Kegel Exercises: How to Perform While Sitting, Benefits, and Mistakes

How to do Kegels Sitting?

Performing Kegel exercises while seated is an effective and discreet way to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, crucial for bladder control, core stability, and sexual health. This position allows for consistent practice throughout your day, integrating this vital exercise into various routines.

Understanding Kegel Exercises

Kegel exercises, also known as pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT), are designed to strengthen the muscles that support the uterus, bladder, small intestine, and rectum. These muscles form a sling-like structure at the base of your pelvis, playing a critical role in continence (bladder and bowel control), pelvic organ support, and sexual function. Just like any other muscle group, the pelvic floor can weaken over time due to factors such as pregnancy, childbirth, aging, obesity, chronic coughing, or high-impact activities. Strengthening these muscles can significantly improve or prevent issues associated with a weakened pelvic floor.

Identifying Your Pelvic Floor Muscles

Before attempting Kegels in any position, it's essential to correctly identify the target muscles. This is the most crucial step for effective training.

• Method 1: Stopping Urine Flow (Cautionary Use Only): The most common way to locate your pelvic floor muscles is by attempting to stop the flow of urine midstream. The muscles you engage to do this are your pelvic floor muscles. However, this method should only be used for identification, not as a regular exercise technique, as it can interfere with normal bladder emptying and potentially increase the risk of urinary tract infections.
• Method 2: Stopping Gas: Another effective way to identify the muscles is to imagine you are trying to prevent passing gas. The muscles you squeeze and lift to achieve this are your pelvic floor muscles. You should feel a lifting sensation, not a squeezing of the buttocks or inner thighs.
• Method 3: Digital Identification: For women, insert a clean finger into your vagina and try to squeeze around it. You should feel a tightening and lifting sensation. For men, place a finger at the base of your penis or just behind the scrotum and try to lift your penis without using your abdominal or thigh muscles.

Once identified, focus on isolating these muscles without engaging your glutes, abdominal muscles, or inner thighs.

The Benefits of Kegels

Consistent and correct Kegel exercise offers numerous benefits:

• Urinary Incontinence: Helps prevent or reduce involuntary leakage of urine, particularly stress incontinence (leaking during coughs, sneezes, laughs, or exercise) and urge incontinence (strong, sudden need to urinate).
• Fecal Incontinence: Improves control over bowel movements.
• Pelvic Organ Prolapse: Provides support to pelvic organs, potentially preventing or slowing the progression of prolapse.
• Sexual Function: Can enhance sexual sensation and orgasm for both men and women, and may help men with erectile dysfunction by improving blood flow and muscle control.
• Postpartum Recovery: Aids in recovery of pelvic floor strength after childbirth.
• Core Stability: Contributes to overall core stability, as the pelvic floor muscles are part of the deep core unit.

Performing Kegels While Sitting: A Step-by-Step Guide

The sitting position is ideal for discreet practice and can be incorporated into many daily activities.

1. Find the Right Posture: Sit comfortably in a chair with your feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart. Ensure your back is straight but relaxed, avoiding slouching or arching excessively. Rest your hands on your thighs or lap. The goal is to be stable and comfortable, allowing you to focus solely on your pelvic floor.
2. Relax Your Body: Take a few deep breaths. Ensure your glutes, abdominal muscles, and inner thighs are completely relaxed. The movement should be internal and subtle.
3. Locate Your Pelvic Floor Muscles: Refer back to the identification methods. Mentally picture the muscles you identified.
4. The Contraction (The "Lift and Squeeze"):
   • Imagine you are trying to stop the flow of urine and hold back gas simultaneously.
   • Gently squeeze and lift your pelvic floor muscles upwards and inwards. Think of it as drawing your tailbone and pubic bone closer together, or lifting a small marble inside your vagina/rectum.
   • Hold this contraction for 3-5 seconds. Ensure you are not holding your breath.
5. The Release (The "Let Go"):
   • Slowly and completely relax your pelvic floor muscles. It's crucial to fully release and let go of the contraction. Imagine the marble slowly lowering back down.
   • Relax for an equal amount of time (3-5 seconds) before the next repetition. This relaxation phase is as important as the contraction for muscle recovery and effectiveness.
6. Breathing: Maintain normal, relaxed breathing throughout the exercise. Do not hold your breath or strain.
7. Repetitions and Sets:
   • Begin with 5-10 repetitions per set.
   • Aim for 3 sets per day.
   • As your strength improves, gradually increase the hold time to 10 seconds and the number of repetitions to 10-15 per set.
   • Consistency is key; daily practice yields the best results.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

To ensure effective and safe Kegel exercises, be mindful of these common errors:

• Using Other Muscles: The most frequent mistake is engaging the glutes, abdominal muscles, or inner thighs. These muscles should remain relaxed. If you feel tension in these areas, you're likely not isolating the pelvic floor.
• Holding Your Breath: Holding your breath increases intra-abdominal pressure, which can counteract the benefits of Kegels. Breathe normally.
• Overdoing It: More is not always better. Excessive Kegels or straining can lead to muscle fatigue or even hypertonic (overly tight) pelvic floor muscles, which can cause pain or difficulty with urination. Start with recommended repetitions and gradually increase.
• Not Fully Relaxing: The relaxation phase is vital. If you don't fully release the muscles between contractions, they can become fatigued and tight, similar to how any other muscle would if constantly tensed.
• Doing Them While Urinating Regularly: As mentioned, only use this for identification. Regular practice during urination can disrupt the bladder's natural emptying reflex.

Integrating Kegels into Your Daily Routine

The sitting position makes Kegels incredibly easy to incorporate into your day without disruption:

• At Your Desk: While working on the computer, during phone calls, or reading emails.
• Commuting: While driving in your car or riding public transport.
• Relaxing: While watching television, reading a book, or listening to music.
• Waiting: In a doctor's office waiting room, in line at the grocery store, or during any period of inactivity.

The key is consistency. Make it a habit by associating it with a specific daily activity. Set reminders if needed.

When to Seek Professional Guidance

While Kegels are generally safe and beneficial, some individuals may benefit from professional guidance:

• Difficulty Identifying Muscles: If you struggle to locate or isolate your pelvic floor muscles after trying the identification methods.
• No Improvement: If you've been consistently practicing Kegels for several weeks or months and haven't noticed any improvement in your symptoms.
• Pain or Discomfort: If you experience any pain during or after performing Kegel exercises.
• Worsening Symptoms: If your incontinence or other pelvic floor symptoms worsen.

A pelvic floor physical therapist (also known as a women's health or men's health physical therapist) is a specialist who can provide personalized guidance, assess your pelvic floor function, teach you correct technique using biofeedback or real-time ultrasound, and develop a tailored exercise program for your specific needs. They can also identify if your pelvic floor muscles are too tight (hypertonic) rather than weak, in which case different interventions may be necessary.