Kegel exercises, also known as pelvic floor exercises, involve exercising the pelvic floor muscles. They’re meant to help with bladder control and sexual issues.
The pelvic floor muscles are the muscles that stretch between the pubic bones and the base of the spine (coccyx or tailbone). They support the bladder and the bowel (also the womb in women).
Women are the ones who usually do the Kegel exercises, but men can also perform this exercise routine.
Created by Dr. Arnold Kegel in 1948, the Kegel Exercises were designed primarily to prevent and correct urinary incontinence.
However, over the years, doctors and patients around the world have discovered that these exercises can remedy a substantial amount of bladder issues, sexual problems and associated symptoms that stem from having a weakened Pubococcygeus Muscle, a central component of the muscle group that forms to the Pelvic Floor.
By practicing these exercises, it is possible to end a natural way to a significant number of sexual ailments that some thought without a solution, or only correctable through surgeries or medicines.
These exercises are quite easy to do, no need to buy any equipment or particular apparatus and can be performed discreetly anywhere, even in the presence of other people. Accompanied by a decent routine can be extremely beneficial.
How to Exercise
The exercises should be carried out on an empty bladder. They typically involve first sitting down and then squeezing the pelvic floor muscles about ten times.
Usually, the muscles should get contracted for around 10 seconds, and then left to rest for ten seconds. If you can’t manage 10 seconds of contraction, don’t worry, just contract the muscles for as long as you can.
Try to stay relaxed while exercising. You should not squeeze your buttock muscles or hold your breath. A pelvic floor physiotherapist should be able to advise how to do the exercises correctly.
It best to start slowly with Kegel exercises; don’t overdo it. Just do one set of contractions at first. Later you can try exercising for five minutes.
Always stop if the muscles start to ache significantly. Some people prefer to exercise lying down on their backs, with their feet on the ground and knees raised.
Why Should Men do Kegel Exercises?
Men can be recommended to do Kegel exercises for medical reasons, such as to combat urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction, or premature ejaculation.
Men sometimes do Kegel exercises merely to improve their sexual performance, even if they don’t suffer from any medical condition.
Kegel exercises are claimed to enable men to last longer during intercourse and to increase their libido.
After a regular work-out routine had strengthened the pelvic muscles, some men find that doing a Kegel contraction during sexual intercourse helps delay imminent orgasm.
Kegel exercises for men are the most effective treatment for urinary incontinence following prostatectomy. But the beneficial effects of these exercises are not limited to men who have undergone prostate surgery.
Whether young or not, athletic or sedentary, whether or not you have any symptoms of incontinence or erectile dysfunction.
You will be interested in knowing the effects that the training of the pelvic floor musculature has reserved for you.
When should I do pelvic floor exercises?
Kegel exercises for men aim to improve the strength and endurance of the male perineal muscles.
Therefore, they are usually recommended to treat the following situations:
- Erectile dysfunction
- Problems with urine control
- Disorders in defecation (difficulty for emptying and fecal incontinence)
- Rectal prolapse
- Pelvic Floor Problems After Prostate Surgery
But you do not need to be in any of the above situations to get your pelvic floor to work.
As prevention, knowing which muscle you have to work on, and keeping up a regular exercise routine, can have multiple benefits over your quality of life.
How to correctly perform pelvic floor exercises.
If you perform the Kegel exercises correctly, you should feel that the whole area that corresponds to the urinary canal, i.e., your urethra, as well as the anal area and your sphincter, experience a kind of closure and elevation, as if you wanted to take them to The inside of your body.
Ensure that these voluntary contractions of the pelvic floor do not involve squeezing of the buttocks or the adductors.
You have to be able to work the perineal muscles without any “help” from those other nearby muscle groups.
These exercises offer a variety of benefits for those who practice them regularly, including:
- Elimination of urinary incontinence
- Definitive solution for premature ejaculation and sexual impotence
- Stronger and longer lasting erections
- Easier to get aroused
- No more sexual impotence
- Orgasms of increasing intensity and duration
- Greater angle of erection
- Maintaining a healthy prostate
- Control of the exact moment of ejaculation
- General strengthening of the genital tract
Increased blood flow to the penis - Greater confidence in privacy
- Eventually, you can become a multi-orgasmic man
Gadgets and Further Information
Various devices and weight systems are commercially available to aid Kegel exercises. There does not seem to be any independent scientific evidence that they are worth using.
The Private Gym company offers a basic DVD course of Kegel exercises. They also provide a more advanced course, complete with an “FDA registered, patented, resistance ring.” Don’t worry; it’s easy enough to do the exercises at home without buying any DVDs or penis rings.
An inexpensive Kindle e-book by Wilson and Patricks, called “Kindle Exercises for Men,” is available.
Conclusions
As with all sex aids, exercises work best if you believe they will help. If you think oysters are bound to improve your performance, they may well do so.
The downside is that if you don’t eat any oysters (or forget to do your exercises), things may not go as well. There is an intense placebo effect (dummy treatment effect) in all aphrodisiacs and sex aids.
That doesn’t mean that these exercises don’t give a real benefit to many people, but don’t worry if you haven’t done some for a while. You may find sex just as enjoyable.
Remember that Kegel exercises have a lot to do with muscle building exercises in gym training programs (series, rest between sets, the importance of correction in technique, etc.).
Use your common sense and remember the basic principles of training to strengthen your pelvic floor.