SHOULD I DO KEGELS?

If only it were true that all you need is 40 reps a day of KEGELS for a “stronger better, tighter, pelvic floor”. Unfortunately there is ongoing Kegel or not to KEGEL confusion!

Why I don’t work with Kegels

If you have been following me for a while you have probably learned that I don’t really work with KEGELS. My focus is to help women change the way they move instead. I take into consideration a total body approach including lifestyle, biomechanics and how to learn new functional habits (both physically and mentally). 

Why ? 

As I know some bad habits are becoming so ingrained in our culture – recent research predicts 80 percent of women over the age of 18 will have a pelvic floor dysfunction by 2050—regardless of how often they do their pelvic floor exercises.   

“Resolving pelvic floor and deep core related issues takes MORE than just a Kegels program“ Dahlas Fletcher

When it comes to the deep core and pelvic floor whole lifestyle review needs to be considered, resulting in renewed ownership of your body. There may be certain GLOBAL movements that your body requires that you’re not currently doing, and there are always ways that you can move more better – as everyday during pregnancy & throughout the lifetime of motherhood your wake up with a different body. 

After working with thousands of women during pregnancy, motherhood (and also grandmothers). Kegels often only work as a short term solution & too often fail those who already have too much tension down there (this is about 90% of women I meet)

What is a hypertonic pelvic floor

It is possible to have “too much tone” in the pelvic floor or a hypertonic pelvic floor and what most women need is to learn is a pelvic floor should be a muscle that responds, is reflective and supportive – it needs to contract and RELEASE like any other muscle in our body….Kegels won’t do that and in fact “squeezing” can make the issue worse.

A Kegel type of movement does not account for the whole or total body. It’s a bit like SPOT TRAINING …which was big in the 80’s !
Clenching or “spot training” an already tight muscle only makes it a weak muscle and don’t start me on the  “cueing” where some people think that “clenching” & “drawing belly button to spine” or “stopping the flow of urine” is essential to get a “strong pelvic floor” ….it is very #outdated 

This is often why SO many women tell to me that Kegels have made their symptoms worse, or are “no longer working”.

Don’t let me stop you if you love your Kegels but please understand that they are NOT the long term solution to a functional pelvic floor and core.

Learning to find balance in the muscles throughout your body is the secret sauce as EVERYTHING is connected to your core.

I cover this all in my complimentary CORE AND PELVIC FLOOR GUIDE here no activewear, Kegels or Crunches are needed to help you get better connected and stop believing that leaking, pelvic pain, core weakness, and constant aches are just a “new normal” of motherhood” (PSA -they’re NOT!)

Connect with me and let me tell you more