Pelvic Floor Exercises (Kegels): A Step-by-Step Guide That Works

Who pelvic floor training helps

Your pelvic floor is a sling of muscle that supports the bladder and helps keep the urethra closed. Training it helps with:

• Stress leaks when you cough, sneeze, laugh or lift. This is where the evidence is strongest.
• Sudden urges, as part of bladder training for overactive bladder.
• Leaks in men after prostate surgery. Cleveland Clinic lists this among the uses.
• Recovery after pregnancy and childbirth, and support for pelvic organ prolapse.

Find the right muscles

Most failed attempts start here. Try one of these:

• Imagine stopping yourself from passing gas. The muscles that tighten and lift are the ones you want. This works for everyone.
• Try stopping the flow of urine midstream, once, just to identify the muscles. Don’t make it a habit: Cleveland Clinic advises against practicing this way.
• Women can insert a clean finger into the vagina and squeeze around it; you should feel a gentle lift and tightening.

You should feel the area tighten and move up, without your stomach, buttocks or thighs doing the work.

A starter routine

Following Cleveland Clinic’s guidance:

1. Squeeze for 3 seconds, then relax fully for 3 seconds. The relaxing matters as much as the squeezing.
2. Repeat 5 to 10 times. That’s one set.
3. Do one set in the morning and one at night.

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) suggests practicing in three positions over the day, lying down, sitting and standing, which makes the muscles strongest.

Build up over the weeks

Once the starter routine feels easy, progress gradually:

Cleveland Clinic says to expect results after six to eight weeks. Keep going after that: like any muscle, the pelvic floor weakens again if you stop.

Common mistakes

• Holding your breath. Breathe normally throughout.
• Squeezing the wrong muscles. Tightening your stomach, buttocks, back or thighs adds pressure on the bladder and can make leaks easier.
• Doing them while urinating, beyond the first time you use it to find the muscles.
• Not relaxing fully between squeezes.
• Stopping too soon. Most people need six to eight weeks of daily practice to notice a change.

Using your pelvic floor to control sudden urges

For overactive bladder, pelvic floor training is used as part of behavioral training. A review of these techniques describes learning to use a pelvic floor squeeze to control urgency, together with relaxation and distraction, and gradually lengthening the time between bathroom trips. In practice:

1. When a strong urge hits, stop and stay still instead of rushing to the bathroom.
2. Squeeze your pelvic floor firmly a few times in a row.
3. Relax the rest of your body, breathe slowly and focus your mind on something else.
4. When the urge eases, walk calmly to the bathroom.

For leaks when you cough or sneeze, the matching trick is to squeeze just before the cough. Our guide to leaking when you cough or sneeze covers it.

When to get help

See a healthcare provider if the exercises cause pain, you can’t find the muscles, or you’re unsure you’re doing them right. A physical therapist trained in pelvic floor therapy can check your technique, and biofeedback or electrical stimulation can help you learn which muscles to use. If you’re not sure whether your leaks come from pressure or urgency, our guide to overactive bladder vs. stress incontinence explains the difference.

Where a supplement fits

Exercises are the foundation, and no supplement replaces them. For women with stress leaks, two ingredients have trial evidence as add-ons: boswellia, tested together with pelvic floor training, and vitamin D, in women with low levels. Both are in NewEra Protect. Its other five ingredients have weak evidence and its doses aren’t published, which is why we rate it 3.2 out of 5.

Reader-supported: we may earn a commission if you buy through the links below, at no extra cost to you. It never changes a rating.

NewEra Protect · 3.2 / 5

Contains boswellia and vitamin D, the two ingredients with trial evidence as add-ons to pelvic floor training for stress leaks. Comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee.

Read our NewEra Protect review

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Men with urinary symptoms from an enlarged prostate should see our guide to a weak urine stream instead.