Ok, so I haven’t yet written a post specifically about KEGELS – so here it is! Kegels to be more specific are an exercise to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles. In theory they are great – in reality, Kegels alone are not that effective and for many can actually be counterproductive. Yikes! I know right! For a long time everyone has talked about doing Kegels and many women “think” they do them correctly but there aren’t many professionals out there that actually teach women how to do them correctly.
That’s what I do, and while I DO mention Kegels and do speak to them mostly in part because women can connect the idea of working their pelvic floor muscles when they think “Kegels”. I dive in deeper on this topic in my Prenatal + Postnatal Membership.
To properly activate your pelvic floor muscles you need to also activate your transverse abdominals {think “zipping up your lower belly”}. These 2 muscles work hand-in-hand, one can not properly activate without the other. So instead of thinking about doing your Kegels alone daily, you need to do your Kegels while zipping up your lower belly BUT you must do them both with a “gentle” activation. Try this exercise below:
This position is a really good position to practice your Kegels {pelvic floor} and transverse abdominal connection because you can feel the spreading of your sits-bones, and relax your pelvic floor to then gently activate as you exhale along with zipping up your lower belly {your transverse abdominals} simultaneously. This is just one way to practice your deep core activation – there are many others as well.
I know, I know, as if trying to just do your Kegels weren’t enough now I ask you to work your transverse abdominals too AND do it lightly. If you over-activate or grip your deep core muscles that can be counterproductive too – especially during pregnancy, mama’s you must learn to also relax your pelvic floor to make pushing your baby out easier and that’s one great reason for having strong transverse abdominals – to push your baby out with.
Be sure to read and learn my “Push Prep” in my book “The Knocked Up Fitness Guide to Pregnancy”.
Your transverse abdominals also help hold your organs in, thus having strong transverse abdominals helps create a flatter belly – but remember what I said above about your transverse abdominals and pelvic floor – they must work together. Your pelvic floor muscles hold everything in underneath and are important for prevention of incontinence {which can be reversed, if you are one of the many many women who suffer from incontinence you could greatly benefit from my prenatal and busy mama workouts} plus – no prolapsing over here!
Oh yes, it’s very real! And no one wants to talk about it – prolapse, that’s right, that’s when things start to fall south – literally “FALL OUT”! Mama’s we need to spread the word and talk about this more. Incontinence and prolapse are way too common and for many women, it’s easy to strengthen your deep core muscles you just have to find those muscles, that’s why I include a beautiful pelvic floor image in my book, DVD’s and programs.
Your pelvic floor muscles connect from the front of your pubic bone to your sitz-bones {the bony underside of your butt} and your anus. I know it can be uncomfortable to talk about BUT you CAN do something about incontinence and prolapse – my best advice is to start before you ever have any issues but it is never too late to try and reverse by strengthening your deep core muscles. You don’t want to be sewn shut when you are older so get to strengthen your deep core muscles {that’d be doing your gentle Kegels while zipping up your lower belly}. I could continue on and talk about this all day but it’s a lot to digest so go on and soak this info up {zip it up mama} and learn even more in my book and videos.
Interested in learning more or know a Fitness Professionals you think would be interested check out my Pre/Postnatal Instructor Trainer Foundation Course here.
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