Pelvic Floor Fitness and Pelvic Floor Exercises

Saturday, January 16th, 2010

pelvic floor exercises

Pelvic floor fitness is essential for healthy life – physically, sexually and emotionally. However, this area of the body is often neglected by the fitness experts.

Why are pelvic floor muscles so important and why should all women do regular exercises to maximize their pelvic floor fitness?

1. Pelvic floor fitness is the best way to beat stress incontinence.

One in three women who have had a baby experience stress incontinence at some point in their lives. Ordinary activities such as laughing, sneezing or jumping cause them to lose small amounts urine. Sometimes symptoms appear immediately after birth, but for many women years may pass before they notice they have a problem.

Fortunately, it is not always necessary to resort to the use of pads. More than two thirds of women who try pelvic floor exercises – and do them correctly – are cured of their incontinence, without the need for medication or surgery.

2. Pelvic floor fitness improves sexual response.

Pelvic muscles are directly responsible for the amount of sensations a woman feels during intercourse, and the amount of grip felt by her lover.

Pelvic Floor Exercises improve muscle tone which means that the muscle is narrower, so it is stretched more during intercourse. Strong and firm muscles have more nerve endings, and more nerve endings mean more sensations.

Rhythmic contractions of these muscles also contribute to your excitation and the ability to reach orgasm. Many women report they are able to reach the orgasm more easily, and that your orgasms are more powerful, after starting a pelvic exercise program.

3. Pelvic Floor Fitness contributes to an easier labor and better recovery after childbirth.

More than half of pregnant women experience stress incontinence symptoms that may persist for a year after birth. Up to twelve months later, one woman in five still have symptoms that worsen with age.

Exercises to strengthen the pelvis, either before or during early pregnancy, can significantly reduce the risk of stress incontinence later on. Research shows that the strength of these muscles at twenty weeks of pregnancy is an excellent indicator of the likelihood of stress incontinence later.

4. Pelvic Floor Fitness is an excellent defense against urge incontinence which is all too common among women in their later years.

In fact, urge incontinence is the most common form of incontinence in women over 70 years. This urination problem often leads to major undesirable changes in lifestyle for many women, and even increased nursing home admissions.

Urge incontinence is a complex issue with many factors, but strong pelvic floor muscles increase the chances of successful treatment, if it happens in your later years. So the commitment to a program of effective pelvic floor exercises, today, may be the best defense for women against incontinence in the elder years.

5. Pelvic floor fitness is a vital factor in a woman’s overall physical health.

Pelvic floor muscles are hidden from view and may be significantly weak even in a body otherwise well-toned. Many women who pride themselves on high levels of aerobic fitness are surprised to learn that this important area of their body can let them down as they grow older. Ironically, female athletes need to pay special attention to these muscles and their sporting activities places more stress on the pelvic floor muscles that ordinary activities. Many coaches are ignorant of this area as a whole.

Fortunately, women can take control of this area of their bodies for themselves. Pelvic Floor Fitness requires a personal commitment, and access to quality information. But, given these factors, most women can achieve, through an exercise program, stronger pelvic floor muscles that prevent incontinence and heighten sexual experiences.

About the Author: Linda McClelland is the founder of Pelvic Floor Exercise, providing information, links and products to help women and men worldwide improve their pelvic fitness. Visit her at www.pelvicfloorexercise.com for more information.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com5 Good Reasons Why Every Woman Should Improve Her Pelvic Floor Fitness


In Control: Pelvic Exercises for Women with Karen Armstrong

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Kegels and Toning After Pregnancy

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

exercise your pelvic floor

Is it possible to recover the tone in the stomach after giving birth? And is it possible to lose those pounds gained? I talked at length with a good friend of mine who is a gynecologist. There are physiological changes that during pregnancy stretch your abdomen. During the weeks of gestation, the abdominal muscles literally lengthen. Because of this increase in length, there is some loss of muscle activation and a loss of force produced during abdominal movements.

The Journal of Physical Therapy presented a study that looked at several pregnant women and the rectus abdominis muscle in pregnancy. That’s the six pack muscles is actually a package of eight muscle in front of your intestinal area that allows forward flexion. This muscle which is stretched during pregnancy, but 4 weeks after the birth of the muscle almost contracts fully to normal.

Whether or not they can recover completely, thought, is up to you as an individual and the things you do to recover. What can you do? Return to both categories of activity: cardio and strength training that you were doing before and even during pregnancy.

Exercises such as Kegel exercises in which lift your pelvic floor, the feeling of controlling the bladder, are very effective after pregnancy. Kegel exercises are important because they help reduce problems such as incontinence after childbirth.

The first few weeks of post-pregnancy is likely a little bit of a crazy time. Still it is important to exercise a few times each week. Take in walks and other exercise programs that you doctor recommends.

You want to regain muscle activation in the abdominal muscles and you want to get that tone. You can do this, even if you need to start in very small increments of activity.

By the way, If you had a caesarean, your muscles may have shrunk and you may want to approach your exercise routine a little differently – Every woman is different.

Before becoming pregnant, it is important to get a strong core and aerobically be strong as well, and during pregnancy is important to stay active. And after the birth, the sooner you can get active and do some exercises to consolidate the basic muscles the better. As a new mom you may find it hard to concentrate on yourself – but give your body what it needs – you can lose those extra inches and get that tone.

Fitness and Fat Loss Expert, Yuri Elkaim, helps thousands of busy health conscious individuals lose fat while sculpting lean muscle with just 3 short enjoyable workouts a week. Take his 20-lesson six pack abs e-course for free by visiting http://www.myfitteru.com/abs today!


Pelvic Floor Exercises and Bladder Scans

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