4 Best Positions to do Kegel Exercises for Beginners (Physical Therapy Video)

Are you a beginner looking for the best position to do Kegel exercises?

The position you choose to do your Kegels can make a big difference to your training success.

This ‘Best Position to do Kegels’ video is presented by Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist Michelle Kenway

Suitability: Beginners starting Kegels exercises

Duration: 6 minutes

Please scroll down for more information to help you train your pelvic floor.

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Strengthen your pelvic floor with this daily Kegel exercises routine.

This evidence-based pelvic floor exercise workout guides you step by step.

Presented by:

Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist Michelle Kenway

Contents

Track 1 – Introduction to Successful Strengthening

Track 2 – Finding your Pelvic Floor

Track 3 – Feeling your Pelvic Floor Muscles

Track 4 – Using the Correct Pelvic Floor Exercise Technique

Track 5 – Beginners Pelvic Floor Exercises Workout

Track 6 – Intermediate Pelvic Floor Exercises Workout

Track 7 – Progressing and Maintaining your Strength

Best Position to do Kegel Exercises for Beginners Video Content

The 4 best positions to do Kegel exercises demonstrated in this video are:

  1. Lying on your back
  2. Side lying
  3. Lying prone on your stomach
  4. Sitting upright on an exercise ball or on a chair (with or without a towel roll)

Starting Out

When starting out you can use any of these positions for your training throughout the day. You may find that you can best feel your Kegel exercises using one particular position.

Progressing 

Try to progress into upright sitting or standing positions when doing Kegels as your pelvic floor strength and control improve over time. If you can start out exercising in upright, this is the best position for your Kegels.

Training in sitting and standing involves lifting your pelvic floor against gravity and encourages your pelvic floor muscles to work well in these upright positions.

Physical Therapy and Best Position to do Kegel Exercises

Pelvic floor Physical Therapy for beginners often involves training the correct technique for Kegel exercises.

Training correct Kegel technique involves starting out in a position where the patient can best feel her pelvic floor muscles working. This can take some trial and error as some women feel their pelvic floor muscles working best in upright positions (sitting or standing) whereas others find lying down most effective.

Best Sitting Posture for Kegels Best posture to do Kegels sitting

Sitting posture during Kegel exercises can affect the success of pelvic floor training.

Your Physical Therapist will usually encourage you to sit with good posture during Kegel exercises rather than slumping forwards.

Sitting with the back of the body away from the back rest of the chair and having an inward curve in the lower back has been shown to involve greater pelvic floor muscle activation than supported sitting against the chair.4

Progressing from Kegels Lying Down to Upright Positions

Research tells us that changing body position influences the amount of pelvic floor muscle activity. Pelvic floor muscle activation increases from lying down, to sitting and then standing.1

Women with pelvic floor problems such as incontinence or prolapse need their pelvic floor muscles to work effectively against gravity when they’re in upright positions. This is why women who commence Kegels training lying down are usually progressed into sitting and standing positions by their Physical Therapist.

It’s important to train the pelvic floor muscles in upright anti gravity positions where possible since muscles strengthen best in the posture in which they are trained.2

Despite this, there is likely benefit from doing Kegels lying down especially when starting out if upright positions aren’t yet possible. Pelvic floor training with Kegel exercises has been shown equally effective in lying down and sitting positions in improving pelvic floor strength and reducing stress incontinence in some women with pre-existing pelvic floor problems.3

More Information

» 5 Kegel Mistakes to Avoid

» How Many Kegels Should You do a Day? (Physiotherapy Video Guide)

» Kegel Exercises Video Series for Beginners

References

1 Vereecken R, Derluyn J, and Verduyn H. (1975) Electromyography of the perineal striated muscles during cystometry. Urology International 30: 92–98.

2 Wilson G, Murphy A, Walshe A. (1996) The specificity of strength training: the effect of posture. Eur J Appl Physiol. 73:346–352.

3 Borello-France F, Zyczynski D, Downey P, Rause C, Wister J. (2006). Effect of Pelvic-Floor Muscle Exercise Position on Continence and Quality-of-Life Outcomes in Women With Stress Urinary Incontinence. Physical therapy. 86. 974-86.

4 Sapsford R, Richardson C, Stanton W. (2006) Sitting posture affects pelvic floor muscle activity in parous women: An observational study. Australian Journal of Physiotherapy. Volume 52, Issue 3, Pages 219-222.

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