Top 3 Kegel Exercises to Train the Most Important Muscle in Your Body

I’m willing to bet you spend a lot of your time focusing on your core and booty. While these two trouble areas need your undivided attention, don’t neglect your arms, legs and lower back.

And let’s not forget about the most important muscle group of all!

What’s that, you may ask? Here’s a hint: hardly anyone exercises this muscle group.

Still having trouble guessing?

Pelvic floor for the win! A strong and healthy pelvic floor is key for so many different bodily functions, including better orgasms! What more reason do you need to strengthen your pelvic floor?

Here are the top 3 Kegel exercises to train the most important muscle group in your entire body—the pelvic floor. Let’s dig in.

Why Are Kegel Exercises Important?

Before we unveil the top 3 Kegel exercises, let’s cover why they’re important. For starters, many factors can weaken your pelvic floor muscles—pregnancy, childbirth, surgery, aging, constipation, chronic coughing or obesity.

Kegel exercises help prevent urinary incontinence and other pelvic floor problems. By adding Kegel exercises to your normal workout routine, you’ll strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, which support the uterus, bladder, small intestine and rectum.

Standing Kegel Exercise

Ready to flex your pelvic floor? One of the best Kegel exercises is to stand over your toilet, start urinating, then stop midstream. If the urine stops flowing, you’ve nailed the exercise.

Standing Kegels use the squeeze, hold, release method to strengthen your pelvic floor. And while this may not come naturally at first, just keep practicing. After all, practice makes perfect.

Seated Fast-Twitch Kegel Exercise

Your muscles have two types of fibers—fast- and slow-twitch. Fast-twitch muscle fibers contract quickly, but tire easily. On the contrary, slow-twitch muscle fibers are well-suited for endurance-related activities like running or cycling.

Because fast-twitch muscle fibers react quickly, it’s important to train them when working your pelvic floor, especially since they prevent things like urine leakage during a coughing fit.

To perform a seated fast-twitch Kegel exercise, grab yourself a chair. While seated, focus on your pelvic floor muscles. Clench your pelvic floor muscles like you’re attempting to squeeze an orange between your thighs. Hold the squeeze for 2 seconds and then release. Repeat this for 3 rounds of 10 reps.

Horizontal Kegel Exercise

Just because you’re “Netflix and chilling,” doesn’t mean you can’t get in some quality Kegel exercises. As you may know, Kegel exercises can be performed from any position—standing, seated and lying down.

To perform the horizontal Kegel exercise, lie flat on the floor or in your bed. Place your hands on your stomach. Find your pelvic muscles, then squeeze them together.

Make sure it’s not your stomach doing the work. Instead, focus on activating and engaging your pelvic floor. Once you’ve got the hang of it, hold the pelvic muscle squeeze between 5 and 10 seconds, then release. Repeat this for 3 rounds of 10 reps.

Takeaway

It’s all about repetition and consistency. If you perform Kegel exercises on the regular, you can expect results—less frequent urine leakage—within a few weeks to a few months. Make Kegel exercises a permanent part of your daily routine for long-term health benefits.