{"id":637703,"date":"2026-08-14T23:23:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T23:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/637703\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T23:23:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T23:23:25","slug":"should-you-be-doing-reverse-kegels-instead-of-regular-ones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/637703\/","title":{"rendered":"Should you be doing \u2018reverse Kegels\u2019 instead of regular ones?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Squeeze\u2026 or release?<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve probably heard of Kegels, an exercise that can help with everything from stopping leaky pee to better sex.<\/p>\n

But recommendations from TikTok \u2014 and even some women\u2019s magazines \u2014 aren\u2019t one-size-fits all. In fact, some people should be skipping traditional Kegels and doing reverse Kegels to keep things running smoothly.<\/p>\n

\"AsianBridge pose can also help strengthen the pelvic floor. Daniel \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Both exercises help with the functioning of pelvic floor muscles, which hold up your bladder, reproductive organs and intestines like a sling.<\/p>\n

Traditional Kegels help the muscles strengthen to hold all your guts up \u2014 but the exercise can also cause problems if the pelvic muscles are constantly strained.<\/p>\n

Several experts have warned to The Post that Kegels can make some pelvic floor dysfunction worse<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and they can backfire during menopause<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a tightness issue, strengthening exercises make it worse,\u201d Monica V. LoConti, a pelvic rehabilitation practitioner, told The Washington Post<\/a>. \u201cIf it\u2019s just\u00a0tight, tight, tight, it can never get to the point where it can relax enough to close and open appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n

This might look like<\/a> pain while peeing, peeing often, straining to poop, pain during sex, or problems reaching orgasm.<\/p>\n

Who should do \u201creverse\u201d Kegels?<\/p>\n

Regular Kegels are for people with underactive or weak \u201chypotonic\u201d pelvic muscles, but reverse Kegels may help people who have overactive or tight \u201chypertonic\u201d pelvic floors. <\/p>\n

Over and underactive pelvic muscles can have similar symptoms, including problems with urination and bowel movements and sexual discomfort.<\/p>\n

The best way to find out whether your pelvic muscles are over or underactive is to get a physical exam from a urogynecologist or urologist.<\/p>\n

An overactive pelvic muscle is more associated with pain from tension. It affects as many as one in 10 people.<\/p>\n

Hypertonic pelvis floors can be caused by holding in pee or poop. Prolonged sitting, depression, stress, and pain-causing conditions like endometriosis could also increase risk of too-tight pelvic floors.<\/p>\n

Pregnancy and childbirth can cause injury and trauma to the muscle as well, causing both over and underactive pelvic muscles.<\/p>\n

\"ATo do a reverse Kegel, start with slow breathing. dmitriisimakov \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

How to do reverse Kegels<\/p>\n

To know how to do a \u201creverse\u201d Kegel, you need to know how to do a regular one.<\/p>\n

First, relax in a reclined position and find your pelvic floor muscles \u2014 it can be tricky when there aren\u2019t any visual queues, only internal sensations.<\/p>\n

A regular Kegel involves 3 parts: squeezing the muscle that you\u2019d use to stop farting, squeezing the muscle you\u2019d use to stop peeing, and squeezing the vagina for women.<\/p>\n

Think of a Kegel as an inhale, and a reverse Kegel as an exhale. It\u2019s simply the release of the tension you create in a traditional Kegel.<\/p>\n

To do a reverse Kegel you need to do a Kegel first. <\/p>\n

Breathe deeply for a few cycles. Tighten as you would in a Kegel, but don\u2019t hold it \u2014 let it go, as if you are peeing or pooping. Don\u2019t go too far by pushing out or \u201cbearing down.\u201d<\/p>\n

A reverse Kegel might also be called \u201cpelvic floor drops\u201d or \u201cdown-training\u201d the pelvic floor.<\/p>\n

LoConti recommends aiming for 10 reps a day.<\/p>\n

Kegels, reverse Kegels, and sex<\/p>\n

Regular Kegels help both sexes with intimacy. For women, it helps vaginal contractions, blood flow, and improve sensation. In men, it can help with erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation.<\/p>\n

Reverse Kegels help women reduce tightness, which can cause pain during sex. That tightness can make penetration painful. It can also help men with the same symptoms regular Kegels do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Squeeze\u2026 or release? You\u2019ve probably heard of Kegels, an exercise that can help with everything from stopping leaky…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[278],"tags":[18,525,135,19,17,146420,86841,269625,50862],"class_list":["post-637703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-eire","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-poop","tag-sex-relationships","tag-urination","tag-vaginas"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117096442723381162","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}