How I Overcame Lazy This Week: Kegels - Not Just For Women, Y'know!



These men reported that they do their Kegels 3 x/day
to avoid soiling their Speedos



Okay, they are mostly for women, because, although they offer some surprising benefits for men (do your own Google search if you really want to know), I don't see many males jumping on the Kegel bandwagon.

But us women, especially mothers, definitely should.

Here's how it went down this week:

I sneezed.  And I peed.

And it didn't produce just a slight little dampness on my undies.  No, this time, I had to change my underwear AND pants because it'd soaked through.

I say, "this time" because it's happened before.  Several times.  It's happened when I laugh, when I exercise and plenty of times when I sneeze.  Mostly I've been brushing it off after the fleeting thought, "Oh yeah, I should do my Kegels" flits through my head to be quickly replaced with the more pressing thought, "Man, how did I ever think Steven Tyler was hot.  He looks like an aging transvestite!"

However, the fact that it seems to be happening with more frequency, and the result of this latest power sneeze, have made me realize that I need to get serious about making it a part of my daily fitness routine.

The thing is, I've never liked to do them.  They're not hard to do at all.  In fact, you can even do them seated while vegging in front of the TV (a well-earned rest after your rigorous workout, of course) or undetected while in your board meeting (get it? "bored" meeting).  I don't know - to me they just feel weird when I do them, so I don't very often.  Because I don't like feeling weird.



But I've decided to do them daily.  For real, this time.  I figure that for my best chance at longevity, I need to attach them to an activity that I'm already doing on a daily basis so that when I engage in that expected activity, I know that it's also Kegel time.  I plan on doing them while I brush my teeth.  I CAN chew gum and walk (and even run!) at the same time, so I'm thinking I'll be able to pull this off.  I've included some instructional pictures that I hope will be helpful to you:



Warming-up before.



During.



After.



This totally exhausted me.

Whew.  Tough work.

By the by, did you know they're pronouced "KEY-gulls".  A long time ago I thought they were KEH-gulls.  Just FYI.  Anyway, these are important for all women and men who want to maintain strength in their pelvic floor muscles.  These muscles are important because they support the uterus (N/A for men), bladder and bowel. 

Strong pelvic floor muscles = clean underwear.

Weak pelvic floor muscles = Depends for underwear.

Women who have been pregnant and given birth either vaginally or by C-section are particularly vulnerable to this condition and can benefit greatly through the miracle of Kegels.

I think most people know how to do them by now, but here's a great link to the Mayo Clinic for some good instructions.

Do Kegels with me this week (and beyond) and let's whip our lazy pelvic floors into shape!