Today’s informational blog is republished from our friends at PaleoHacks.

Add these strengthening pelvic floor exercises to your workout routine to improve your sex life and reduce your risk of incontinence.

The pelvic floor is often overlooked, but they’re an important set of muscles to exercise! A strong pelvic floor is responsible for control and pleasure during sex, and they also control the bladder and bowel movements.

What is The Pelvic Floor?

So what exactly is the pelvic floor? These supportive muscles, tendons, and ligaments form a hammock at the base of the pelvis, helping the bladder, uterus, vagina, and rectum to function correctly. (1) They are the foundation for the core, providing stability and support to the organs of the lower abdominal cavity.

Common causes of pelvic floor issues include pregnancy or childbirth, hysterectomy, certain sports, aging, or inactivity of the pelvic floor muscles, just to name a few. Once the pelvic floor has been compromised, problems such as incontinence, diminished sex drive, or even pelvic organ prolapse – when pelvic organs protrude into or outside of the vagina – can arise. The most common sign of a weak pelvic floor – which affects up to 25% of women – is involuntary urine leakage (incontinence).

Luckily, pelvic exercises can help to restore strength and reverse some of these negative effects. These exercises, also known as Kegels, involve squeezing and relaxing muscles in the genital region in order to isometrically train the pelvic floor muscles.

How to Locate Your Pelvic Floor

Before beginning the following exercises, you must first be able to locate your pelvic floor muscles. Here’s how to do it:

1. Begin lying down with your knees bent and your feet on the floor.
2. Squeeze and lift the rectal and vaginal areas as if you were trying to stop yourself from urinating. Hold for 5-10 seconds and then release.
3. You should feel a closing feeling in your genital area when you squeeze. Imagine yourself drawing energy from the base of the pelvic bowl all the way up your body and through the crown of your head.
4. Repeat for 5 reps.
5. Use this Kegel sensation throughout the following 7 exercises.

7 Exercises That Strengthen Pelvic Floor

Bridge | 3 reps

This pelvic exercise helps to strengthen the pelvic floor, core, and hamstrings.

1. Start by lying down with your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Place your arms down alongside your body with your palms facing down.
2. Engage your pelvic floor. Then, inhale to lift your hips up towards the ceiling. Hold for 20 seconds and then exhale to slowly release your hips back down.
3. Repeat for 3 reps.

Shifting Plank | 15 reps

This exercise strengthens your pelvic floor and the other surrounding core muscles.

1. Start lying on the floor on your belly. Prop yourself up onto your forearms, straighten your legs and tuck your toes under, coming into a forearm plank.
2. Draw your navel up and in and engage your pelvic floor. Your shoulders should be stacked over your elbows and your hips should be in line with your shoulders.
3. Staying in your plank shape, inhale to shift your shoulders in front of your elbows, coming high onto the balls of your feet.
4. Exhale to shift your shoulders back over your elbows, pressing your heels back.
5. Repeat for 15 reps.

Wall Sit | 60 sec

This exercise helps to strengthen the pelvic floor, core, and legs.

1. Stand facing away from a wall.
2. Place your back against the wall and then walk your feet out in front of you so that the wall is supporting you.
3. Bend your knees until they are at 90-degree angles and engage your pelvic floor. Keep your navel drawing up and in towards your spine so that your lower back is pressing into the wall.
4. Reach your arms straight out in front of you hold for 60 seconds, then release.

Split Tabletop | 15 reps

This exercise strengthens the pelvic floor and core muscles.

1. Start by lying down with your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Place your arms down alongside your body with your palms facing down.
2. Engage your pelvic floor and lift your feet off the ground. Parallel your shins to the ground so that your knees are at a 90-degree angle.
3. Keeping your knees at 90-degree angles, inhale to separate your thighs into a straddle.
4. Exhale to squeeze your thighs back together and contract your pelvic floor.
5. Repeat for 15 reps.

Tabletop Pelvic Tilts | 15 reps

These pelvic tilts help you to strengthen the pelvic floor.

1. Begin on your hands and knees in a tabletop position, with your shoulders stacked over your wrists and your hips over your knees.
2. Inhale to round your lower back, tilting your tailbone down. Tuck your chin, draw your navel up and in, and contract your pelvic floor muscles.
3. Exhale to come back to center.
4. Repeat for 15 reps.

Bird Dog | 12 reps per side

This exercise strengthens the pelvic floor and the rest of the core muscles, improving balance and coordination.

1. Start in a tabletop position on your hands and knees. Engage your pelvic floor.
2. Shift your weight onto your left hand and your right knee. Then, inhale to reach your right arm forward and your left leg back.
3. Pause for a moment to balance, then exhale to place your right hand and your left knee back down to the starting position.
4. Shift your weight onto your right hand and your left knee. Then, inhale to reach your left arm forward and your right leg back.
5. Pause for a moment, then exhale to place your left hand and right knee back down.
6. Continue alternating for 12 reps.

Dead Bugs Crunch | 15 reps

This exercise strengthens the pelvic floor and abdominal muscles.

1. Start by lying down with your knees bent and your heels on the floor. Extend your arms back behind your head and engage your pelvic floor.
2. On an exhale, draw your knees into your chest and crunch your shoulders up off the ground. Reach towards your toes as you contract your pelvic floor.
3. Inhale to lower your arms and heels back to the starting position.
4. Repeat for 15 reps.

Add these strengthening pelvic floor exercises to your workout routine to improve your sex life and reduce your risk of incontinence.

Easy bladder trick to end pee accidents (do this tonight)

Are you always running to the bathroom?

Do you have trouble holding your pee for too long?

Constantly have that “got-to-go” feeling?

Embarrassed about adult diapers and ready to get out of them?

You can actually STRENGTHEN your bladder to “hold back the tides”.

It’s about INFLATING a little-known muscle that seals the bladder shut!

Finally say goodbye to the urges… the accidents… the leaks… the stress…

This 30-second trick you can try tonight puts you back in control!

Can’t hold your pee for long? Check this out NOW!

Original article can be found here:

The post 7 Exercises That Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor appeared first on thenutritionwatchdog.com.

By: Cat Ebeling, RN, MSN-PHN, co-author of the best-sellers:  The Fat Burning Kitchen, The Top 101 Foods that Fight Aging & The Diabetes Fix

Ladies, ever had this experience?

You’re walking down the street, dressed in a nice pair of slacks or shorts and you suddenly have to sneeze. And, well it’s allergy season, so maybe you sneeze two or three times. Next thing you know, you’re wet down there–and there’s a big spot on your pants. Frustrating? Embarrassing?

Or how about you go meet your friends for coffee, stop at the store on the way home and you are running inside and barely make it to the bathroom before you ‘spill’ over. Then there is that great group fitness class that everyone has been raving about. You sign up and show up for class full of energy and enthusiasm—until you all have to start doing ‘jumping jacks’. You turn and head for the door. Because you’ve sprung a leak!

Yep, those ‘oops’ leaks are what we call “urinary incontinence”. And you are definitely NOT alone.

Some people with this real medical condition have frequent or sudden urges to urinate. Or you just can’t hold it in when you have to sneeze, laugh, jump, lift any weight, etc.

While this problem can happen to men or women, women experience this about twice as often. Up to 45-50% of women—especially over the age of 40—experience this problem to some degree. And unfortunately, it can worsen with age.

Why do women get this more often? A big reason is pregnancy and childbirth. Especially if you happen to have had childbirth that necessitated forceps or an episiotomy. Often the stress and strain, along with possibly injury to nerves in the pelvic area due to childbirth can contribute to urinary incontinence.

Other health issues can also contribute to this problem. Diseases like diabetes, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis (MS) can cause weakness or damage the nerves that control your bladder. Some urinary tract infections can make this especially difficult, along with kidney problems, tumors, medications, and cancer treatments.

Other factors that can have an effect on UI’s are:

• Gender–Women definitely get this more often than men. Pregnancy, childbirth, hormonal changes with menopause, and our unique female anatomy account for this. But men are not immune from this–prostate gland problems also bring an increased risk.
• Age–As we age, the muscles in the bladder and urethra tend to lose some of their strength. These muscles are sphincters which can squeeze and control the urine.
• Weight–Extra weight increases pressure on your bladder and surrounding muscles, which weakens them and allows urine to leak out when you cough, sneeze or jump.
• Smoking–Tobacco use increases your risk of urinary incontinence.
• Other diseases–Neurological diseases or even diabetes may increase your risk of incontinence.

Certain foods and drinks can also overstimulate the bladder, or work as diuretics, and cause transient UI. Caffeine and alcohol are often the biggest culprits. Other foods and drinks that can cause problems include:

• Carbonated drinks and sparkling water
• Artificial sweeteners
• Chocolate
• Chili peppers
• Foods that are high in spice, sugar or acid, especially citrus fruits
• Heart and blood pressure medications, sedatives, and muscle relaxants
• Large doses of vitamin C

What can you do about stopping or slowing Urinary Incontinence?

There are several things you can do to help control UI and hopefully not have to resort to wearing a pad or a diaper. Making some lifestyle changes, including dietary changes can help.

Avoid eating or drinking the ‘trigger’ foods and drinks and lose weight if necessary. Tracking your bathroom trips and retraining your bladder to hold increasingly more fluid can sometimes help. And there’s Kegal exercises. The problem is most people don’t stick to a plan long enough to see much in the way of positive results.

For serious UI issues, there are medical treatments, but some of them can be downright risky and painful! Not to mention have some pretty unpleasant side effects. Some of the medical treatments include:

• Anticholinergic drugs which have unpleasant side effects like dry mouth, bad breath, constipation, blurred vision, increased blood pressure and even dementia.
• Botox is sometimes used on the bladder. The doctor goes up through the urethra and into the bladder. Botox is then injected straight into the wall of the bladder, slowing down the contractions. This uncomfortable procedure will have to be repeated every 6-9 months when the Botox wears off.
• Vaginal inserts
• Injections of certain substances can actually thicken your urethra wall so it seals more tightly to stop urine from leaking.
• Nerve stimulation therapy is where a small device – about the size of a stopwatch – is implanted under the skin of your hip. It sends mild electric impulses to the nerve that controls your bladder muscles.
• A female sling is one of the more common surgical treatments. A strip of mesh is placed under the urethra to support the area. Slings have had mixed success and often have to be redone.
• Physical therapy can actually help to retrain, strengthen or even relax certain pelvic muscles that have to do with bladder control.

While all these solutions seem not only complicated, risky, or downright painful, there is a better solution.

Speaking of urinary incontinence…

Stretch THIS muscle to stop embarrassing “pee leaks” (women only)

It may be uncomfortable for some, but this issue affects over 15 million women in the U.S. alone…

Incontinence.

And one of our good friends and health contributors has experienced this in a deeply personal way.

Health and Fitness Expert, Alex Miller, was devastated the day her mother nearly died.

But she never could have guessed that battling this traumatic experience would cause her mom to suffer from humiliating “pee leaks” for years.

Her mom felt like she wasn’t in control of her body anymore.

She was ashamed.

Frustrated.

And embarrassed to be a woman.

Alex’s strong confident mother was now struggling to even want to leave the house.

And Alex was heartbroken.

That’s when she decided something had to change…

And she dedicated her life to finding a solution.

But she never would have guessed that this search to help her mom would lead her to discover the shocking secret that is causing most women to suffer from involuntary leakage…

And a strange upper body stretch that would not only help her mom, but thousands of women around the world to stop peeing their pants.

=> CLICK HERE TO LEARN THE STRANGE UPPER BODY STRETCH THAT STOPS BLADDER LEAKAGE

References
https://www.urologyhealth.org/urologic-conditions/urinary-incontinence
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/urinary-incontinence/symptoms-causes/syc-20352808
https://www.aurorahealthcare.org/patients-visitors/blog/8-causes-of-urinary-leaks-and-8-ways-to-stop-them

The post The Embarrassing Secret Most Women Over Forty Deal With… appeared first on thenutritionwatchdog.com.