Kegel Exercises For Men
- What are Kegel Exercises?
- Benefits of Kegels, For Men
- How to Begin Exercising The Kegels?
- The Proper Technique to Do Kegel Exercises
- Why You Need It?
- When to Do Kegel Exercises?
- FAQ
- Final Thoughts
Kegels Are Not Just For Women: Men, It’s Time To Tighten Up Those Muscles While Doing Kegel Exercises for Men Regularly.
Why do men do Kegels? Why does anyone exercise at all? Also, why do I torture my thighs every day with those squats? – The answer to every one of those questions is that we exercise because we love strength. Now, I know people think Kegels are just for women and doing them is for a particular reason only (yes, the pelvic floor muscles become tighter due to Kegels but bring your mind away from that for a minute, will you?) however, men can also benefit from Kegels.
The biggest question to discuss though, might not be why men do kegel exercises but why men should do kegel exercises. As I implied before, Kegels have been sidelined by quite a number of men because they don’t see any particular use of it. Either that or they’re ashamed, or abashed, or sheepish about needing to do Kegels. So well, speaking as someone who enjoys Kegels more than those squats – the bane of my existence, yes – I see a lot of benefits of Kegels, both healthy and fun.
What are Kegel Exercises?
I’d like to quickly mention that this article is not related to why women do Kegels or the benefits of Kegels to women. Please keep in mind that the anatomy of the male and female sexes are different and the biofeedback training (weighted cone for women and a small probe for men, more on this later) are different for them both. Alright, let’s move ahead then by starting with what exactly are kegel exercises?
Kegel exercises are exercises that strengthen your pelvic floor muscles – for both men and women which to some extent affect sexual function; read: improve sexual performance – but it doesn’t stop there. Kegels can also help support the bladder and the bowel. Urinary or fecal incontinence can be prevented through stronger pelvic muscles. Other than that, in the case of men, dribbling after urination can be stopped by continuous practice of kegel exercises.
Some Benefits of Kegels, For Men
Many factors weaken your pelvic floor muscles, like age, or the surgical removal of the prostate, which is called radical prostatectomy. Conditions such as diabetes or an overactive bladder can also weaken your pelvic floor muscles and cause trouble with dribbling and incontinence. Kegels, to some extent, help eliminate these problems. Kegels also prevent any of these persisting conditions from getting any worse.
And might I add, Kegels also help treat erectile dysfunction. Even when you do not have these problems, it’s nice to keep things tight, won’t you agree? You might not see the need now but get your Kegels done right and you’ll thank me when you’re fifty.
How to Begin Exercising The Kegels?
Kegel exercises start with you locating where exactly these pelvic muscles are or finding which ones are the muscles you need to exercise. There’s a technique for that: stop urination in midstream. The muscles that help you do that, that’s them. Ah but don’t make it a regular habit of stopping the urine mid-flow, doing this results in half emptying of the urinary bladder and increases your chances of contracting a urinary tract infection.
You can use the technique mentioned above or identify your pelvic floor muscles by tightening the muscles that keep you from passing gas. One more way to identify these muscles is to insert a finger into the rectum and try to squeeze this finger. Yeah, I know, might sound embarrassing, or even gross, to some (no wonder men don’t talk about Kegels) but once you’ve got this first step done and dusted, you’d be ready to actually start the exercise.
Understanding The Proper Technique to Do Kegel Exercises
Tighten those pelvic muscles you identified, hold this contraction for three seconds and relax. Count to three, and then repeat. Try repeating it a few more times, say five times in a row. Once you get into the rhythm of it, it’ll be easier to do it more often, like at least three sets of 10 repetitions a day.
Tip: It’s important you focus on tightening only your pelvic floor muscles and absolutely not flex the muscles in your abdomen, thighs, or buttocks. One more thing that might need to be mentioned is that try not to hold your breath when you tighten your muscle, try to breathe freely when you’re exercising your Kegels.
Biofeedback Training: What is it and Why is This Training Necessary?
Remember that distinction I made above about how the anatomy of the bodies of different sexes are different? Well, when it comes to Kegels, here’s where it matters. In some cases, when you have trouble exercising your Kegels, a biofeedback training session with your doctor or any other health care provider might help.
What happens is a small probe is inserted into your rectum and as you relax and contract your pelvic floor muscles, a monitor measures and displays your pelvic floor activity. Biofeedback training, even if you’re not into Kegels for all the other benefits, is quite effective in treating fecal incontinence.
When to Do Kegel Exercises?
Kegels are a pretty discrete exercise. With time and practice, you’d be able to do Kegels just about anytime – lying down or sitting up or even during your day-to-day activities – this means that your pelvic muscles have actually gotten stronger. If you have a habit of working out, you can squeeze in a kegel routine into it. If you don’t exercise on a regular basis but only want to exercise your Kegels or are just taking baby steps with Kegels first – other muscles later – fit in a set of Kegels every time you do a routine task like brushing your teeth or waiting in a line or even catching up on some Netflix and chill.
Tip: Empty your bladder before starting your kegel exercises. And a word of caution would be to not overdo your Kegels. And of course, if you feel any kind of pain in your abdomen or back after a kegel session, stop immediately as you might not be doing your Kegels right. Again, it’s important to remember that during Kegels you only contract your pelvic muscles while the muscles in your abdomen, back, and buttocks remain loose.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Answers to common questions about Kegel exercises for men. IF you have more questions, leave them in the comments below.
Why is it that I can’t seem to understand how Kegels work?
Although I’ve written a whole article to explain how Kegels work, let me take another approach as well. Whenever you exercise any muscle, it gets stronger – that’s the rule. Your pelvic floor muscles as well, they might not break and then rebuild themselves like every other muscle in your body, but practicing Kegels makes them learn again and again how to contract. This contraction helps to tighten them. And this tightening of the pelvic floor muscles helps with stopping the dribbling and the fecal or urinary incontinence and this is how Kegels work.
Why am I having trouble exercising my Kegels?
There’s no shame in accepting you are having trouble, be it with exercising Kegels or anything else at all. And now that you have come to terms with the fact that Kegels (tightening of the pelvic floor muscles with simple clench-and-release exercises) is proving to be tough for you, it’s time to seek help from a doctor or a health care provider. They can give you important and personalized feedback on how to locate, and then isolate to strengthen the correct muscles.
Can I do Kegel exercises with a catheter inside my penis?
No, you must not do any kegel exercises if you have a catheter in your penis. (A catheter drains urine from your bladder out through your penis.) You can start doing your kegel exercises after the catheter is taken out of your penis. You might experience some urine incontinence (leakage) when you stand up, cough, sneeze, laugh or lift something after the catheter is taken out, and doing Kegel exercises may help you control your urine flow.
When can I expect to see some results?
Regular kegel exercises produce results like less frequent urine leakage or ease in strengthening and tightening the pelvic floor muscles within a few weeks to a few months. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see the results immediately as Kegels work differently for each person.
Final Thoughts on Kegel Exercises For Men
Muscles in the pelvic floor are strengthened if we regularly exercise our Kegels. These muscles help in increasing blood flow into the groin – if you don’t know how important blood flow is to a man and his erection, check out my article on how to increase blood flow to the penis naturally – these muscles are also quite active during sexual intercourse.
So Kegels basically, don’t just improve your muscle strength, prevent fecal and urinary incontinence but also help enhance your sexual function – I’m talking firmer erections, delayed ejaculation, and increased command on the muscles in your groin. It’s time you put in some effort and time on these kegel exercises.
