an untrained pelvic floor. Each ball is completely waterproof, since they are fully covered in silicone. They jiggle slightly with movement, so you just get it in, and then you either practice some contractions as you would do with classic Kegel exercises, or you can also do light housework activities.
Most of our users love to watch TV while keeping them on, or even do some laundry!
What makes NOVA the best Kegel exerciser, according to our users?
● The three balls of the set allow you to progress when you feel ready to up your game.
● They are super comfortable to insert, and easy to remove.
● They jiggle slightly, thanks to inner weighted balls. This reminds you to engage your pelvic floor muscles!
Your main goal should be to build a routine. Start small, control your breath, relax, and contract from time to time. Start with 5 to 10 minutes, and move on up to 30 minutes per session. This is literally all you need! Less guesswork, more structured training… And fun!
