Kegel exercises, also known as pelvic floor exercises, strengthen the muscles that support the uterus and bladder, which helps control urine and improve intimate contact. Practicing these exercises during pregnancy also helps with training for natural birth, when you have to push hard for the baby to come out, reducing pain and labor time.
How to know which muscles to contract
An excellent way to find out how to do contractions correctly is to insert a finger into the vagina and try to squeeze the finger. Another good way to identify the muscles is when peeing to try to stop the stream of urine. However, it is not recommended to try to perform this exercise with a full bladder because it can cause urine to return through the ureters, causing a urinary infection.
When identifying how the contraction should be done, you should try not to shrink your belly too much so as not to spend extra energy contracting your abdominals, nor contracting the muscles around the anus, which may be more difficult initially. In any case, the gynecologist, obstetrician or physiotherapist will be able to personally indicate, during a consultation, how you can perform the exercises correctly.
How to do pelvic floor exercises
To strengthen the pelvic floor during pregnancy, the pregnant woman should do the following:
- Empty the bladder, completely eliminating the pee;
- Contract these same pelvic muscles for 10 seconds;
- Relax for 5 seconds.
The training consists of doing around 100 contractions per day, divided into series of 10 repetitions each.
Check out the step by step in our video:
The progression of the exercise consists of increasing the time of each contraction. Thus, each time you contract your pelvic floor muscles you should count to 5 and then relax, repeating this step another 10 to 20 times in a row.
Small vaginal cones can also be inserted into the vagina, which are suitable for this purpose, and help to further strengthen these muscles, increasing the intensity of each workout.
When and where to do the exercises
Kegel exercises can be performed in any position, whether sitting, lying down or standing. However, it is easier to start the exercises lying down with your legs bent, and after a few days, you will be able to perform the exercises in a 4-up position, sitting or standing with your legs apart.
You can start practicing this training at any stage of pregnancy, but it may be more necessary from 28 weeks onwards, when the woman is in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy, which is when she may begin to notice some difficulty controlling urine and this It is also a good time to start preparing for childbirth.
It is also possible to perform these exercises during intimate contact, which can bring more pleasure to both the woman and her partner.
