Hi I'm Michelle and today I'm going to be guiding you through how to use ben wa balls or kegel balls
for most effective strengthening toning and tightening your pelvic floor. Now we're going
to be going through a number of specific things. First of all, the most appropriate depth to insert
the ball. Secondly we'll be talking about how to actually use your muscles to exercise with
the balls. Then also the best position to be in, whether it's lying sitting or standing and
then I’ll just alert you to a couple of dangers to look out for when you're using these ben wa balls.
So this is a ball, exercise ball and kegel ball. You'll usually find that it's a weighted ball
and there will be a retraction loop at the end of it. Now this one, this is a smart ball.
This is a particularly nice design because there's no catching or areas where bacteria
could accumulate in through this ben wa ball like some balls. You'll find you can definitely get
cheap designs but you often get what you pay for because the surfaces of some of the cheaper balls
will actually erode, and also too, there will be areas where bacteria can accumulate. So they're
important things to look out for. I do have a list of really good quality balls on my app
and you can get that from the link above or down below at pelvic.app and there's a list there of
some quality exercise balls that you can look for. Some of the other types of balls, these ones are
the Lelo balls. These are a silicone ball. They're a really nice quality ball that you can use either
single or double. You can also get cones, so these are weighted cones. These are Aquaflex cones.
They're a plastic cone and have different weights. The different balls have different pros and cons
which I'll go through in another video. These are also the Je Joue balls and they're like a
shaped weighted exerciser and you can progress through from a light weight to a heavy weight.
Alright so let's talk about how to use these balls for most effective strengthening and toning. First
of all you've obviously got to wash your hands and make sure that your ball is clean and dry.
I like to use a water-based lubricant with these balls.
If you use a silicone lubricant it can actually break down the surface of the ball so always
use a water-based lubricant. The Yes water-based lubricants are great because they're a beautiful
pure product and they are unlikely to irritate the tissues so that's a really nice product to
use. Just put a couple of little drops on top of the ball and then what you do for insertion is
either lying down with both knees bent or one leg raised. For example over the bath you can have one
foot elevated over the bath. But the important thing is not to insert the ball too deeply.
So when you insert the ball you should have three to five centimeters or one
to two inches of space. That's how high the ball should sit inside so that's the sort of a depth.
If you insert the ball too high your pelvic floor muscles are down here they'll be trying to lift
and having no effect so this ball doesn't insert like a tampon it inserts much lower down. Actually
more like that so that the muscles can lift and lower the ball when you actually do that with your
exercises. Now you'll see some instructions say to put the ball in, insert it and hope for the best.
That isn't going to work, in fact there's some dangers associated with doing that which I'll go
through in just a minute. So we've talked about the ball sitting just inside, so three to five
centimeters or one to two inches if you put your finger in, that's sort of depth and you should
be touching the bottom of it there. Now the second mistake is to put the ball in and just walk around
with it. You need to exercise the same way you'd be exercising in the gym with your active lifting
and lowering pelvic floor exercises. Now if you're not sure how to do correct pelvic floor exercises
you can refer to my video above that explains exactly how to find and feel these muscles.
You can use the ball to help you find the muscles or you can use the balls for strengthening as
well. Now if you're using them for strengthening you've got the ball inserted and the idea is to
actually use your muscles doing your lift and squeeze contraction and lowering down using your
pelvic floor muscles with the ball inserted so it acts like a weight. You lift contract squeeze and
lift slowly and then you lower the ball or the cone down slowly. Now the idea is gradually over
time some of these like the JeJoue have increased weights so you increase the weight as your muscles
get stronger and you can also increase the number of repetitions or exercises you do
as your muscles get stronger. So you've got two key things that we've talked about. First of all
is the insertion depth which is very important and second the way you actually use your muscles
with the exercises is vital, not just putting the ball in and hoping for the best, that won't
work. Now, the best position if you're starting out and your muscles aren't particularly strong
you might like to try the exercises lying down. So in that lying down position you're not lifting
against gravity and you might be able to use your muscles by lifting and squeezing and you'll notice
if you just touch the retraction loop that it moves inside and back as you contract and very
importantly as you relax. So it's important to contract and then relax the muscles as well. If
you're more after strength gains use the ball upright standing so that then you're actually
having to lift, because remember your pelvic floor muscles sit at the base of your pelvis like that,
so the muscles are actually having to lift and lower against gravity. And again,
you do your repetitions the same as you'd be doing exercises in the gym. So you'd be actually lifting
one and down and two and down for your biceps muscles. It's the same principle for lifting and
lowering for your pelvic floor muscles. Now last but not least let's talk about two of the dangers
associated or potentially associated with using the balls. The first is over contracting and not
relaxing so if you do too much of this exercise these tightening exercises the pelvic floor
muscles can become too tight and they won't be able to relax the way they should. So it's really
important that you don't overdo it. You do your three sets of eight to ten exercises but you're
lifting and then you're relaxing at the same time. The second thing is not to leave the ball inside.
If you imagine walking around with a weight. So if I was carrying a heavy weight around all day
my shoulder is going to get tired. If you've got a ball inserted and your muscles aren't working,
the muscles are going to get very tired and they're probably going to weaken and stretch.
So if you're using a heavy weight don't insert it and hope for the best. You're likely to stretch
and damage your pelvic floor muscles. It’s much better to use short term for your exercises,
lifting and lowering then relax your pelvic floor and take the weight out just by pulling down
gently on the retraction loop. Then obviously you'd wash the ball in warm soapy water,
wash your hands, dry it thoroughly and store it. So I hope that gives you a really good idea on how
to do kegel ball exercises. We've talked about the main points. We've talked about the correct
insertion depth, how to insert the balls, we've also talked about the correct way to exercise
and we talked about positions, the benefits of lying down versus standing up for your exercises.
So if this exercise video helps you, I would be really grateful if you give it a like down below
because this helps other ladies find the video too. And don't forget if you're
looking for some good exercise balls and you want a list you can check my app and
download that free app down below as well. So thanks so much for watching today. I really
appreciate you being with me for this little talk and I'll see you next time, bye for now.