Exactly how to do a 'reverse kegel', and 4 other pelvic floor tips we wish we knew sooner.

If you’ve had kids – or even if you haven’t – your pelvic floor has probably been a topic of conversation throughout your life, whether you’ve been speaking to your mum or your girlfriends. 

You've likely heard horror stories of pelvic organ prolapse and eyed-off incontinence pads, wondering if you've done enough to keep pushing that day back. 

You've likely panic-googled symptoms and hacks to stave off any pelvic floor problems. And that's likely led you here to this very article.

Welcome.

We're here to run through tips and debunk some of the confusing messaging around your pelvic floor so you can kegel your way into feeling a bit more comfy about what's going on in there.

So, without further ado, here's what you want to know, in one handy spot. 

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As it turns out, issues with the bladder might begin earlier than you think.

“A lot of women, even women in their early 30s, actually do have issues,” says Matilda Andersson, a women's health coach, yoga teacher and pre-and postnatal trainer with Happy Healthy You.

“I think a lot of women today think that having incontinence issues is really embarrassing because we connect it with either childbirth or as we age,” she adds.

“It’s something we struggle to reach out to practitioners about, and even to women amongst us.”

“It’s something we struggle to reach out to practitioners about, and even to women amongst us,” Andersson says of incontinence. Image: Getty.

When it comes to these issues, we’re constantly told to do our pelvic floor exercises, and build strength in the area to avoid any issues. But what we don’t recognise is that nothing in our body works independently, and if we’re not conscious of our other choices, we can make things harder on ourselves.

Here are five things to consider for firing up your pelvic floor, relaxing it, and ensuring you have a healthy bladder.

Tip 1: Do your kegel exercises correctly.

We can talk on and on about the importance of kegel exercises, but when it comes down to it, it’s quite difficult to know if we’re doing them correctly. While it’s ideal to speak to a pelvic floor physiotherapist, this isn’t always accessible. 

However, Andersson advises you might be able to get the help you need via yoga, which incorporates breath and movement and is an excellent starting point for zeroing in on your muscles and relaxing them. However, a general practice might not cut it.

“I would say that going to a trainer, or a yoga teacher, who is maybe specialised towards women’s health – someone who’s doing prenatal yoga, for example, would probably have that knowledge,” Andersson says.

“As someone who is educated within pre and postnatal training, we read a lot about the pelvic floor and how to support and heal it,” she advises.

You can ask a yoga instructor for advice, but for things you can begin doing immediately, Andersson suggests beginning with building awareness and working with the breath.

“I would say start with building awareness of the body, so learning to really connect with how it feels when we’re activating it,” she says of the pelvic floor.

“So, the muscles are tense, and the difference of how it feels when we’re relaxed,” she explains.

“Starting with relaxation practices can really help to build that awareness, while also doing things like breathing exercises.”

Tip 2: Practise reverse kegel exercises.

While a ‘weak’ pelvic floor is often blamed for issues like bladder weakness or incontinence, Andersson tells Mamamia that sometimes the pelvic floor muscles are over-tight.

“A lot of the time, we talk a lot about how we need to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. And we need to really work on stuff like kegel exercises, and they can be great for strengthening the pelvic floor muscles,” she tells us.

“It's like, with any other muscle in the body, we want to strengthen it, but it's also so important to be able to relax it. It's something that we call, like, either a reverse kegel or just working with relaxation practices. It's equally important really to be able to relax the muscles and to feel that difference.”

But, how do we manage a reverse kegel?

“A reverse kegel would basically be that you activate the muscles, do a pelvic floor contraction, then you really focus on the after-effect of relaxing,” she shares.

This is best done with the help of a practitioner, but focusing on the release can give you a great starting point. And reverse kegels will help with more than a weak bladder.

According to Flo Health, reverse kegels can also help improve your sex life, leading to more powerful orgasms. They can also help those experiencing more painful sex, as you learn to relax your vaginal muscles on command.

Listen to Mamamia Out Loud with Mia Freedman, Jessie Stephens, and Holly Wainwright. Post continues after.

Tip 3: Get in tune with your breath.

Andersson also explains that most people breathe from their chest rather than their belly, which is a recommendation for those struggling with anxiety or depression. This is also linked to pelvic tightness, which can be relieved with the use of deep, regulated breathing.

“If we don’t breathe as deep as we should, we don’t breathe all the way down basically to the pelvic floor, then that will also create this disconnection,” she says.

“Also there [won’t] be as much fluidity in the tissues and the muscles, so the breath should really go all the way down. And with breathing, we also learn to relax.

“That’s another important area and also exercise to do.”

Tip 4: Regular exercise will keep things moving.

While figuring out how to manage your kegels and then reverse them is definitely a challenge in itself, it’s important to incorporate regular exercise into your life in order to keep optimum bladder and pelvic health.

“Regular exercise is definitely an important part of [bladder health],” Andersson explains.

“It helps to bring in circulation and it’s good for muscles in our body, and nothing works in isolation in our body, everything works together,” she adds.

“It doesn’t have to be heavy lifting or anything like that. It’s more just about moving the body daily and having that daily activity so that all the muscles and the whole body can work together.”

Tip 5: Keep an eye on your posture.

Andersson also recommends paying attention to posture, which will improve naturally with the help of exercise – both walking and yoga included.

“We can make a lot of lifestyle changes to support the bladder. That could be anything from considering your posture when you’re sitting, if you’re sitting at work, how we’re standing,” she explains.

“Also, just how we’re walking and moving our body can really affect our pelvis, especially if it’s someone who’s been pregnant and given birth, then the level of the pelvis and hips can sort of start to shift a little bit,” she adds. 

“So, it’s also about levelling the pelvis and being aware of what happened in our life that may have changed our posture.”

Feature Image: Getty/Mamamia.

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