Kegel Ball Exercises

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Doing Kegels right means find your pelvic floor muscles and working them.

Kegel exercises won't help you look better, but they do something just as important — strengthen the muscles that support the bladder. Strong pelvic floor muscles can go a long way toward warding off incontinence .
These exercises were developed in the late 1940s by Dr. Arnold H. Kegel, an American gynecologist, as a nonsurgical way to prevent women from leaking urine. They also work for men plagued by incontinence.
Although Kegel exercises themselves are simple, finding the right muscles to exercises isn't. One-third or more of women and men who do Kegels are actually working their abdominal, buttock, or inner thigh muscles. They don't reap the benefits of the exercises.
Several techniques can be used to find the right set of muscles to exercise.
Pretend you are trying to avoid passing gas.
Pretend to tighten your vagina around a tampon.
Pretend you are trying to avoid passing gas.
While urinating, try to stop your urine stream.
If you've identified the right muscles, you'll feel the contraction more in the back of the pelvic area than the front.
Choose your position . Start by lying on your back until you get the feel of contracting the pelvic floor muscles. When you have the hang of it, practice while sitting and standing.
Keep other muscles relaxed. Don't contract your abdominal, leg, or buttock muscles, or lift your pelvis. Place a hand gently on your belly to detect unwanted abdominal action.
Extend the time . Gradually increase the length of contractions and relaxations. Work your way up to 10-second contractions and relaxations
Aim high . Try to do at least 30 to 40 Kegel exercises every day. Spreading them throughout the day is better than doing them all at once. Since these are stealth exercises that no one notices but you, try to sneak in a few when waiting at a stoplight, riding an elevator, or standing in a grocery line.
Diversify . Practice short, 2 to 3 second contractions and releases (sometimes called "quick flicks") as well as longer ones.
If you leak urine when you cough, sneeze, laugh, bend over, or lift something heavy (stress incontinence), doing one or more Kegels before a "trigger" may be enough to prevent any leakage. If you have the urge to urinate and doubt you are going to make it to the toilet, doing Kegels may get you safely to a restroom.

As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles.

No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

Most people take bladder and bowel control for granted — until something goes wrong. An estimated 32 million Americans have incontinence, the unintended loss of urine or feces that is significant enough to make it difficult for them to maintain good hygiene and carry on ordinary social and work lives. The good news is that treatments are becoming more effective and less invasive. This Special Health Report, Better Bladder and Bowel Control, describes the causes of urinary and bowel incontinence, and treatments tailored to the specific cause.
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Find your pelvic muscles by stopping the flow of your urine mid-stream. Before you do your Kegel exercises, it's important to find your pelvic muscles. These are the muscles that form the floor of your pelvic floor. The most common way to find them is to try to stop the flow of your urine midstream. This tightening is the basic move of a Kegel. [1]
X
Expert Source

Allison Romero, PT, DPT Pelvic Health Specialist

Expert Interview. 2 December 2020.

Let those muscles go and resume the flow of urine and you'll have a better sense of where those Kegels are. [2]
X
Trustworthy Source

Mayo Clinic
Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals

Go to source

Just remember to see a doctor before you begin your Kegel exercises if you have any medical problems that may prevent you from doing Kegels safely.

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If you still have trouble finding your Kegels, place your finger in your vagina and squeeze your muscles. You should feel the muscles tightening and your pelvic floor move up. Relax and you'll feel the pelvic floor move back again. Make sure your finger is clean before you insert it into your vagina. [4]
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Research source

If you're a sexually active woman, you can also ask your partner if he can feel you "hugging" his penis and letting go during sex.

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Use a hand mirror to find your Kegels. If you're still having trouble locating or isolating your Kegels, place a hand mirror below your perineum, which is the skin-covered area between your vagina and your anus. Practice squeezing and relaxing what you think are your Kegel muscles. If you do this correctly, you should see your perineum contracting with each squeeze. [5]
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Research source

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Make sure you have an empty bladder before you begin your Kegels. This is important. You don't want to do your Kegels with a full or a partially full bladder, or you may experience pain while you do your Kegels, as well as some leakage. Before you start your exercise routine, do a bladder check so you can perform those exercises as efficiently as possible.

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Concentrate on only tightening your pelvic floor muscles. Your Kegel exercises should focus on these muscles only, so you should avoid flexing other muscles, such as your buttocks, thighs, or your abdomen, for best results. To help your concentration and the efficiency of your movements, make sure you breathe in and out as you perform each set of Kegels, instead of holding your breath. This will help you relax and get the most out of your pelvic floor exercises. [6]
X
Trustworthy Source

Mayo Clinic
Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals

Go to source

One way to keep your muscles relaxed is to place one hand on your belly to make sure that your belly is relaxed.
If your back or belly ache a bit after you complete a set of Kegel exercises, then it's an indication that you're not doing them correctly.

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Get into a comfortable position. You can do these exercises either sitting in a chair or lying on the floor. Make sure your buttock and tummy muscles are relaxed. If you are lying down, then you should be flat on your back with your arms at your sides and your knees up and together. Keep your head down, too, to avoid straining your neck.

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Squeeze your pelvic floor muscles for five seconds. When you're just starting off, this is a great exercise. You don't want to strain those muscles too much by squeezing them for too long. If five is even too long for you, you can begin by squeezing those muscles for just 2-3 seconds.

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Release your muscles for ten seconds. Ideally, you should always give those pelvic floor muscles a ten-second break before you repeat the exercise. This gives them enough time to relax and to avoid strain. Count to ten before you begin the next repetition.

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Repeat the exercise ten times. This can be considered one set of Kegels. If you started off by squeezing those muscles for five seconds, then squeeze them for five seconds, relax them for ten, and repeat this exercise ten times. This should be enough Kegels for one time and you should do the same set of ten 3-4 times a day, but no more. [7]
X
Expert Source

Allison Romero, PT, DPT Pelvic Health Specialist

Expert Interview. 2 December 2020.

[8]
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Research source

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Build toward squeezing your pelvic floor muscles for ten seconds at a time. You can increase the amount of seconds that you squeeze those muscles each week. There's no need to do them for any longer, or to do more than one set of them per time. Once you've reached the magic number of ten seconds, stick to it, and continue to do one set of 10 10-second squeezes 3-4 times a day. [9]
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Research source

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\u00a9 2022 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This image is not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text conte
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