No One is Going to Remind You, So Remind Yourself…Do Those Kegels!

It ocurred to me recently that I have been lackadaisical about pelvic floor exercises. I had been doing them regularly for some time, but I have gotten lazy. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had someone reminding us to do them? We can pretty much count on most group exercise classes ending with some sort of stretching routine. Don’t you wish they did that with pelvic-floor exercises? “Ok everyone, some quickie Kegels to end the class”…

But that’s probably not gonna happen. We are on our own to get those pelvic floor exercises in. One of the most surprising things I learned after seeing Barbara Green, a physical therapist who specializes in the pelvic floor, was that it really doesn’t take a tremendous amount of exercises to strengthen those muscles…a little bit goes a long way. In fact she told me that she tells her clients, daily Kegels are great-but even three times a week is good! She said if we consistently work on doing those Kegels three times a week we can see improvement after about a month or two. She wrote a post for 9 Kid Fitness a while ago describing how to do a Kegel (Pelvic Floor Exercises: A How-To Guide)

Since slipping a little in terms of my Kegel motivation, I have come up with a way to remind myself on a more regular basis. Anytime I am on the floor at the end of a workout (whether in a group exercise class or at home doing push up and planks, etc.) I will do 10 slow Kegel exercises before I finish the class or workout. I figure if I can fit in stretches at the end of a workout, I can fit in the Kegels, too. In fact, I think of stretching and Kegels in the same way. As I get older, stretching after a workout becomes increasingly important if I want to keep running. Similarly, I believe that pelvic floor exercises will continue to be a crucial part of my fitness routine as I get older if I want to maintain good aerobic functioning and continence while I exercise. This is why it’s essential that I not allow myself to get lackadaisical.

How about you….do you have a sure-fire way to remember those pelvic floor exercises?