Episode 25: My Controversial Take On Kegels
Hello! I’ll be honest. I feel quite emotionally drained right now. On one hand, it’s spring, I’ve planted a garden which I love, we’re getting more sun and walking which is my love language is so very lovely in the sun, spring feels new and clean, and then there’s this world wide pandemic where everything feels wrong and bad. I have so many loved ones going through legitimately hard and heavy and painful things, I feel emotionally exhausted most of the time.
One of the ways emotional exhaustion and tension comes up in our bodies is through our pelvic floor. The pelvis is central to who we are, and tells a story so very well, often trauma and pain and tension reveal it self there. Have you or any of your clients had any pelvic floor symptoms creep up in the last few weeks? I’ve heard quite a few of my clients tell me about their pelvic floor symptoms getting worse or coming back, and so I thought this episode would be quite timely. I wanted to chat with you about the pelvic floor, it’s function and the ever diagnosed Kegel.
Let me say, this is my perspective based off of my extensive training, experience with what works with my clients and myself. You might also notice that my perspective is a little different from some of the other guests I’ve had on the podcast. I intentionally interview guests that I don’t always 100% agree with because I think that it’s really important to have a variety of options to discuss and hash out, and really, I think most of my guests if we could sit down and hash it out, we’re all saying mostly the same thing in different ways. So let’s get to it.
In this episode I cover:
- What a kegel is
- How kegels are often cued
- Understanding hypertension and hypotension and how that influences our pelvic floor engagement
- Understanding muscular contraction and extension
- How strength and tension are not equal
- That loose and tight are not effective words to use when discussing a functional vagina
- How pelvic floor engagement is not an on/off switch
- Understanding and practicing a core breath together
And more!
I don’t like to say any move or exercise is bad. You can do a daily move like picking up something heavy with really unoptimized core and feel negative effects in your pelvic core and you can do sit ups with a great strategy and do no harm to your core. But backing up and getting your strategy intentional and mindful is powerful.
If you or your clients are interested in reprograming your core and pelvic floor strategy, I’d love to have you join me for my 4 week Strong and Functional Pelvic Floor and Core Class Series. We dig into all the nitty gritty of learning engagement and controlling abdominal pressure and how breath matters and how we can optimize the whole system.
What questions do you have about the kegel and pelvic floor engagement and strengthening? Email me and I can answer you in an upcoming podcast!
Thank you so much for joining me today! If you’re enjoying this podcast, if you could please take just a moment to rate, review and subscribe I would be so thrilled if you did!
