Why Use A Manual Pelvic Floor Toner?

So you’ve been told that you need to do your pelvic floor exercises? Maybe you’ve just had a baby, maybe you’re suffering from some leaks, or maybe you just want to get your muscles strong, healthy and in great shape.

But, it’s not always easy to do your manual pelvic floor exercises, and every day we get calls from Kegel8 ladies asking for advice about whether they are using the right muscles, how often they should be exercising and how long they should be ‘lifting and squeezing’ for. That’s where a Kegel8 manual pelvic floor toner comes in.

Strengthen your pelvic floor with a manual pelvic floor toner

If you’re wondering how to do your manual pelvic floor exercises correctly, then you’ve come to the right place. Your pelvic floor is made up of ‘slow twitch’ and ‘fast twitch’ muscle fibres, and it’s important to exercise in a way that strengthens them both. You should do both slow Kegel exercises and fast Kegel exercises to get the best results.

Slow Kegel Exercises: start at your anus and tighten your pelvic floor muscles (as though you’re trying not to pass wind), then tighten around your vagina. Squeeze both of these areas and ‘lift’ – the lift part is just as important as the squeeze! Hold for a slow count of 5, then relax. Repeat 5 times.

Fast Kegel Exercises: tighten your muscles as above, but ‘squeeze and lift’ quickly for two seconds, then relax for two seconds. Repeat 5 times.

You should aim to do these exercises 6-10 times a day, and you should start to see improvement within 8-20 weeks. You will find that as your muscles get stronger, you can hold your ‘squeeze and lifts’ for longer.

But I need help with my manual pelvic floor exercises

You’re not alone. We speak to ladies (and men too) every day who struggle with manual pelvic floor exercises because it’s really difficult to know if you are exercising the right muscles – many people ‘squeeze and lift’ their bum, thigh or leg muscles rather than their Kegel muscles. Also, it’s difficult to remember to do your pelvic floor exercises 6-10 times a day too, and people get disheartened when they don’t see an improvement quickly. That’s where a Kegel8 manual pelvic floor toner comes in.

Kegel8 Trainer

Described by one physio as “your own personal trainer in a box”, the Kegel8 Trainer not only helps you to exercise your pelvic floor, but it also measures the strength of your pelvic floor on the exclusive Squeeze Scale. The Squeeze Scale is known as biofeedback, and clinical studies show that pelvic floor exercise with biofeedback is almost 25% more effective than pelvic floor exercise alone!

When you use a Kegel8 Trainer, you’ll start by completing the Test Mode, which will guide you through a series of ‘squeeze and lift’ exercises. By using the specially-designed probe, Kegel8 Trainer will tell you when you’re using the right muscles, then will tell you how strong your muscles are on the Squeeze Scale. Kegel8 Trainer will then guide you through pelvic floor exercises that are right for your level, so you don’t need to worry about whether you’re doing enough exercises, whether you’re doing too many, or whether you’re using the right muscles, because Kegel8 Trainer will help and guide you through all the way. What’s also great about Kegel8 Trainer is it allows you to measure your progress – over the course of the days and weeks that you exercise, you will be able to monitor your progress using the Squeeze Scale, making it perfect to use alongside an electronic Kegel8 pelvic toner too. With Kegel8 Trainer, you can exercise in just 15 minutes a day, meaning you don’t need to remember to do your manual Kegels 6-10 times a day.

Kegel8 Vaginal Cones

Did you know that it’s clinically proven that Kegel exercise with vaginal cones is successful in more than 70% of cases of incontinence? That’s why Kegel8 Vaginal Cones are so popular. Kegel8 Vaginal Cones are brilliant for three reasons. Firstly, they offer resistance to make your Kegel exercises more effective.

Exercising with a Kegel8 vaginal cone in place is similar to exercising using weights at the gym – by adding weight, this adds resistance, meaning that your muscles have something to work against and this will help them to get stronger. The set of 3 Kegel8 Vaginal Cones allows you to exercise progressively; you start with the largest, lightest cone, then as your muscles get stronger, you can progress to the smaller, heavier cones which are more difficult to keep in place.

Secondly, Kegel8 Cones offer biofeedback so you can be sure you’re exercising the right muscles. One of the most common questions we get asked here at Kegel8 is ‘how do I know if I’m using the right muscles?’ When you use Kegel8 Cones, the silicone ‘tail’ will move downwards if you are squeezing and lifting the right muscles, and upwards if you’re exercising using your bum, thighs or another wrong muscle – this really helps you to know whether you’re exercising correctly.

Thirdly, we’ve included an expert physiotherapy exercise guide with the Kegel8 Cones to help you to get the best from your exercises. Devised with a physiotherapist, the exercise guide offers both beginners’ and advanced exercises, designed to be completed in just minutes a day.

If you need more help, advice or guidance on any of the manual Kegel8 pelvic floor toners, then contact our Customer Services team, or ‘ask a question’ via any of our product pages.

Sources

[1] Wang, A. C., Wang, Y. and Chen, M. 2004. Single-blind, randomized trial of pelvic floor muscle training, biofeedback-assisted pelvic floor muscle training, and electrical stimulation in the management of overactive bladder. Urology, 63 (1), pp. 61--66.

[2] [2] PEATTIE, A. B., PLEVNIK, S. and STANTON, S. L. (1988), Vaginal cones: a conservative method of treating genuine stress incontinence. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 95: 1049–1053. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1988.tb06512.x