Pelvic Floor Exercise Tips for Beginners

It can feel very challenging to start a pelvic floor training programme, so here are a few tips to help you get started.

First of all, think about your positioning. You can exercise your pelvic floor in any position, but when starting out, it's worth lying on your back with your knees bent or lying on your side. This position will reduce the effects of gravity and will help you to feel more movement within the muscles. As you feel more connected and confident, you can move to sitting and then standing. When progressing to the other positions, you can slightly offload the pelvic floor by leaning forward. So in sitting, lean forward, rest your elbows on your thighs and try to keep your back straight. Have a go at squeezing and releasing and see if it feels good. Then in standing, lean forward onto a worktop / table / wall and see how your pelvic floor movement feels. As soon as you feel confident in the more upright positions, you can progress to adding in your exercises to daily activities.

The next aspect of the training you need to work on is breath coordination. Many women feel that they need to inhale when they squeeze, but actually squeezing during an exhale will help your muscles to move more freely. The diaphragm and the pelvic floor move in a similar way to a piston.

As you inhale, the diaphragm drops and flattens, causing pressure to rise in the abdomen and air is drawn into the lungs. This increase in intra-abdominal pressure is applied to the abdomen, lower back and pelvis, which will make it more challenging for your pelvic floor to squeeze and lift. If your pelvic floor is weak, then this can cause the muscles to push and bear down.

As you exhale, your diaphragm returns to its arched position and lifts up into the chest wall, pushing the air out of your lungs. At this point, the pressure within your abdomen lowers and this helps your pelvic floor to squeeze and lift more easily. So if you practice exhaling as you squeeze, you will find it easier to complete your pelvic floor exercises.

Initially, this breath coordination can feel challenging and as if patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time! But persevere and within a few weeks, it will fell a lot easier and more natural.

Try to work within your limits and keep your goals small to begin with. It's more important to get the basics right before progressing on to more difficult exercise programmes. For example, try to hold a pelvic floor squeeze while exhaling slowly. This may limit your holds to 5 seconds but as this will improve your breath coordination, it's worth working in this way until you feel more confident. Eventually, you can progress to longer holds with normal breathing patterns.

Building a habit is also a challenge when starting any new training programme. If you are used to building habits, it will come a lot easier, but if you are new to this, these following tips should help you get started:

1. Set aside a time each day to work on a small set of exercises and limit yourself to a maximum of 5 minutes per session. When you think that there are 1,440 minutes in 24 hours, fitting in 5 minutes seems simple! But so many women report that it is very difficult to fit their pelvic floor exercises into their day. 

2. Tag your exercise training onto pre-existing habits. If you are needing to work your muscles in lying, then fit the exercises in as you go to bed. If you are happy exercising in sitting, you can complete your exercises when sat on the toilet, just after finishing passing urine. And if you are confident in standing, you can fit the exercises in much more easily in the day.

3. Use positive feedback to help you keep track of your progress. You can use tick boxes, marbles in a jar or post it notes on the fridge, just add a tick / marble / note every time that you complete a set of exercises. Over a few weeks you will have established your exercises into an initial programme routine. You can gradually build on this habit bit by bit.

I hope that you find these tips and advice helpful. If you have any questions, please let us know.

Best wishes,

Gillian