Kegel exercises are an excellent training to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, that is, those that "regulate" the functioning of the bladder. They are very useful for the recovery of urinary continence, both in women and men, and can be performed while lying down, sitting or standing.

They are perfect:

• To defeat old age;
• Decrease body fat;
• After pregnancy and childbirth;
• After gynecological surgery;
• After prostate surgery (men).

You can also do these exercises while you are eating, sitting at the desk, driving and when you are resting or watching television.

Kegel exercises won't help you look better, but they do something equally important: they strengthen the muscles that support the bladder. The pelvic floor muscles can do a lot to help you fight urinary incontinence.

These exercises were developed in the late 1940s by Dr. Arnold H. Kegel, an American gynecologist, as a non-surgical way of counteracting involuntary urine leakage in women. Of course, they also work for men with incontinence.

Although Kegel exercises are simple, finding the right muscles for them is not. A third or more of the women and men who do Kegels exercises work only on the abdominal, glutes or inner thigh muscles, not obtaining the benefits of the exercise.

Find your pelvic muscles

You can use different techniques to find the muscles to train.

Women:

• Pretend to contract the vagina around a tampon.

Men:

• While urinating, try to stop the flow of urine.

If you have identified the right muscles, you will feel a slight contraction in the back of the pelvic area.

Here's how to perform Kegel exercises:

• First of all, empty your bladder.
• Contract the muscles of the pelvic floor (as if trying to hold back the flow of urine) for 5 seconds, trying to keep the glutes relaxed and focusing on the abdomen.
• Relax for 10 seconds.
• Repeat the sequence 10 times.
• Train at least three times a day (morning, afternoon and evening).

At first, you may not be able to maintain the contraction, but it doesn't matter: as you continue with the exercises your resistance will improve. On the contrary, if you realize that 5 seconds are few, try to keep the contraction longer, the important thing is that the "relaxation" period is twice that of the contraction. Do not overdo it! Just train 3 times a day, if you exaggerate the risk of fatiguing the muscles and making the situation worse.

There are also specific tools to perform these exercises. We advise you to contact a specialist to have the right suggestions based on your needs.