Yes we are talking about kegel exercises for men. You have probably heard about kegel exercises for women, but if you think it is just for the female gender then you thought wrong, there are also kegel exercises for men. Kegel exercises for men can strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, which support the bladder and affect sexual function. With practice, Kegel exercises for men can be done anytime of the day. There are technique of which kegel exercise can be done.
What Are Kegel Exercises?
Kegel exercises are simple clench-and-release exercises that you can do to make the muscles of your pelvic floor stronger. Your pelvic is the area between your hips that holds your reproductive organs.
Kegel exercises or pelvic floor muscle exercises consist of repeated contraction and realization of the muscles that form part of the pelvic floor, to strengthen the pelvic floor.
Research suggests that kegel exercises may help restore bladder control after prostate surgery. For some men, they may also help treat erectile dysfunction and prevent premature ejaculation. They might even increase the intensity of your orgasms.
Kegel exercises for men were first described by Arnold in 1948, and historically the exercises treated female patients in an effort to aid with stress incontinence following childbirth. However, with time pelvic floor muscle therapy and other forms of behavioural therapy have been demonstrated to be useful in a variety of conditions, including
- Overactive bladder.
- Pain in the pelvic region or genital.
- Erectile dysfunction and climacteric.
- Male lower urinary tract symptoms.
- Premature ejaculation.
- Pain with sexual intercourse.
- Urinary incontinence.
Unlike normal exercises routines, these exercises don’t require any weights or expensive machines. However, the success of Kegel exercises is dependent on the proper performance of the exercises.
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What Are Pelvic Floor Muscles?
While talking about kegel exercises for men we made mention of pelvic floor muscles and it will only be right to help you understand what pelvic floor muscles are.
Like we said earlier, your pelvic is the area between your hips that holds your reproductive organs. The pelvic floor muscles are a network of muscles that support your bladder and also help you to control your urine flow. Basically, we have three pelvic muscles:
- The bladder. Your bladder is a muscle shaped like a balloon and holds your urine.
- The sphincter muscles. These muscles help you open and close your urethra, the tube that drains urine from your bladder.
- The pelvic floor muscle [also known as the pubococcygeus (pu-bo-kak-sije- us) or PC muscle] supports your bladder and rectum and helps control your urine flow.
How To Find Your Pelvic Floor Muscles
Finding your pelvic floor muscles is easy, if you carefully follow our guide in this article then you are sure to know where your pelvic floor muscles are and be able to focus your kegel exercises on the right muscles. It may take you several tries to find your pelvic muscles. So, take your time.
There are several ways that you can find your pelvic floor muscles;
- Try to stop and start your urine stream while you are urinating (peeing). Try doing this two or three times.
- Imagine someone walks into your bathroom while you are urinating (peeing) and you need to stop your urine flow.
The muscles you use to stop your urine flow are your pelvic floor muscles, they are the same as the muscles you use to avoid passing gas. If you’re male, your testicles will also rise when you contract them. These are the muscles you want to strengthen before and after your prostate cancer treatment.
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Need For Kegel Exercises For Men
Kegel exercises can help treat stress incontinence in men after prostate surgery. It may also help relieve overactive bladder and improve sexual function in some men.
Kegel exercises for men are primarily the first-line therapy in men with urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy. Studies have demonstrated that patients should start pelvic floor muscle therapy prior to radical prostatectomy and continue postoperatively for the best results.
Researchers have evaluated the role of Kegel exercises in the management of erectile dysfunction and orgasm-associated urinary incontinence (climacteric) after radical prostatectomy. One study demonstrated that men with erectile dysfunction and climacteric one year after nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy had significant improvement in erectile function with pelvic floor muscle training at 15 months and that the effect was maintained during follow-up. In addition, there was a significant improvement in the climacteric in those men performing pelvic floor muscle therapy.
Pelvic floor muscle therapy, Kegel exercises for men, is helpful in men with premature ejaculation. In fact, in one study, pelvic floor therapy consisting of biofeedback, pelvic exercises, and electrostimulation led to a cure in premature ejaculation in 50% of patients with a history of lifelong premature ejaculation, within two to six months of starting kegel exercises.
Kegel exercises treat nocturia (awakening at night to urinate). A preliminary study showed that behavioural therapy (including pelvic floor muscle exercises) in men, alone or in combination with an alpha-blocker (medical therapy for benign prostate enlargement), consistently showed large favourable effects on sleep, nocturia reduction, and quality of life.
Kegel exercises for men are harmless if performed correctly. Some people have reported chest and abdominal pain, but these occurrences are the result of performing the exercises inappropriately. Proper education and performance of the Kegel exercises are important to achieve the best results. Patients can learn how to properly perform Kegels at their doctor’s office, via paper instructions, or online tutorials. However, success will depend on contracting the proper muscles regularly.
Overactive bladder symptoms can occur in men as well as women. Contraction of the pelvic floor muscles can suppress bladder contractions and thus pelvic floor muscle therapy is a part of the first-line management of overactive bladder.
How To Perform Kegel Exercises.
Both men and women can perform Kegel exercises in basically the same way.
The first step is to find your pelvic floor muscles, which have been described above. Once you’ve found your pelvic floor muscles, you can practice flexing them. Contract and hold your pelvic floor muscles for 5 to 20 seconds. Then release them. You can repeat this simple exercise 10 to 20 times in a row, three to four times a day. Gradually build the number of contractions you complete and the amount of time you hold each contraction.
Over time, this simple exercise can help strengthen your pelvic floor muscles. This might help improve your bladder control and sexual function. You can also try different variations on this basic exercise. For example, contract and release your pelvic floor muscles quickly, several times in succession. Or practice contracting them very slowly. You can also go with different positions to complete kegel exercises for men while standing, sitting, or lying down.
While performing kegel exercises for men, do not tighten other muscles, such as your abs, butt, or thighs. Don’t hold your breath either. Instead, keep the rest of your body still and relaxed, while breathing normally.
Use a mirror in order to observe the movement of your penis vertically without moving the rest of your body. An elevator analogy can illustrate the exercise. The anus, in this case, can represent an elevator. The goal of the exercise is to bring up the elevator over five seconds to its maximal level and then to bring it gradually back down to the resting level.
The techniques are interchangeable. Men can perform a different technique each day. However, the important thing is to use only the pelvic muscles. When men first start performing these exercises, they may use other muscles to help them. Often, they may use their abdominal or gluteal Maximus (buttocks) muscles. It is thus important to become aware of which muscles one contracts. It is also important to avoid holding your breath or crossing your legs.
The good thing about kegel exercises for men is that they can be performed anywhere without anyone but the participant noticing. Unlike typical core exercises for men requiring sit-ups, planking, or other unusual positions, Kegel exercises for men can be performed during a variety of activities such as shaving, sitting at one’s desk, or even while driving.
Unlike typical workouts for men, there is no magic number of sets one should do in a day when it comes down to Kegel exercises. However, men should perform at least two sessions of Kegel exercises every day. To keep things simple, men should perform their first session in the morning and their second at night.
A session comprises 10-30 individual contractions and relaxation exercises. Each exercise should last 10 seconds divided into five seconds of contraction and five seconds of relaxation. Once a man excels at performing these, he can do them in different positions. Of the 10-30 exercises, he can do one-third while laying down, one-third while sitting, and one-third while standing. Counting aloud certainly helps, and as time goes by, many men are surprised at the ease with which they can perform the exercises that at first seemed unnatural to them.
Cautions.
If you feel pain in your abdomen or back after a Kegel exercise session, it’s a sign that you’re not doing them correctly. Always remember that even as you contract your pelvic floor muscles, the muscles in your abdomen, back, buttocks, and sides should remain loose.
Finally, don’t overdo your Kegel exercises. If you work the muscles too hard, they’ll become tired and unable to fulfil their necessary functions.
Kegel exercises for men are a necessity if you want a stronger bladder and muscle.
