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Pelvic Floor Exercises
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Many factors can weaken your pelvic floor muscles, including:
Kegel exercises are the most common way to strengthen pelvic floor muscles.
Find the right muscles. There are a few ways to find your pelvic floor muscles.
Lying flat on your back draw your pelvic floor muscles up and in. (It should feel like holding the flow of pee or like you're pulling your genitals up and in.)
Timing - Frequency:
Cleveland Clinic
Tighten for 3 seconds. Then relax for 3 seconds.
Work up to doing 10 to 15 Kegels in each set.
Three sets per day.
UCSF has the same general recommendation.
Tighten for 3 seconds. Then relax for 3 seconds.
Ten squeezes equal one set.
For recommended number per day.
UCSF recommendation for me after prostate surgery in 2026:
Hold 5-10 seconds while relaxing trunk/backside; rest 10 seconds
10 reps, 4 sets/day.
Or, Squeeze the muscles you use to stop passing gas. Or squeeze the muscles you use to stop urination in midstream. You should notice a slight pulling feeling in your rectum and vagina. You also could place your finger into your vagina and squeeze as if trying to hold in urine. A feeling of tightness around your finger means you're squeezing the pelvic floor muscles. Once you've found the right muscles, you can do Kegel exercises lying down, seated or standing. You might find it easiest to do them lying down at first.
Perfect your technique. To do Kegels, imagine you're sitting on a marble. Tighten your pelvic muscles as if you're lifting the marble upward, toward your head. Try it for three seconds at a time. Then relax for a count of three. Keep your focus. For best results, focus on tightening only your pelvic floor muscles. Try not to flex the muscles in your stomach area, thighs or buttocks. And don't hold your breath. Instead, breathe freely during the exercises.
You can do the Kegel exercises while lying down, sitting or standing.
Repeat three times a day. In general, aim to do at least three sets a day. Work up to doing 10 to 15 Kegels in each set. You could do one set lying down, one set seated and one set standing.
Don't make a habit of using Kegel exercises to start and stop your urine stream. Doing Kegels while emptying your bladder can keep your bladder from emptying fully. This raises the risk of a urinary tract infection.
However, Kegel exercises aren't for everyone. Doing too many Kegels, or doing Kegels when you don't need to, can cause your muscles to become too tense or tight.
Links:
Kegel Exercises Cleveland Clinic
Kegel exercises: A how-to guide for women | Mayoclinic
A href="https://www.ucsfhealth.org/health-articles/pelvic-muscle-exercises" TARGET="_blank">Pelvic Muscle Exercises
Kegel App at UCSF (I don't like it.Itw as rated 3.9) It just beeps what seems like every second)
I use "Interval Timer", same as walk/run workouts - 4.8 rating (15K reviews)