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Dear Heaven,

Heaven knows there are people here who could tell you a lot more about kagels than I can, but I thought I'd throw my two cents in the pot anyway.

The way I look at a kagel is that it is a many splendored thing!

If you were trying not to let something get inside you, and you were trying to close your vagina, that's a kagel. When you get a little better and develop some tone, you can feel the whole area closing right up to your navel.

The stomach area is not really used, nor are the bottom muscles used. It's really about the muscles in and around the vagina.

Sometimes a kagel is easier to do in another position. Try standing with your feet apart about 3 feet and bending from the HIP. Try to grab your ankles then relax, then kagel. You can feel the muscles tighten better in this position. That's what you want to achieve while you are in other more natural positions.

I do kagels in all kinds of positions. And some work and some don't. That way I'm not exhausting myself, but I'm still getting plenty of workout down there.

Kagels are great done in bed, while you are bathing, in the car, while you are otherwise employed. It's a matter of thinking about it.

Welcome to the list,

Judy

hi heaven
here's another take on the kegel....I personally am not a big fan. I used to kegel with the best of 'em, had super strong kegels going on too. and that didn't prevent my prolapse. but that's not the answer to your question...

it is extremely difficult to kegel without moving the muscles around the anus. know why? they are all attached. when I kegel, I also feel my lower tummy contract, like right above the bikini line.
crunches do not help those muscles, and since you are posting here I will assume you have a prolapse? if so, crunches will not help your prolapse. crunches have the potential to push things farther south.

I am with Judy, though. try kegels in another position. now I only do a few kegels here and there, and lately I do 'em sitting on the floor, cross legged with my spine elongated. or on all fours. I never ever do them on my back anymore.
if you want to really know how you are kegeling, try doing it with a finger inserted. you will be able to feel exactly where the muscle is active. someone here, a while ago (louise maybe?) had a whole routine going, getting the muscle active higher up, then lower down, etc. I don't think it had a significant effect on the prolapse but it did make for great sex.

I should stop posting now, I'm in a strange wordy kinda mood.
but welcome to the site and stick around. lots of info and support here.

Crunches make my prolapse feel awful (as bad as when I cough). I've been doing ab work with my feet up in the air (sooo difficult, as I have no core strength after dd).

Kegels are just squeezing, as if you're trying to hold in a fart. :) All those muscles act as one.

I also read that Kegels should be done 2 ways (for fast twitch AND slow twitch muscle fibers). I have been holding for 20 and then doing 20 fast contractions. I do 4 sets, and I try to do it in bed and a couple of times during the day. I used to hate to do them, but now I sort of like it.

Jenn

Hi Heavenlee

You know why it doesn't feel like they are tightening up much when you do Kegals bending over?

It is because when you bend from the hips (not the waist) and stick your butt out the two halves of your pelvis tilt forward in a way that moves the two halves further apart at the back (the ischial spines) and the coccyx lifts further away from the pubic bone. This stretches your pelvic floor muscles more tightly between their anchorage points.

1 They then have a smaller range of movement between contraction and relaxation. You are moving them, but not far, cos they are stretched quite taut in this position.

2 They are no longer floppy! This is the main principle behind WW posture, and it is why many WW Forum members don't bother with Kegals. We don't need to do them, because our pelvic floor is tighter because of the way we stand, sit, walk etc. IMO, Kegals are great for body awareness and muscle isolation, can help establish continency again after labour and birth, and are a great little sex toy! They are for me totally useless for hitching up prolapses. Having side that, I experienced a dead pelvic floor after a particularly difficult second pregnancy and needed electrical stimulation therapy to get the pelvic floor muscles moving again, so I could at least do Kegals! Once I got the muscles going again they were fine in a few months.

Fast forward, via another pregnancy and twenty three years down the road, I did them after the third pregnancy for a while, but have only really done them for fun since then. I do agree that we should do them in as many different positions as possible, particularly in WW friendly postures. Start off by doing them lying down, but as soon as you can get them really moving, only do them upright in all sorts of positions!

Hope this explanation helps. When you are bending over it may feel like they are not doing much, but they are. You are really making them work at whatever movement they can.

Cheers

Louise