Almost all women have heard about them, even though many women have never done them. They can help eliminate incontinence and even improve your sexual experience, including the frequency and intensity of your orgasms. What are these magic things?

hey’re Kegel exercises, and even though they are very simple to do, there are still millions of women not doing them. Of course, once you learn all about their simplicity and their many benefits, you’ll likely want to start doing Kegel exercises immediately.

After all, these simple exercises can work wonders for both your vaginal health and your overall health, and the sooner you start doing them, the sooner you can enjoy these benefits for yourself.

What Are Kegel Exercises?

Kegel exercises are simple exercises where you squeeze your vaginal muscles together and then release them. If you’re wondering exactly how to do this, there is a simple way to tell. If you’ve ever stopped urinating mid-stream, you already know which muscles are involved in Kegel exercises.

Squeeze your muscles in the same for several repetitions per day, building up slowly over time. Daily Kegel exercises are easy to do, especially since you can do them anywhere. Of course, many experts believe that Kegels are easier to do while you’re lying down, but this is not a necessity to get great results.

For best results, you can start out doing five Kegel exercises per day and increase it from there until you get to a number that is comfortable but challenging for you.

The more repetitions you do, the sooner you can reap the results of your work, and if you perform these exercises every day, they will soon become a permanent part of your daily life.

Why Do Kegel Exercises?

There are many reasons to do Kegel exercises on a regular basis. Both women and men – yes, men have pelvic floor muscles, too – can benefit from doing Kegel exercises.

Once these muscles weaken, it can cause a variety of sexual and general health problems for both sexes, from incontinence to the inability to achieve an orgasm. No one wants to go through life worrying every time a sneeze or cough occurs that urine may be released, and there is certainly no one who wishes to have problems in the bedroom.

With regular Kegel exercises, these problems can be eased and often eliminated altogether, and results can be achieved much quicker than you think.Many things can weaken the pelvic floor muscles including:

• Childbirth
• Menopause
• Being overweight
• Certain surgeries
• General aging in women
• Heavy lifting
• Consistent coughing
• Bladder or bowel surgery
• Being constipated
• and Being out-of-shape

Pelvic Floor Muscles in Men

To find your pelvic floor if you’re a man, sit or lie down in a relaxed position. In particular, your buttocks, stomach, and thighs should be relaxed. Next, squeeze the muscles in the back passage the same way you would if you were trying to stop passing wind. Do this without squeezing your buttocks, and you’ve likely found your pelvic floor muscles.

You can also go to the bathroom and urinate, then stop mid-stream to help you find the right muscles, but do not practice this last step on a regular basis, because it can actually change your ability to fully empty your bladder later on.

To do Kegel exercises when you’re a man, you can sit on an exercise ball and use a “squeeze-and-lift” technique; more specifically, squeeze and draw in the muscles that go from your back passage to your urine tube.

If you don’t feel the “lift” in particular, you are likely not doing the exercises right. Practice the squeeze-and-lift technique and hold that position for 8 seconds.

On a very gradual basis, work your way up to three sets of 8-12 squeezes each. Make sure you continue to breathe while you do the exercises, and make sure you take a break in between each set. Also remember that while doing the exercises, you need to keep both your thighs and your buttocks relaxed.

If you have any questions or concerns while doing the exercises, you can consult with your doctor for further advice and assistance.

Pelvic Floor Muscles in Women

As mentioned previously, the best way to determine which muscles are located in your pelvic floor is to simply urinate and then stop the urine mid-stream. If you do this, you’ll know which muscles you need to concentrate on when doing Kegel exercises. Just like men, however, you should not make a habit of doing this from now on, because it can lead to the inability to fully empty your bladder and may even cause urinary tract infections (UTIs).

Once you feel like you know how to begin doing Kegel exercises, you can start by squeezing the muscles for 3 seconds and then releasing for 3 seconds. Do this ten times, making sure you rest for 3 seconds in between each squeeze.

Slowly build up to doing two to three sets of 10 each every day, and in no time, you should notice a big difference in your sexual and vaginal health.

Of course, if you’re a woman you can also practice Kegel exercises while using one of the many types of Ben Wa balls on the market. These balls are small enough to fit into your vagina and give your exercises a little more oomph, producing much better results in a much shorter period of time.

They can also make your exercises a little easier to do, because all you have to do is concentrate on keeping these Ben Wa balls inside of you. If you do that, you are very likely doing your Kegel exercises correctly, and the balls also feel pretty good while they’re inside of you, so they can be used as a sex toy as well.

The Benefits of Kegel Exercises

Believe it or not, doing Kegel exercises and strengthening your pelvic floor muscles can reduce or even eliminate all of these problems, and whether you’re a man or a woman, this is great news.

For women, a strong pelvic floor can help you experience an easier childbirth and can even help you recuperate more quickly after the baby is born. The better shape your pelvic floor muscles are in, the tighter they are, which makes vaginal births and all recoveries much less painful and much faster. When the pelvic floor muscles weaken, numerous problems can result including:

• Both fecal and urinary incontinence
• The inability to achieve an orgasm
• More pain during your period
• An increased chance that you’ll develop medical conditions such as pelvic organ prolapse (POP)
• An increased chance of developing hemorrhoids
• The inability to enjoy sex or even get an erection

How Quickly Do Kegel Exercises Work?

Because each person is different, the amount of time that passes before you notice the true results of your Kegel exercises will vary. This is because each person will be doing a different number of Kegels, as well as the fact that their starting point will be different.

Younger women who haven’t yet experienced childbirth will naturally have different pelvic floor muscle strength than someone who has gone through menopause or who has had numerous children.

If you start slow and build up to a decent number of repetitions per day, you should see results in a few weeks to a few months, which is not a very long time when you think about it. In no more than a few months, therefore, you can feel like you did when you were younger, experiencing much fewer problems with incontinence and sexual problems, and being healthier overall.

Kegel exercises are easy to do and work wonders when it comes to strengthening your pelvic floor muscles, which in turn produces significant benefits both in and out of the bedroom.

Furthermore, once you start doing them regularly, it is easy to include them in your daily routine. Such an easy routine may make you believe that Kegel exercises are not very effective, but the complete opposite is true.

In fact, there aren’t many medical or sexual problems you can get rid of by using a method that is simple, painless, and free of chemical-filled prescriptions, but this is one of them

Regardless of your age, your medical conditions, or your overall fitness level, it is never too early or too late to start doing regular, daily Kegel exercises. Once you practice them for a while and start to notice the benefits, you’ll likely wonder why you didn’t start doing these exercises much sooner.

Tips for Doing Kegel Exercises

If you’ve never done Kegel exercises before, it is natural to feel a little nervous. However, if you keep in mind that Kegels are extremely easy to do, not to mention painless, it should make you a little less hesitant to get started. If you need some extra incentive, here are a few tips that can make your Kegel exercises a little easier and a lot more effective:

• Make sure you’re exercising the right muscles. If you have any concerns about this, you can ask your doctor. It is important to find the right muscles because if the exercises aren’t done correctly, you won’t be able to enjoy their benefits. In addition, make sure the pelvic floor muscles are the only muscles you’re using, and never use the muscles in your abdomen, buttocks, or legs.
• If you develop a sore back or other body parts, stop right away. This rarely happens, but if you’re doing the exercises incorrectly, it could be a problem. Fortunately, if you’re doing Kegels the proper way, you shouldn’t experience any pain anywhere, so this is a good way to learn whether you’re doing the Kegel exercises correctly.
• Don’t hold your breath while you’re exercising. Instead, practice healthy, regular breathing the entire time. Holding your breath can change the outcome of your results and make the exercises much harder to do in the end.
• Build up to three sets of exercises, two to three times per day, for quicker results. This may sound like the only thing you’ll be doing with your days is practicing Kegel exercises, but most of these “sessions” will only last for around five minutes. When you couple that with the fact that you can perform these exercises anywhere, it is easy to understand why doing this many Kegel exercises is a lot easier than you may think.

• This is NOT the same as a bowel movement. If you’re squeezing as if you’re having a bowel movement, you’re doing the Kegel exercises the wrong way! Remember the correct posture and practice it every time you do these exercises. If you act like you’re having a bowel movement, you can actually cause damage to your pelvic floor muscles, which is the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve.
• Don’t forget to relax. Remember, after you squeeze, you must relax before you squeeze again. This may sound insignificant, but it isn’t. In order for Kegel exercises to be most effective, you have to do them correctly from start to finish. Be sure to relax before each squeeze AND in between sets of Kegels, because this is the best way to experience the results you are hoping for.
• Be consistent and don’t give up. Everyone’s progress is different, but as long as you’re consistent, you should be able to enjoy the results you want. If you skip your Kegel exercises for a day or a week, don’t get discouraged. Just pick back up again with your routine as quickly as possible, and the rest will take care of itself.

Kegel exercises are great for both men and women, and getting started is easier than you may think. It also doesn’t matter where you stand right now, because even if you’re already experiencing problems in the bedroom or incontinence, it is not too late to change the situation.

Within a few months – sooner than that for some people – you can experience better sexual and overall health, and you can accomplish this by devoting just a small portion of your day to doing Kegel exercises.