Pelvic Floor Exercises for Woman

Pelvic floor exercises for women You may never have noticed your pelvic floor muscles before, but regular exercises to strengthen them can bring about surprising sexual benefits. Psychosexual therapist Paula Hall explains how to do the exercises.

Preparation

Before you start, you have to locate the muscles in question. You can do this by stopping your flow of urine next time you go to the loo, as the muscles you use to do this are your pelvic floor muscles.

The benefits

Regular exercise of the pelvic floor muscles - the pubococcygeus sling of muscles that supports the urethra, vagina and rectum - has many health benefits, including:

• improved blood circulation to the genital area, which helps sexual arousal
• stronger and more pleasurable orgasms
• a greater feeling of control and confidence on vaginal penetration
• avoiding urinary incontinence
• avoiding vaginal prolapse

Some partners have reported increased sensation on vaginal penetration.

The exercises

You can do these exercises any time, any place - no one will know you're doing them. Practice them while you're sitting, standing and lying down. The most important thing is to do them every day.

Squeeze and release the muscles 15 times. Don't hold the contraction.

Start by doing one set of 15 squeezes twice a day. Concentrate on squeezing your pelvic floor muscles only, not your stomach and thighs. This will become easier with practice. (Some people say that sucking their thumb while doing it helps.)

Over time, gradually increase the number of repetitions until you can do 40 or 50 squeezes at a time.

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Once you're comfortable doing 40 or 50, vary the exercise by holding each contraction for a count of three before releasing. Again, slowly increase the number of repetitions until you can do 40 or 50.

It may be six weeks before you start to feel the benefits listed above, but then you'll definitely notice them!

Last reviewed: 10/05

Related Information:

• Exercises index
• Pleasing Yourself
• Difficulty Achieving an Orgasm

Next: Genital Touching for Women

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