Table of Contents
5 pelvic floor exercises to enhance your health:
1. Squats
Squats aren’t just an exercise to burn calories and lose weight but it’s a lower body workout and can help strengthen the pelvic floor, tone the abdominal area and improve posture by engaging the maximum muscles in your body.
Here’s how to perform it:
- Start by standing with your feet shoulder width apart, and place your arms down by your sides.
- Keep your hands on the back of your head.
Note: You can also hold kettlebells or dumbbells. - Bend your knees and push your hips back as if you’re going to sit in a chair.
- Keep the weight centered; do not lift from your heels or toes. Also, keep your torso erect, chest up, abs tight, and look straight.
- Inhale as you lower.
- Now, when your thighs are parallel to the floor, pause and slowly return to the starting position while keeping your torso and back erect and hips under the bar.
- Exhale as you come up. Repeat. You can do 10 to 15 squats and at least 5 sets.
2. Frog pose (Bhekasana or Mandukasana)
Along with a strong core, you can also strenghten your pelvic floor muscles with a frog pose aka Bhekasana or Mandukasana. It is also well known for strengthening ankle and knee joints, strengthening the lower back, and weight loss.
Here’s how to perform it:
- Start in the tabletop position on both palms and knees.
- Slowly widen the knees (wider than your hips) as you feel a comfortable stretch in your inner thighs, maintaining the inside of your calf and foot in touch with the floor.
- Align your heels directly behind your knees.
- Flex your feet to point your toes face outward.
- Make sure your ankles are in line with your knees.
- Place your forearms on the ground and walk your hands forward.
- Attempt to elevate your stomach off the ground.
- Place your full weight on your forearms and hands, with your shoulders over your elbows.
- Allow your hips to hang heavily downward as you relax.
3. Glute bridge pose
If done correctly, bridge pose is a great exercise for glutes, core, and of course pelvic muscles. It can also help in stretching the chest, neck, and spine while strengthening the back, buttock, and hamstring.
Here’s how to perform it:
- Lie on the floor with a thickly folded blanket beneath your shoulders to protect your neck if required.
- Your knees should be bent and your feet should be flat on the floor.
- Exhale and lift your tailbone into the pubis while actively pressing your feet and arms to the floor.
- Maintain a strong buttocks position and lift them off the floor.
- Keep your inner feet and thighs parallel. To stay on the tops of your shoulders, clasp your hands below your pelvis and lengthen your arms.
- Raise your buttocks till your thighs are nearly parallel to the ground.
- Maintain a straight line between your knees and your heels, but push them forward, away from your hips, and lengthen your tailbone toward the backs of your knees.
- Maintain a tight grip on your outside arms and broaden your shoulder blades, lifting the area between them at the base of the neck up into the body.
- From 30 seconds to 1 minute, stay in the stance.
