{"id":74,"date":"2010-08-04T15:07:26","date_gmt":"2010-08-04T15:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=74"},"modified":"2015-03-08T04:17:50","modified_gmt":"2015-03-08T04:17:50","slug":"tight-grip-understanding-kegel-exercise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/tight-grip-understanding-kegel-exercise\/","title":{"rendered":"Tight Grip: Understanding Kegel Exercise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nadia S., 28, is the first to admit she isn\u2019t the most beautiful woman in the world, saying \u201cif our basis of perfection is Miss Universe, then it can be said that I am what\u2019s incongruous to that: fleshy, shorty, whatever.\u201d The interesting thing is, \u201camong us \u2013 me and my friends \u2013 my husband is the only one NOT to cheat his wife,\u201d she says. \u201cA big wonder, my friends say \u2013 kindly, they say, even if they are unkind \u2013 simply because I am, truth be told, the least attractive among us.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The secret, Nadia S. says, is in sex.<\/p>\n

\u201cI keep him enveloped tightly,\u201d was how she put it. \u201cLiterally.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Nadia S. means is sexual, i.e. \u201cMy husband teases me all the time \u2013 that how can he stray when he has the \u2018best woman\u2019 in the world. His words, not mine, as I supposedly keep him satisfied in all fronts,\u201d she beams.<\/p>\n

Much credit, Nadia S. whispers, goes to the Kegel exercise.<\/p>\n

Now what is the Kegel exercise?<\/p>\n

Named after Dr. Arnold Kegel, the Kegel exercise consists of contracting and relaxing mainly to strengthen the pubococcygeus muscles (or PC) of the pelvic floor. The need to strengthen the PC of the pelvic floor is said to be beneficial since, for women, \u201cit is said to be good for treating vaginal prolapsed and preventing uterine prolapsed; and, for men, for treating prostate pain and swelling resulting from benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostatitis,\u201d states FortisHospitals.com, adding other benefits of the exercise as treatment of urinary incontinence (for all sexes), and aiding in the later stages of pregnancy, up to vaginal childbirth.<\/p>\n

In the case of Nadia S., of course, the Kegel exercise is tapped for sexual function, i.e. Regular Kegel exercise can actually also increase sexual pleasure for the woman and her male partner, with the exercises said to make the vagina tighter.<\/p>\n

Of course, for men \u2013 and sexually, specifically \u2013 Kegel exercise is said to have significant benefits for: the problem of premature ejaculation from having more muscular control of the pelvis; strengthening of the pelvic floor for some \u00a0form of orgasm without allowing ejaculation; lifting up of the testicles; and strengthening of the cremaster muscle and \u00a0the anal sphincter.<\/p>\n

How to do the Kegel exercise?<\/p>\n

\u201cA popular way to identify the pelvic muscles in men and woman is to stop the flow of urine midstream. This is accomplished by contracting the pelvic floor muscles. Restarting the flow of urine is accomplished by releasing the pelvic floor muscles. Once identified this way, the pelvic floor muscles can be contracted and released independently of controlling urination,\u201d About.com states.<\/p>\n

When the pelvic muscles are identified, what then?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe basic exercise can be done anytime and anywhere. Just squeeze your PC muscles as hard as you can, and hold them. This is doing a Kegel exercise. Start by squeezing and holding for a count of three to five seconds, then release and relax for five seconds. When you release, notice how your muscles feel. The first time you do a Kegel exercise see how many times you can do it before you feel your muscles getting tired,\u201d About.com instructs.<\/p>\n

Kegel exercises are most frequently performed in sets, so use sets of repetitions \u2013 make sure that \u201conce you\u2019ve found your baseline, do your exercises, and every couple of days increase both the length of time you hold the squeeze for, and the number of exercises per set. As a guideline, try to work up to a point where you can hold the squeeze for 10 seconds. And try to work up to doing ten reps of Kegel exercises per set. So you squeeze, hold for 10 second, release, relax for 10 seconds, and repeat 10 times. Do the exercise three to four times a day,\u201d About.com adds.<\/p>\n

Variations of Kegel exercise \u2013 for men, once comfortable in doing the exercise, do the same while masturbating (while warming up, before reaching orgasm, and while having an orgasm), paying attention to how you fell while doing so (i.e. controlling orgasm); and for women, compressing foam, a finger\/dildo, or a Kegel exerciser (try to order online) while doing the Kegel exercise may help, too.<\/p>\n

Nadia S.\u2019s husband has been \u201cgetting into Kegel exercise, too,\u201d she says, smiling, \u201cworried that he may not satisfy me, and I\u2019d be the one who\u2019d stray when that happens.\u201d And while \u201cI doubt that will happen, but it helps, most certainly, that we make efforts to be happy with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Kegel exercise, then, \u201cwho\u2019d have thought something as simple as this can help do that,\u201d Nadia S. ends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Named after Dr. Arnold Kegel, the Kegel exercise consists of contracting and relaxing mainly to strengthen the pubococcygeus muscles (or PC) of the pelvic floor. And yes, it can help better your sex life, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":75,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,35],"tags":[46,43,45,44],"class_list":["post-74","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-wellness-2","category-wellness-2","tag-dr-arnold-kegel","tag-kegel-exercise","tag-pubococcygeus-muscles","tag-sex"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":915,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions\/915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}