Knowing how to kegel for women and knowing how to really feel your kegel exercises
can be really challenging when you're first starting out, particularly if you're a beginner,
or if your pelvic floor muscles are weak.
Hi, I'm Michelle, and today I'm going to guide you through four ways for how to feel your kegel
exercises so that you know that you're not wasting your time when you're doing your exercises so that
you're making the most strength gains. We're going to start our exercises in sitting. I'm going to
show you a way of feeling your kegel exercises in sitting, and then I’m going to show you two ways
lying down that are really effective for knowing whether or not you're doing them correctly.
And then finally, we're going to go through a standing technique for knowing that you're
doing your kegel exercises in standing correctly and making really good strength gains. Because
doing these strength exercises in standing is one of the best positions for making really good
strength gains. So I really want to know that you know how to do those exercises in standing.
Now, the correct technique that you're feeling for, or looking for, is a squeezing in and around
the pelvic opening. So that's a squeezing around the anus, the vagina, and perhaps you might feel
it around the opening of the urine tube but also to an inwards lifting sensation. So these muscles
are called the Levator Ani and that means lift the anus. So the action of the muscles
is to squeeze and lift at the same time. So, if you're sitting, you'll feel a squeezing sensation
and an inwards lift, and then a lowering down sensation, and a releasing sensation as the
muscles relax during your kegel exercises. If you're lying down, you're feeling it that way
you're not working against gravity. This is why the upright positions are so important.
Let's start with our first seated position. So, what you do for this exercise or for the feedback
on this exercise is use a towel. You can also do this on an exercise ball if you have an exercise
ball because this the surface can provide really good feedback for your kegel exercises too. So,
I've got a towel here and you can see in the video above how we actually set this up. So basically
with your towel, fold it in half, fold it in half again, and roll it up, and you want to roll it
so that it's about a hand circumference thick. Not too thick because it'll feel uncomfortable.
So, this is why a hand towel is ideal for this. And, you're going to sit astride it like it's a
saddle or like a bite seed and so basically place the roll on the on the chair that you're on,
or on a stool, and what you then do is you incline your body slightly forward so that
your openings are well against that surface. It gives you a reference point to lift away from.
So, in that position with your feet slightly apart, you might put your hands on your thighs
and leaning forward inward curve in the lower back, and you start by squeezing and then lifting
around all your pelvic openings at once and then lowering down slowly, and relaxing. So, that's
your technique. If you're not sure about that technique you can refer to my kegels exercises
for beginners video. It outlines this in detail. I'm not going to go through all of that today in
specific detail.So one more time, remembering that you're squeezing and lifting inwards, and that
you're lowering down, and you start that action on the breath out. Then resume your normal breathing.
Now, the second way of doing or feeling or knowing that you're feeling your kegel exercises
is to feel internally. So not everyone necessarily feels comfortable with this. But if you're happy
to do this this is a really good way of knowing that you're doing your kegel exercise as well.
You might like to use a gloved hand or otherwise. And what you do is you use either one finger or
two fingers inside lying. So you can see the side lying position above and that's so that you don't
contract your tummy muscles by looking forwards or feeling forward. So sideline position with a
pillow or a large cushion between your legs is the best position to feel your kegel exercises.
Now, what you're actually feeling for is these fingers inserted against the back wall
like that. What you'll feel is the size or what you're hoping to feel with your kegel exercises
is the side walls move inwards, and then relax downwards. So it's like that and then back
down as the pelvic floor muscles relax. So kegel exercise side walls move in against the fingers,
muscles relax, and the hands, and the fingers move out, my hands move out as well.
You can also feel the back wall, the muscles that I go around the back
wall. These muscles are called puborectalis. They're really important for bowel movement
amongst other things. And you'll feel if you feel against the back wall, that back wall,
internally will move up against your fingers, and inwards slightly, and then relax down.
Now I'm exaggerating the movement here. You obviously won't feel that much movement.
You might just feel a flicker of a movement. If that's all you feel, that's absolutely fine. Just
start with that. Do the exercise feeling and then try to repeat the exercise again
without feeling and think, okay did i feel that correctly? Am I Doing that exercise correctly? No,
feel again, check again, and that's a really great way
of knowing that you're doing your kegel exercises using the right technique.
Now, the third way involves a mirror. You can also, staying in the same position. You can also
use a mirror for some visual feedback. So this, I've got this mirror here because it's got a
long handle. I wanted to demonstrate using a long handled mirror because it makes it easier to see.
So if you've got a long handled mirror that's very handy. Once again, you're doing this inside lying
position. This time it's a little bit different though. This time we're going to be watching for
the correct action. Now, what you see with the correct kegel exercise for a woman,
is something called an anal wink. That means the anus closes or wicks closed with the kegel
exercise, and then it relaxes back open, or not open but relaxes back down to the resting position
with the kegel exercise release. So you should see anus contracting, and then relaxing. You might
also see the opening to the vagina contracting, and relaxing, and also too you might see an
inward movement of the area between the anus and the vagina, and this is called the perineum. So,
once again, during your kegel exercise you watch for that movement, the contraction of
the openings, and the inwards movement, and then as you relax with your kegel exercise,
or you relax the pelvic floor muscles, those openings should return back to normal. So you can
do the exercise or get the feedback watching and then do it again without the mirror and see if you
can feel the same thing happening. If not, check again, and that's a really good way of knowing
that you're doing your kegel exercises correctly. Now, the fourth and final way I wanted to show you
is a way in standing. Now you can use a kegel exerciser. You could do this in the shower
or perhaps not. But it's important that you get the right alignment. So if you are doing it in
the shower make sure you're not bending forward too far. This is why I've got a kegel exerciser
here with a long retraction loop. So it can be really handy to be able to have the retraction
loop, and as you do the kegel exercise be able to feel that but let's talk about the positioning of
the exerciser. If you position it too high inside, your pelvic floor muscles are located about two to
three centimeters inside. So, if you position it too high, it's going to be sitting up here,
and your pelvic floor muscles will be here. So they won't be able to, so you won't have
anything to feel. You need the kegel ball or whatever exerciser you're going to use,
sitting just above two to three centimeters inside so that you can actually feel that inwards lift,
and the lowering down with the exercise. If you can't feel the end of the ball, as you're standing
upright so it's a bit tricky you can often fit reach around and feel the retraction loop so you
feel it move up, with the exercise, with the kegel exercise, and then you might feel the
release and letting go, with the kegel exercise as your muscles pelvic floor muscles relax too.
So that's the fourth and final way that I wanted to show you
because standing and doing your kegel exercises is really important, really
important functionally. It's no good doing your exercises lying down all the time. So,
there we have it. Four ways to know how to do your kegel exercises and know that you're feeling them.
If you're still not sure, you could see a pelvic floor physiotherapist because we have machines and
gadgets that will help you trigger your pelvic floor muscles and get them switched on and so
that you know that you're doing your exercises correctly and you can feel confident about that.
So, four ways we've gone through we've gone through sitting, on either an exercise ball or
a towel roll, we've gone through lying down. So, I really hope these exercises help you know at home
that you're doing your kegel exercises really well and to feel really confident that you're
not wasting your time. If the exercise video today has helped you I'd really appreciate it
if you could give it a like below because then youtube will show it to other ladies
and give them the same information to help them as well. I also just wanted to mention just to
say thank you very much for those of you that have been donating below. I really appreciate
your support that helps me to keep bringing the videos to you. So thank you so much.
That's it for today. I've really enjoyed being with you. I hope you've enjoyed the video too.
I'll look forward to seeing you next time. Goodbye for now.