Kegel Exercise

Technique

Maybe not so charming and fun exercise, but important - strong pelvic floor muscles - will make your life easier. Intelligent invested training minutes throughout life and extra frequent as a mother. Kegel exercise makens your pelvic floor muscles stronger. One reason to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles is to hold the uterus in place - when it returns to normal after pregnancy, the muscles are often weak and flabby, they need regular training. Lie on your back, legs bent and feet on the floor. Take a deep breath, breathe in through your nose and pull the pelvic floor muscles inward and upward on exhalation. Strive to lift the pelvic floor muscles higher up on each exhale. In the beginning: Relax the pelvic floor muscles with each inhalation. When you start to get better control: Keep the tension in pelvic floor muscles on both inhalation and exhalation.

Tips

The muscles in pelvic area is weakened during pregnancy and this can sometimes lead to lower back pain and leakage, especially common in laughter and coughing. That is why also mothers who give birth by caesarean section need to train the kegel exercise. It’s important to start exercising the pelvic floor muscles as soon as possible after birth, but it’s of course always better late than never.

Alternatives

When start to established contact with the pelvic floor muscles you can do the kegel exercise in any position. It’s usually easiest to make contact with knipmusklerna lying on your back, which is to prefer in the beginning.

More info

Kegel exercise strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and prevent problems in the lower region, leakage, for example. The problems do not always show up near the pregnancy and childbirth, it can come many years after.

Caroline Nilsson is your personal trainer showing you how to do Kegel Exercise.

This exercise is 1 of 30 exercises that are included in the app Poworkout Mama.