Exercises to put the va-va-voom into your love life
PELVIC floor exercises can make a real difference to both men and women — helping with many of the problems that can see sex drive evaporate, such as incontinence and erectile dysfunction (see previous page).
But the exercises will help only if they’re done properly. Here we reveal how to master the techniques . . .
THE MUSCLES YOU NEED TO TRAIN
FOR WOMEN: To identify your pelvic floor correctly, pull up and in as if you’re trying to stop passing wind and urine at the same time.
There are different muscle fibres that make up the pelvic floor and each needs a slightly different version of this exercise.
Any woman new to pelvic floor exercise, or who has symptoms such as leaking urine when laughing, should do a set of these exercises three to six times a day. This can be reduced to once a day when women feel they’re getting better at them or symptoms reduce.
You could see results in just weeks, but you do need to persist — as soon as you stop, you lose that tone.
First, do a maximum contraction and hold for ten seconds — then repeat ten times, leaving a gap of four seconds between each to allow the muscle to relax. Then do ten quick contractions at the rate of one per second.
Finally, squeeze as hard as you can and then let the muscles go half way; then contract to that level ten times leaving 20-second gaps.
FOR MEN: To identify the muscles, sit relaxed, and tighten the muscle around the back passage, as if trying to control wind. Do not tighten your thighs or buttocks. Then imagine you’re trying to stop yourself passing urine. You should feel a dip at the base of the penis, while the scrotum moves up slightly.
Slowly tighten and pull up the pelvic floor muscles as hard as you can for as long as possible — the charity Prostate Cancer suggests five seconds, but says that if, when you let go, you can’t feel the muscles relax, you’ve held for too long. If this is the case, try again for a shorter time to find your ‘level’.
Then, tighten the pelvic floor muscles for your length of hold, relax and rest for five seconds. Repeat five times. As it becomes easier, increase the length of hold and number of repeats. Aim to do the exercise at least five times a day.
THE GADGETS THAT CAN HELP
WHILE everyone should do pelvic floor exercises, many people still struggle to master them alone, as the muscles can be hard to isolate. Here Amanda Savage, a spokesperson for the Professional Network of Pelvic, Obstetric and Gynaecological Physiotherapy, suggests some of the best gadgets to help.
Squeezy App
€3.49, squeezyapp.co.uk THIS app, for men and women, encourages you to do pelvic floor exercises in sync with the movement of a bubble on the screen. It also has visual prompts to tell you when to do each one, which can be set at a slow or fast level or be modified to fit in with any pelvic floor exercises given to you by a physiotherapist.
Kegel8 V For Men Pelvic Toner
€166, kegel8.co.uk A STIMULATOR (above left) that does pelvic floor exercises for you.
An insertable probe, or pads on the skin, fire electrical impulses to make the pelvic muscles contract. Use once or twice a day, depending on the severity of symptoms.
Elvie Pelvic Floor Trainer
€210, boots.ie A SENSOR-packed device (right) that’s inserted into the vagina and removed with a small handle.
You clench your muscles around it in five-minute workouts designed to ‘lift and tone’. The sensors check you’re exerting the right pressure.
Homecraft Aquaflex Weighted Vaginal Cones
€33.51, murrays.ie THIS comprises two different sized vaginal cones, with a separate set of weights.
A weight is placed in the cone, which is inserted in the same way as a tampon. This causes the pelvic floor muscles to contract around it automatically, toning the muscles. As your pelvic floor becomes stronger, you will be able to add more weights and increase the time you are able to keep the cone in place, for up to 20 minutes per day.
Innovo For Men
€399, lloydspharmacy.ie THIS electrically stimulates a man’s pelvic floor muscles to cause them to contract, explains physiotherapist Gerard Greene.
It consists of two Velcro wraps that sit around the top of each leg and buttock; the wraps are connected by a wire to a chargeable controller that fires electrical impulses at the pelvic floor.
You use the device for 30 minutes a day, five times a week for 12 weeks.