Whether you’ve had babies already or are planning children in the future, the pelvic floor is a very important group of muscles you’ll need to consider at some point. They’re basically the muscles that stop the flow of urine – a hammock of muscles that support your pelvic organs.
By Damien Kelly, Exercise Scientist
BK (before kids) you probably took for granted not peeing your pants when laughing. Post-baby it’s a whole other story. The increased pressure on pelvic floor muscles during pregnancy and the upheaval of childbirth can weaken this important muscle group. Even if you had a caesarean, the strain of pregnancy can weaken your pelvic floor. Plus pregnancy hormones that soften ligaments and muscles to help birthing, also work their magic on the pelvic floor.
So post-baby, the action of the pelvic floor (holding in all sorts of stuff), doesn’t work so well anymore. You might suffer from dreaded leakage when you’re running, picking up toddlers or coughing. Despite the appalling Crossfit philosophy about incontinence aired recently in a video that went viral (Do you pee in your workouts?), it’s never ok or normal to pee during exertion. This is stress incontinence and leakage at any point is a problem – it’s a failure of the system.
If you’re leaking – you’re not ready for whatever you’re doing. You need to start slowly strengthening your pelvic floor system. Once you’ve strengthened your pelvic floor, it’s possible to exercise even at a high intensity without peeing your pants.
The good news is, the pelvic floor is part of a group of muscles and like any muscle it can be strengthened. You just need to be aware of how to engage the pelvic floor and practice throughout the day. Ideally, start practicing these gentle strengthening exercises before pregnancy and birth but if not, afterwards will help. Here are my top 3 pelvic floor strengtheners…
1: Pelvic Floor Interval Training
When you’re going to the toilet, practice actively stopping the flow of urine about 3-4 times per sitting. This is like interval training for your pelvic floor! Be conscious of relaxing and trying to only engage the required muscles. Squeezing everything is not going to help in the long run.
HOW? Imagine you have a box structure in your lower abdominal area. The sides being the core muscles (transverse abdominals and obliques), the bottom being the pelvic floor and the top being the diaphragm. Think about drawing up the pelvic floor, engaging your core muscles (reducing the circumference of your waist) and controlling your breathing.
Once you learn the feeling of engaging these muscles on the toilet, start practicing whenever you’re at traffic lights, on the phone or in a queue.
2: The string thing
Stand tall and engage your core muscles while drawing up your pelvic floor. To engage these, draw in muscles front, side and back, between your belly button and hips. You’ll be actively shrinking the circumference of your waist. While doing this tie a piece of string tight, around your waist, at the level of your belly button. Then for the rest of the day, if you let go of your core muscles, the string will tighten and you’ll be alerted to re-engage.
3: The Clam
Lie on your side in a comfortable position. Bend your knees to ninety degrees but keep your feet in line with your spine. Draw up your pelvic floor, as if halting the flow of urine mid-stream, and raise your top knee like your opening a clam. Keep your feet together. Raise the knee 40cm, trying to maintain pelvic floor contraction the whole time.
DO 2-3 sets of 6-10 reps
THE PELVIC FLOOR PLAN
It’s important to be able to control your pelvic floor before moving on to whole body or dynamic exercises.
Have a look at the levels of pelvic floor control below – if during any of these levels you’re leaking or feeling no sense of engagement, you’re not ready to move on.
Level 1 pure pelvic floor control, just standing
Level 2 basic, non-impact exercises (squat or push-up)
Level 3 whole body moves or carrying more weight
Level 4 dynamic moves like running, jumping or skipping
TOP TIP: If you have a weak pelvic floor there’s no use doing flexion in the first few months – (like a sit-up). Spinal flexion places unnecessary pressure on the area.
For more from Damien Kelly visit: damienkelly.com.au
