Oh dear. Vaginal weightlifting (…I’m serious) is everywhere I look right now.
This “fitness trend” is not helping the fitness and pelvic health pro’s of the world convince the masses that you don’t need to do a thousand kegels a day to have a strong pelvic floor.
Or, simply that your goal should be the strongest pelvic floor muscles in the history of ever.
And, let’s be clear: you don’t. You don’t need to kegel your life away and you don’t need to lift a surfboard with your vagina.
The viral post of the week has been a woman, Kim Anami (whom I’ve been following for years), touting the benefits of lifting and holding progressively heavier objects with your pelvic floor muscles.
Kim A. writes some really interesting things about intimacy, relationships and sex, which are certainly tied to pelvic floor health.
She is a proponent of vaginal weightlifting. You attach an object with string/rope, string it through a jade egg, and insert the egg into the vagina. And, then you squeeze your pelvic floor muscles as tight as you can squeeze and you hold these objects.
I wouldn’t recommend it for most (anyone?). So, time to cancel that jade egg you have on order 😉
To understand why this is NOT how you get a strong pelvic floor, click here to listen to my brand new interview with Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist, Sami Cattach.
You don’t need a pelvic floor that’s “so strong” it lands your partner in the hospital from intercourse (…Kim’s words). You need a pelvic floor that FUNCTIONS well for your life.
This is not so much about strong vs. weak, as it is about function. Yes, we want a pelvic floor that is strong. Absolutely.
Most importantly, we want a pelvic floor that can gain strength, relax, release, that isn’t holding chronically high levels of tension, that is “coordinated” in its’ responses to pressure, exercise.
And, let me tell you, from years of educating thousands of women on their core and pelvic floor health lifting things with their vagina is unlikely to be the answer to a well functioning pelvic floor.
More and more and MORE strength isn’t the whole answer to incontinence, prolapse, back and pelvic pain.
A better FUNCTIONING core and pelvic floor is the answer. You do not simply have urinary or bowel incontinence (stress or urge), or pelvic organ prolapse simply from weak pelvic floor muscles.
I asked my go-to pelvic floor physical therapist, Sami Cattach, for her professional opinion on vaginal weightlifting. Here’s what she said:
“There is no need for vaginal weights as this can cause HYPERtonicity and dysfunction of the pelvic floor muscles.
A functional pelvic floor is one that can support the weight of your internal organs, a growing foetus and your torso, and can respond quickly and effectively to loads subjected upon it (eg. when you are moving or carrying things in your arms).
More strength is just more, not necessarily better.”
Re-read that last line: “More strength is just more, not necessarily better.” This is a very important takeaway.
I HAD to ask Sami more.
Like I said, Sami is one of my fave pelvic health physiotherapists. We met in Calgary at the physio clinic I attended for MY OWN postpartum pelvic floor physiotherapy appointments (gotta walk the walk).
Sami is extremely knowledgeable in exercise, pelvic floor, movement techniques, core training exercises, alignment and posture. She is also a Restorative Exercise Specialist trained by THE Katy Bowman (!).
We recorded a full length, 50-minute interview so I could talk to her about:
• Why she doesn’t often prescribe kegels
• Her thoughts on running in pregnancy (oooh!)
• What pelvic organ prolapse is and feels like
• If it’s possible to heal pelvic organ prolapse
• Why your alignment in life and exercise IS actually really important
• How you can prevent trauma to the pelvic floor during birth
• Why you need a super strong booty (…you know I love this)!
Click here to watch the full length video because, let’s be real, lifting surfboards with your vagina is not practical OR necessary.
Jess