Men: How to Exercise Your Pelvic Floor Muscles.
Pelvic floor exercise are very important for men for support of the pelvic floor, for sexual function, and also for bladder and bowel control.
PC exercises are important for a man on a lifelong bases
To understand how to exercise the pelvic floor for a man you need to know where the Pelvic floor muscles are. We're going to teach you, where the muscles are, how to find them, and how to exercise then most effectively
FINDING YOUR PC MUSCLES
To find your pelvic floor muscles you need to think about where they are actually positioned
Your pelvic floor muscles run from your public bone to your tail bone
Like a hammock, they also sling side to side between these thick bones, so they're like a big trampoline of support in that pelvic outlet area.
The penis and scrotum or male genitals sit below the pelvic floor, but The pelvic floor muscles sit within the pelvis.
CONTRACTING YOUR PC MUSCLES
To contract your pelvic floor muscles, what you can do as a test is to try to stop the flow of urine the next time you actually go to the toilet or to the bathroom. See if you can slow the flow by lifting and sneezing the muscles in and around the anal area.
Lift and squeeze the muscles in and around the urethra, so your getting an inward lift and squeeze
If you look in the mirror what you will see is a lifting of the scrotum and you’ll also see a slight retraction of the penis with the correct pelvic floor contraction
Emptying your bladder and slowing the flow can be used to monitor your strength gains over time
Your should become more effective at it, but only practice it as a test once a week and definitely not if you have problems emptying your bladder.
You can also try to stop passing wind. If you imagine your going to pass wind in a public place, contacting the muscles around the anal area can also queue you in to correctly contacting your pelvic floor.
EXERCISING YOUR PC MUSCLES
Lets talk about how to exercise your PC muscles because to strengthen those muscles is like exercising in the gym. You need to repetitively lift and lower them, and contract them strongly just as you would if you were doing weight training at the gym to actually thicken the muscles and to improve the control and the strength of those muscles
When you start you might choose to start lying on your side or lying on your back. In those positions the pelvic floor muscles don’t have to work against gravity. It becomes more challenging for the muscles to work against gravity in the upright position.
If you have difficulty contracting your pelvic floor muscles perhaps start lying on your back or lying on your side.
Queue yourself in to the correct contraction, those muscles that I was talking about in and around the anal area and in and around the urethra and try to get the correct technique.
Try to lift and draw up inside that position. You’re going to lift and squeeze inside, lift and breath, and squeeze, then hold. Keep lifting and holding, keep lifting and holding, and relax down slowly, and rest.
Let’s go again, strong contraction, lift and squeeze, lift and breath and squeeze, lift, lift, lift, and slowly relax the pelvic floor muscles back down, rest, and give yourself time to recover.
Now some men will find that they can do one or two contractions in a row. Some might actually find that they can do multiple contractions in a row.
Ideally your trying to get up to about 8-12 repetitions, those strong contractions in a row, lifting and lowering.
Again, some men will find that they can only contract their pelvic floor muscles for a couple of seconds in a row.
As your strength improves, try to contract your pelvic floor muscles a little bit longer each time, so you’re working up to 8-10 second contractions each time you do them.
In review:
Your doing long holds, slow lifts, and then lowering down slowly for up to 8 to 10 seconds, and your repeating that 8-10 times in a row if you can. Ideally trying to do 20-30 repetitions a day, and that is every day.
Your tips are:
Lying on your side to start so your not actually having to lift against gravity to start. You can start lying on your side or lying on your back to start and as you get better, progress to standing exercises. Also as your technique improves try to make your contractions stronger. Voluntary strong contractions are very important to strengthen those Pelvic floor muscles.
