The Best Way to Optimize Pelvic Floor Training for Strength & Hypertrophy
What you’re getting into:
- This article is super juicy. It’s over 10,000 words detailing the best program design methods for vaginal strength and hypertrophy training to build muscle and get stronger in your pelvic floor so you can do all sorts of fun pompoir tricks.
- You’re gonna learn what works and why it works that way.
- About 1 hour of reading time. Take your time. You’ll want to go over everything here and come back to it as necessary.
- For a shorter and more updated version, check out my post The Smart & Simple Strength Building Guide for your Vagina
I’m writing the first portion of this mega-article on June 9th, 2024 which is my first day of training after a month of not doing anything. While I always do my best not to make excuses for myself, I have come to understand a new aspect of myself that I didn’t realize.
Obviously, some training will get you more results than no training. And while other people may be content to just jump right in and optimize as they go, clearly I’m the type of person who prefers to line everything up just right and then hit go and progress like a rocket. In practical terms, I want to be sure that I’m on the optimal path which is the shortest and best route rather than get 10 miles down the road on a path that is the long way.
And I always had a hunch that when it comes to training the pelvic floor, there are unique aspects to consider. I wondered why training my pelvic floor felt so different from any other muscle. I knew that I should be training to failure and trying hard enough with the exercise to “make the ugly face” which ensures that I am placing sufficient tension on the muscle for growth.
But despite that, I wasn’t getting the typical signs that come with a taxing workout like really feeling the muscle work, local fatigue of the muscle, delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), etc.
With pretty much every other exercise for every other muscle group, either with weights or body weight, I get DOMS and the other feelings of a good, hypertrophy-inducing workout. So why not with pelvic floor training?
This question led me to investigate a few things about hypertrophy. I turned to Bret Contreras, aka The Glute Guy, since he has a PhD and his blog is one of my favorite sources of information regarding resistance training, especially weightlifting for women. From the articles on his website, there are a few key points that helped me piece together the answers to my questions.
Why the Pelvic Floor is Unique When it Comes to Training for Hypertrophy
Firstly, muscles grow in 3 ways- mechanical tension, muscular damage, and metabolic stress.
Mechanical Tension
Sometimes you might feel like a muscle is about to rip off of a bone when you’re lifting heavy weights. This, my friend, is mechanical tension. If you place tension on a muscle by stretching it passively (without letting it contract), the source of tension is called passive elastic tension. If you place tension on a muscle by flexing it as hard as possible via an isometric contraction, the source of tension is known as active tension. When you lift weights through a full range of motion, the muscles are placed under a combination of passive and active tension since they are stretched while being activated. Research shows that dynamic movements are superior to both stretching and isometrics for hypertrophic gains, so tension alone won’t deliver maximum muscle growth. Tension through a full range of motion is what builds maximum muscle.
Metabolic Stress
Think about the feeling you get when you know you’re really targeting a muscle – the burning sensation you elicit and the pump that you achieve. These are two mechanisms that fall under the umbrella of metabolic stress.
Muscular Damage
Approximately two days following a strenuous bout of exercise, your soreness will likely reach it’s peak, and this soreness is somewhat indicative of muscular damage. Damage is created by either doing something that is unfamiliar, by accentuating the eccentric component to an exercise, or by stretching a muscle while it’s being activated, thereby inducing high amounts of strain. Therefore, variety is an important component to muscle damage as it ensures the targeting of different subdivisions and motor units of muscles.
(Emphasis mine.)
– Training For Maximum Muscle Growth Explained By Bret Contreras June 27, 2013
The stretch (or lack of stretch/ lengthening) of the muscle is the key to training the pelvic floor optimally.
Now as a caution, I do not have a hypertonic pelvic floor so my focus is on strengthening rather than relaxing. If you have a tight/hypertonic pelvic floor, then your focus should be more on relaxing and stretching the pelvic floor. Google “reverse kegels” or some pelvic floor stretches if your pelvic floor is hypertonic.
Back to the stretch of the muscle.
Think of when you’re doing a squat. When your knees are bent and you’re in the lower part of the squat, the glutes are stretched the most. When you’re standing up, the glutes are shortened the most. Squatting, especially with weights, places high amounts of tension on the glutes when they are stretched. And given that the weights are static (unlike resistance bands where the tension changes depending on how far the band is stretched), the tension in a barbell or dumbbell or sandbag squat remains just as high when the glutes are stretched as when they are shortened.
Maximum tension on the glutes when stretched/ lengthed in the bottom portion of a squat. Image credit: Bret Contreras
But if you were to perform a banded squat with large bands over the shoulders, as shown below, the band gets more slack as you go down meaning less tension when the glutes are stretched and more when they are shortened. This is important and we will return to this idea when designing an optimal training program for the pelvic floor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz47v0Uj1cY
What does this have to do with the pelvic floor?
Well, due to the unique nature of the pelvic floor and vagina, the pelvic floor can only be maximally loaded in a contracted position.
So while I wasn’t entirely wrong when I said that the Kegelmaster trains the pelvic floor more in a stretched position and yes it is still the only tool that I know of that works the pelvic floor through a full range of motion with resistance, the full truth is that the maximum amount of force or tension is required when the springs are fully compressed and the device is closed.
And much like the banded squats with large bands over the shoulders, the tension of the Kegelmaster device is variable rather than static like weights. As the Kegelmaster is fully closed, and there is maximum force/ tension required to fully compress the springs, the pelvic floor muscles are shortened, not lengthened, when this is happening. As the KM device opens and the pelvic floor relaxes, the muscles are lengthened and there is less tension because the springs are less compressed.
Maximally loading the pelvic floor is what is done in vaginal weight lifting where the lifter uses weights attached to a jade egg inserted in the vagina. This is very good for training maximal strength and power rather than just purely training for hypertrophy however, it is crucial to note that this is performed as an isometric contraction of the pelvic floor and it is still being done when the pelvic floor muscles are shortened rather than lengthed. If the muscles were lengthened, the pelvic floor would be relaxed, the jade egg would fall out and the weights would drop on the floor.
The only time the pelvic floor is placed under tension in a lengthened position is when a jade egg is worn internally for some time without consciously, deliberately contracting the pelvic floor until the muscles fatigue and the egg falls out. However, without the deliberate kegel contraction, the muscles are not placed under maximal load or tension at anywhere near the minimum tension required to induce any significant amounts of hypertrophy. If enough tension were being placed on the muscles to generate hypertrophy gains, then you would not be able to wear the jade egg for hours at a time and just go about your day the way some women use the egg.
Simply put, if you can wear a jade egg for a long time and just go about your day, it is not heavy enough to induce hypertrophy the same way a static wall sit can be done for hours and hours yet it is not how to grow big leg muscles (the world record being over 11 hours for a static wall sit). When you look at the person with the world record, they don’t have huge muscular legs like a bodybuilder that trains for size/ hypertrophy, nor is doing a static wall sit holds for hours and hours the best way to train for maximal powerlifting strength.
Guinness world record holder for longest wall sit
Wearing a jade egg is more of a muscular endurance exercise, like marathon running, and will not create significant strength or hypertrophy gains. Marathon runners do not have large legs compared to bodybuilders or powerlifters because despite running for a long time, running alone does not place enough tension on the muscles to stimulate significant hypertrophy.
All of this means that it is impossible to maximally load the pelvic floor muscles in a lengthened position with sufficient weight to stimulate hypertrophy or maximal strength adaptations. This is what separates training the pelvic floor from training any other muscle group in the gym and it is the single most crucial thing to understand about training the pelvic floor to optimize your training to get your pelvic floor muscles bigger and stronger.
It is impossible to maximally load the pelvic floor muscles in a lengthened position with sufficient weight to stimulate hypertrophy or maximal strength adaptations. This is what separates training the pelvic floor from training any other muscle group in the gym and it is the single most crucial thing to understand about training the pelvic floor to optimize your training to get your pelvic floor muscles bigger and stronger.
– Peachy D, Love & Pompoir
In summary of why the pelvic floor is unique when it comes to hypertrophy training:
- Three of the main ways muscle growth happens is by mechanical tension on the muscle, metabolic stress, and muscle damage.
- Muscle damage works best for growing bigger muscles when the muscle is in a lengthened position.
- Muscles must be in a lengthened position AND under a weight that is heavy enough to stimulate muscle growth (not muscle endurance) via primarily muscular damage when effectively training for hypertrophy.
- It is not possible to have the pelvic floor muscles in a lengthened position and under a weight that is heavy enough to stimulate muscle growth at the same time.
- The only time the pelvic floor is subjected to resistance or a weight heavy enough to stimulate muscle growth is when the pelvic floor muscles are in a shortened position.
Practical Application
What we will cover in the practical application:
- the best exercises for the pelvic floor
- how many days per week to train the pelvic floor
- how many sets and reps to train the pelvic floor/ how long to train the pelvic floor every day
- why I believe this works
How to Train the Pelvic Floor
Here is what we know about hypertrophy training for the pelvic floor:
- Muscle growth happens 3 ways: mechanical tension, muscular damage, and metabolic stress.
- Also, resistance/ weight/ tension must be at a minimum threshold to stimulate muscle growth.
- 2 of those ways that muscles grow, mechanical tension and muscular damage, work most effectively when the muscle being worked is in a lengthened position.
- The pelvic floor cannot be exercised with a heavy enough weight at the minimum threshold to effectively stimulate maximum muscle growth in a lengthened position.
Given all of these points, and particularly because the pelvic floor cannot be worked under a heavy enough weight in a lengthened position, this means that the primary driver of hypertrophy in the pelvic floor is metabolic stress and mechanical tension to a degree, but not muscular damage.
This explains why I never feel the standard delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) when training my pelvic floor like I do when I train other muscles. DOMS primarily results from muscular damage. And muscular damage that is sufficient to produce hypertrophic adaptations requires the muscles to be under heavy load in a lengthened position. This does not and cannot occur when training the pelvic floor.
If you feel soreness when training the pelvic floor, it is possible that your pelvic floor is hypertonic and requires more stretching. Or, you have discovered a different way of training that I would love to hear about. No cap, plz share.
What Exercises Work Best for the Pelvic Floor?
Metabolic stress is the single primary cause of muscle growth in the pelvic floor. This is because it cannot be trained with heavy enough weight in a lengthened position.
As a result, unlike most other muscles that can be effectively trained in a variety of ways, training the pelvic floor requires exercises and a training program designed specifically to prioritize and maximize metabolic stress to the muscles.
What is metabolic stress and what does that look like in an exercise program?
According to Bret Contreras,
Metabolic stress is brought about by several factors, including:
- The occlusion of veins by persistent muscle contractions, which prevents blood from escaping,
- The hypoxia or lack of oxygen supply in the muscles due to the trapping of blood,
- The build-up of metabolic byproducts such as lactate and the increased hormonal surge, and
- The cell swelling or “pump” of the muscles, also due to the pooling of blood.
These factors aid in building muscle and are synergistic with tension and progressive overload. These factors also help explain why Kaatsu (occlusion) training is highly effective at inducing hypertrophy despite the lower levels of muscle tension compared to traditional resistance training.
Think about the feeling you get when you know you’re really targeting a muscle – the burning sensation you elicit and the pump that you achieve. These are two mechanisms that fall under the umbrella of metabolic stress.
– Bret Contreras
Metabolic stress simply put is how much of a burn or a pump you get when exercising. Bret Contreras and guest writer on his blog Stijn van Willigen have termed exercises that primarily induce metabolic stress in the muscles “pumper exercises” or simply “pumpers.” Exercises that work to create muscular damage (which happens mostly when muscles are lengthened or stretched under tension) are termed “stretchers” and exercises that work by creating mechanical tension are termed “activators.”
The article How often should you train your Glutes? by Stijn van Willigen on Bret Contreras’s blog shows us exactly what pumpers are, how we should do them, and how often the training frequency should be.
Pumpers are exercises that work the muscles through higher reps with lighter weight. Note that this does not mean the weight or resistance is not heavy enough to create muscle growth. It just means that it is lighter than the weight used for training for muscle damage or mechanical tension.
The main movements for training the pelvic floor will be activators and pumpers.
Pumper exercises for the pelvic floor must use medium weights to be effective for muscle growth and strength. This means choosing a weight or resistance that is challenging for 15-30 reps per set and feeling the burn/getting a pump- but the weight/resistance is not so light and easy that you can do over 30 reps without really feeling the burn and getting the muscle pump. Pumpers can be done through a full range of motion at a rapid pace or as shortened or lengthed partials. I will explain partials more as part of the section on exercise variations within this article.
The other type of exercise for the pelvic floor is the activators. Activator exercises work to stimulate muscle growth via mechanical tension. Activator exercises for the pelvic floor are standard kegel contractions through a full range of motion at a slow and controlled to moderate pace.
To sum up this section on the types of exercises that work best for kegel training and how and why they work:
- Pumper exercises
- work the muscle through a full or partial range of motion
- peak tension or maximum load on the muscle when the muscle is shortened
- activate muscle growth via metabolic stress
- easy to recover from in 1-2 days and be rested for the next workout
- Activator exercises
- work the muscle hardest when it is shortened/contracted or “squeezed”
- work the muscle through a medium range of motion
- activate muscle growth via mechanical tension
- moderate recovery time; takes 2-3 days to recover from
- Stretcher exercises
- work the muscle hardest when it is lengthened/ stretched
- work the muscle through a full, or close to full range of motion
- activates muscle growth through muscular damage
- longest recovery time; takes 3-4 days to fully recover from
- not possible for pelvic floor training under maximum weights
Chart for stretchers vs activators vs pumpers; Image Credit
Bret Contreras I also want to point out that no exercise is solely a pumper and only causes metabolic stress, or solely an activator and only uses high mechanical tension, or only a stretcher and only causes muscular damage. Every exercise causes some of each but will lean towards one of the three categories more than the other two.
The 3 Best Kegel Exercises for Training the Pelvic Floor (with variations)
In the early days of bodybuilding, back in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, there was not a ton of research out there that told people how to optimize their training. And this was before the internet.
So unless someone hired a personal trainer or played a sport and had a coach who was also knowledgeable about weightlifting, most information back then about bodybuilding and weightlifting came from books, magazines, whatever someone was selling on TV, or word of mouth.
This word of mouth in gyms and among teammates playing sports was the origin of fitness “broscience” as the internet now calls it. While the term bro-science is often used negatively, it is actually thanks to the bodybuilding pioneers of the 70s and 80s and their so-called bro-science that we now have the kinesiology and exercise science and research that we have today.
In fact, researchers have investigated many bro-science claims that turned out to have some validity and are concepts that we now take for granted like the “mind-muscle connection.” The mind-muscle connection in particular is especially interesting and poignant when considering studies that show that just thinking about exercising or mentally practicing a sport can lead to improvement.
Strength training your vagina is still kind of a niche thing and there is not as much of a fitness community around pelvic floor training to the same degree that there is for general weightlifting, although there are certainly communities that you will find online. The “babe-science” of vaginal weightlifting and pompoir is still in its early days where sex-nerds, like me, are pioneering the field of vaginal fitness much like the so-called “meatheads” and “gym rats” of the early days of bodybuilding bro-science.
I’ve been training my pelvic floor off and on for several years now and I always suspected that training the pelvic floor would have unique considerations that no one else was talking about or explaining in-depth and I knew that these unique aspects of kegel training would impact the optimal way to go about gaining pelvic floor strength for pompoir.
Now I know that I was right.
I also have discovered what those unique considerations for vaginal fitness are, and what are the best exercises for strength and muscle growth in the pelvic floor.
The best exercises for the pelvic floor are going to be primarily the ones that cause the most metabolic stress to the muscles since the pelvic floor cannot be placed under heavy loads when in a lengthened or stretched position which causes muscular damage.
This is very different from mainstream weightlifting which relies heavily on stretcher-type exercises (squats, deadlifts, bench presses) that use very heavy weights for lower reps (under 12 reps, usually 3-12 for hypertrophy and powerlifting) to cause lots of muscular damage for hypertrophy stimulus and are usually accompanied by DOMS.
This is also why most fitness advice for weightlifting is to work out 3-5 days per week and use an upper/lower split. If you’re lifting with big compound movements and doing mostly stretcher and activator lifts, then you’re going to need at least 2-3 days to rest those muscles before training them again.
However, low-rep stretcher exercises with super heavy resistance are not even an option for pelvic floor training because the pelvic floor is not under peak tension when lengthened. Instead, the pelvic floor reaches peak tension when the muscles are shortened which means that activator and pumper exercises and their accompanying rep ranges, weight/resistance levels, and training volume and frequency must be used instead.
The 3 Best Exercises for Vaginal Strength Training and Pelvic Floor Muscle Growth
1. Standard Kegel contraction
The standard Kegel contraction is primarily an activator exercise. It works the pelvic floor through a full range of motion with peak tension placed on the muscles when they are shortened.
Perform the contraction at a slow to moderate, steady pace with medium to heavy weight/ medium to high resistance level. Feel the burn when going slow with heavy weights.
Resistance should be heavy enough to do 8-12 repetitions but not heavy enough to only do less than 8 reps.
You could also extend the rep range to 6-15 repetitions and adjust the resistance accordingly but certainly do not make the weight heavy enough to only do less than 6 repetitions per set.
Ultra-heavy weights with low repetitions work best with stretcher exercises that work the muscles in a lengthened position and which the pelvic floor is unable to perform with significant external resistance.
Repetitions higher than 15 reps are best suited for pumper exercises and lighter weight. A speedy pace and higher reps would cause this to be more of a pumper exercise and more suitable for use with a medium resistance level.
Kegel Contraction Variations
- bodyweight only kegel contraction
- can be done with or without a smart Kegel device like Perfit
- kegel contraction with weights- use jade eggs or ben wa balls or vaginal cones (such as Intimina Laselle) with or without external weights
- kegel contraction with the Kegelmaster device
*Note- a standing position typically makes kegeling more difficult. Try exercising in various positions such as standing, seated, lying down, and on all fours.
Also, the Kegelmaster is ideal for this activator type of kegel exercise since it takes the pelvic floor through a full range of motion with resistance beyond what a jade egg or ben wa balls provide.
At some point, the jade eggs will become too easy/ light to provide enough resistance to make this an activator exercise. If you can perform more than 15 reps with your jade egg/ vaginal cone/ ben wa balls without it naturally slipping out of the vagina due to muscular failure at the end of the 15 reps, then it is too light and you must add more weight to make this an activator exercise and to stimulate hypertrophy through primarily mechanical stress with this specific exercise.
2. Isometric Kegel contractions
Isometric just means “static hold.” So an isometric kegel is when you do a kegel and then hold it without releasing it for a given length of time.
I am not sure whether or not to classify isometric kegels as activator exercises or pumper exercises or if they are something else entirely because the range of motion is essentially zero. In either case, they certainly are not stretcher exercises.
To do this type of Kegel, contract the pelvic floor and hold it for as long as you can- up to 1 minute.
If 1 minute is too easy, add weights or some form of resistance until it is challenging for 10 seconds per rep. If you have a hypertonic pelvic floor, reduce the maximum time from 1 minute down to 30-45 seconds as needed.
If you can hold the static kegel contraction for longer than a minute, you’re getting more into endurance and the weight is not heavy enough for hypertrophy. Increase the weight until it is heavy enough to only allow you to contract for 10 seconds.
Be sure to stretch well after doing these types of Kegels. Learn to relax the pelvic floor and work it through a full range of motion first before adding in isometric kegels.
Isometric Kegel Contractions Variations
- bodyweight only isometric kegel contractions (with or without a Perifit or similar smart device)
- tug-of-war kegel contraction with fingers
- isometric kegel with a toy, jade eggs, vaginal cones, or ben wa balls
- isometric kegel contraction with Kegelmaster
- vaginal weight lifting- a jade egg or ben wa balls with external weights attached
Overcoming Isometric Kegels
Overcoming isometric contractions are isometric contractions that are performed with a weight that is intentionally impossible to move for the sole purpose of all-out effort being given when doing the contraction. This is good for developing neuromuscular strength adaptations and making muscles stronger for their given size.
Bruce Lee was a slender man and yet known for being incredibly strong for his size. Famously, he would perform overcoming isometric contractions by chaining a bar to the floor and trying to pull it up from the floor. The muscular force required to rip the chains from the floor is obviously too much for any human but that is precisely the point.
Bruce Lee performing an overcoming isometric bicep curl
Perform an overcoming isometric kegel by using a Kegelmaster level that is way too high for you to close the KM even a tiny bit. No matter how hard you try, you should not be able to make the Kegelmaster move at all.
If you are strong enough to easily and fully close the Kegelmaster with all four advanced springs, you can also do an overcoming isometric kegel by using a vaginal weightlifting setup with a jade egg.
Use a string to attach the external weight to the jade egg so that is long enough to let the weight fully rest on the floor when you bend your knees and short enough so that the weight would fully come off the floor when you straighten your legs and stand up. Let the weight rest fully on the floor, contract as hard as you possibly can around the jade egg, and then attempt to stand up and pull the weight off the floor while maintaining the contraction. The weight should be heavy enough that it stays on the floor and doesn’t budge.
3. Rapid Kegels & Partials
Kegel contractions that are performed speedily or only through a partial range of motion are pumper exercises. These should be done for high reps (15-30 reps per set) with medium weight and as rapidly as possible while maintaining proper kegel form.
Proper kegel form means not allowing the abdominal muscles or glute muscles to take over for the kegel. The kegel contraction should all come from the pelvic floor and vaginal/ perineum area only. Be sure that you can properly perform a kegel with good form before beginning a pelvic floor fitness journey to ensure you don’t train the wrong movements and cause damage or prolapse.
Biofeedback devices like Kegelmaster or Perifit are excellent for learning how to do a proper kegel without having to go to a pelvic floor physiotherapist or specialist. But if you have tried biofeedback devices and are still struggling to perform a proper kegel, then I would highly recommend that you see a qualified specialist before you hurt yourself or damage your pelvic floor by doing what you think are kegels but are not actually kegels at all.
You can perform these fast Kegels through a full range of motion or a partial range of motion, either near the peak contraction or near the point of the movement when the muscles are in a more lengthened position.
If performing rapid kegels with a jade egg or ben wa balls, it should fit fully inside the vagina and should not require that you deliberately contract your muscles to hold it inside when your muscles are fresh and have not yet been exercised. The jade egg or vaginal cone or ben wa balls should begin to slip out of the vagina soon after the 30th rep from reaching muscular failure. If it did not begin to fall out at the end of 30 rapid kegels, then it is too light and you should progress to using a heavier jade egg or heavier vaginal cone. As soon as you feel it slipping out, remove the egg and rest your muscles for your own safety.
Full range of motion (ROM) rapid kegels variations:
- bodyweight full ROM rapid kegels
- full ROM rapid kegels with jade egg/ ben wa balls/ vaginal cones
- full ROM rapid kegels with Kegelmaster
Lengthened Partials
Lengthened partial kegels are when the kegel contraction is performed only by contracting the lower portion of the vaginal canal. Do not contract the vaginal canal all the way up. Only contract the lower portion and then release without contracting all the way.
Lengthened partials for the pelvic floor with resistance can only be done using the Kegelmaster device because the device opens and slightly stretches the pelvic floor. Lengthened partials could also work with a girthy dildo that gives your vagina a gentle stretch but this would not provide adjustable resistance levels like the KM.
This is of course unless you could somehow insert and remove weights inside the girthy dildo to make it heavier and then train standing up to work the lengthened partials against gravity. But it would need to be girthy enough that gravity wouldn’t pull it out to the floor even when you’re not contracting your muscles.
However, lengthened partials with a kegelmaster are still not a stretcher-type exercise because the maximum resistance/ peak tension from the device only comes when the device is fully closed and compressing the springs at a shortened muscle length. When the device is open and slightly stretching the pelvic floor, there is less resistance than when it is closed.
Contract and release in rapid fashion with bodyweight or medium resistance for 15-30 reps per set. If you can do more than 30 reps at a rapid pace, increase the weight. By the 30th rep, you should begin to slow down and feel your muscles getting tired.
If you find that you can do more than 30 reps, increase the resistance until you can only do fast 15 reps. If you can do 30 reps with bodyweight and do not have a Kegelmaster and are not going to purchase one, simply continue with bodyweight or a girthy dildo.
Lengthened Partial Kegels Variations:
- bodyweight lengthed partial Kegels
- lengthened partial kegels with girthy dildo or toy
- lengthened partial kegels with Kegelmaster
Shortened Partials
Shortened partials are when a contraction is not done through a full range of motion and instead is performed only near the position where the muscles are shortened into a peak contraction. This would be like doing a bicep curl without lowering your arm beyond parallel to the floor and then curling the weight back up, or doing a donkey kick glute exercise and then pulsing your heel towards the ceiling at the top of the kickback.
In pompoir training, this is known as the sucking motion.
To do the sucking motion or more specifically, a shortened partial kegel, first do a kegel contraction and pull the pelvic floor up as much as you can, up and in towards the cervix.
Hold it, and then pulse the contraction while staying mostly contracted at the top of the vaginal canal without fully releasing the contraction.
It can be difficult to master this at first but try to perform the exercise as rapidly as possible, focusing on not fully releasing the contraction.
Please note that this is definitely NOT for anyone with a hypertonic pelvic floor. Please resolve your hypertonicity with stretching and reverse Kegels, myofascial release, and/or vaginal self-massage to release the tight muscles before training with this exercise and especially before trying the shortened partials exercise with weights or resistance.
For shortened partials, use medium weights for 15-30 reps per set.
Shortened Partial Kegel Variations aka the Sucking Motion:
- bodyweight shortened partial kegel/ sucking motion
- with a smart Kegel device like Perifit
- tug-of-war shortened partial kegel with fingers or a toy/ vaginal cones
- shortened partial kegel with Kegelmaster
- vaginal weight lifting- a jade egg or ben wa balls with external weights attached
How much weight/ resistance should I use for Kegel exercises?
How much weight or resistance you use will be relative to you and how advanced you are in your training.
Just like with any exercise, the higher the number of reps you do per set, the lower the weight should be and vice versa, always considering that each set should be taken close to or right at muscular failure for hypertrophy and muscle gains. The optimal rep range for training the pelvic floor is between 6 and 30 reps so choose your weight appropriately so that your muscles reach failure or close to it.
You will likely be using the most weight when performing isometric kegels, a little less for performing the standard kegels through a full range of motion at a moderate pace for 6-15 reps, and the least weight when performing rapid kegels or partial kegels at a rapid pace for 15-30 reps.
For the best muscle growth and strength gains, do not use a weight that is light enough for you to complete more than 30 reps per set without reaching muscular failure and needing to rest for a couple minutes between sets. Any weights lighter than this are going to be training endurance, not muscle growth and strength.
Also, since the pelvic floor cannot be placed under adequately heavy loads when the muscles are in a lengthened state (stretcher exercises), it is probably a waste of time for you to do any less than 6 reps per set (and the threshold may be higher for the pelvic floor at 8-10 reps).
Less than 6 reps per set are best for stretcher exercises which require weights that are heavy enough to make those 1-5 reps super challenging. Doing so few reps for non-stretcher exercises is not optimal and all pelvic floor exercises are going to be non-stretcher exercises. Save the 1-5 rep range and super heavy weights for training your glute muscles and other muscle groups with squats and deadlifts which are stretcher exercises.
How often should I train my pelvic floor with Kegels?
Training volume and frequency is another unique aspect of training the pelvic floor with kegels that is different than most conventional wisdom for weightlifting.
The article on Bret Conteras’s blog by Stijn van Willigen details what is called an SRA curve. This stands for Strength, Recovery, and Adaptation curve and it shows just how much your muscles can recover from and grow from each workout.
Image Credit: Bret Contreras
One of the main reasons for differentiating between stretcher, activator, and pumper exercises is because each exercise type will require a different training program in terms of how many reps per set you do, how much weight to use for each rep, and most importantly, how much recovery time is required in between workouts.
Since most weightlifters are going to be doing a lot of stretcher and activator exercises with very heavy weights and lower rep ranges (1-5 reps for strength/ powerlifting and 6-12 reps for bodybuilding), they are going to need to take a 2-4 days rest for those muscle groups between each workout.
This is why a lot of lifters train 3-5 days a week and do an upper/lower split- hammering the muscles with stretcher exercises every day of the week would impede recovery and prevent you from making progress with progressive overload in the gym. This is shown in the graph below:
SRA curve for stretcher exercises performed 6 days/week showing over-training effects. Credit: Bret Contreras
Since pelvic floor training does not include any stretchers, the optimal training frequency for the pelvic floor is going to be every 1-3 days, depending on how focused your kegel workouts are on the standard kegel activator exercise with resistance or if you’re doing more pumper kegel exercises.
Image Credit: Bret Contreras
I would recommend training the pelvic floor every day or every other day at the most and for myself, I find that I like training every single day rather than every other day just for the ease of consistency of getting into a daily habit rather than resting for a day in between. I then take a full 7 days off of training every month during my period. I also don’t have a hypertonic pelvic floor which is why I think I’m able to train every day and not experience any hypertonicity or over-training effects.
How many kegels should I do every day?
For beginners and those who are just learning how to properly perform a kegel, I would recommend up to 100 full range-of-motion kegel contractions per day, with each contraction being held for 2-5 seconds and released for an equal length of time. You can split these up into 4 sets of 25 reps, resting for 1-2 minutes between sets. I like using the Interval Timer app on my iPhone to keep time and this workout should only take you between 20-25 minutes, plus an additional 5 minutes to stretch.
Here is why I recommend this.
Bret Contreras has mentioned a client of his, Erin, who did pumper-style exercises for her glutes for 6 days a week for 50-60 minutes each day and she had an incredible transformation and went on to win a competition.
The glutes are such large muscles that they can handle an hour of training with pumper exercises every day. The pelvic floor is (thankfully) going to require much less time. I think most people would do well with 15-30 minutes of pelvic floor training per day.
For me personally, I’ve seen the most progress when doing pelvic floor training at the higher end of that time range for 20-30 minutes a day. And if you have a hypertonic pelvic floor, you will want to be at the lower end of that range, maybe even just 10-15 minutes per day until the hypertonicity calms down.
Play around with the amount of volume you do each workout and how long the workouts last to see what is right for you. You can add or subtract sets from each exercise to make the workouts more or less challenging. So instead of 4 sets of 25 reps, you could do 3 sets and this would make the workout 15-17 minutes long, depending on how long your rest times are.
My 300 Kegels a Day Experiment & Why it Failed
So back in February of this year, I tried a little experiment. I was going to do 300 Kegels per day, each held for 5 seconds and released for 5 seconds, and see what sort of results it would get me. I read about this way of training in an old book and decided to give it a go.
The results were less than what I hoped for. The workout was for over an hour just for my pelvic floor. It was time-consuming with little to show for it. I think I lost strength that week when measuring with my Perifit.
The thing is, by doing 300 Kegels per day, I was doing a lot of “junk volume,” meaning that after about the first 100 kegels, the workout had crossed over into becoming endurance exercises rather than hypertrophic exercises that stimulate muscle growth. That’s not what I wanted; I wanted to be training to build muscle not just increase my endurance with the muscle I already have.
I may have even been overtraining to the point of not being able to recover from each day’s workout. This would explain why I lost strength towards the end of the experiment which was discouraging.
Doing that many kegels for an hour is also mind-numbingly boring and towards the end, I was losing motivation. The book boasted results in 2 weeks after all. And I’m not saying they were lying and I do still think the book is a good resource for other things related to sex but it’s far from being a comprehensive authority on strength and hypertrophy training, especially training the pelvic floor specifically.
Overcoming Plateaus with Vaginal Weightlifting
A little over a year ago, I was training with my Perifit religiously for about 3-4 months. During this time I was training every single day and resting for a full 7 days on my period. I had already gotten this hunch that training the pelvic floor would be unique from training other muscle groups in the gym but also not completely removed from normal weightlifting methods so I began to look for answers.
Perifit calculates the strength metric in terms of grams the pelvic floor can theoretically lift, although this is a calculated estimation based on the amount of pressure exerted around the device. And all I wanted to do was to make that number go up.
This was when I first discovered overcoming isometric exercises. It made sense to me that with my Perifit, I would need to exert maximal force when doing a standard kegel with the device to get stronger. I really only cared about strength metrics and hadn’t yet turned my attention to considering hypertrophy even though I was well aware of the benefits of hypertrophy for the glutes.
So what I did with my Perifit was that I purposely over-calibrated the device. During calibration, you’re supposed to perform a few kegels, contracting and relaxing several times, so that the device and the app can calculate your baseline vs how hard your pelvic floor can contract. This calibration makes the highest targets in the games on the app have a suitable level of difficulty for each user.
But instead of using my vagina to calibrate the device, I would use my hand to squeeze and release the Perifit to make the calibration impossibly harder for me. Then I would insert the Perift device. No matter how hard I would kegel, I would give all-out effort and still the little bird or butterfly in the games would not go all the way up to collect the game tokens.
Perifit Kegel game
This was exactly what I wanted so that I could exert maximum effort when kegeling but know that it was impossible and that it was the effort and the trying that counted. Just like Bruce Lee chaining a bar to the floor and trying to rip it out, the point wasn’t to actually get the highest tokens or to actually rip the bar from the floor; the point was to exert maximum effort to practice getting stronger.
I used the Perifit games for about 15-20 minutes a day during this time. Also, the Perifit games include rest time between Kegel contractions in the games (these are the lower tokens towards the ground) so I wasn’t doing all-out maximum-effort contractions the entire time I was training every day. The games are designed to include a mix of relaxation, low, medium, and strong contractions. Perfit also has different contraction patterns to train users to control the amount of contraction force they are using at any given time.
This worked great for those 3-4 months.
And then I hit a plateau and got discouraged.
I knew intuitively that there was more to consider and take into account when training my pelvic floor.
I just wasn’t sure how to go about training any other way to move past that plateau.
Should I do more volume?
Should I be training with heavy weights and doing vaginal weightlifting instead?
How important are speed exercises when training Kegels?
I was confused and didn’t know what to do. Overcoming isometrics training seemed like the only way that I could train the pelvic floor for my goal of increasing strength.
Now, I understand that optimal kegel training involves isometric kegel holds (this is like powerlifting) as well as full range of motion activator exercises with moderately heavy weights for medium reps (like bodybuilding training) and also doing high rep, rapid kegels and partial kegel pumper exercises which is also a part of bodybuilding.
The thing is that as Bret Contreras stated in his blog post about his client Erin, a lot of lifters regard the high rep, lower weight, pumper style exercises as “sissy” exercises (his word) that don’t really build muscle or only build muscle for those taking steroids. So pumper exercises aren’t really given their due in the weightlifting community when looking online. People drive home the point that hypertrophy requires very heavy to decently heavy weights done at 70-90% of a person’s 1 Rep Max for 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps and working out 3-5 days a week when discussing hypertrophy of the muscles. This is great advice for stretcher and activator exercises which certainly do work best for most muscle groups in the body.
But, seeing the results that Erin got with mainly pumper exercises with some hip thrust activator exercises for her glutes and given the specific considerations of training the pelvic floor, it is best to mostly train with higher rep pumper exercises every day or every other day for many sets rather than try to do 3-5 sets of isometrics and activators all the time. The pelvic floor is just different in that way and tends to respond better in terms of hypertrophy to high rep, high volume, high frequency, and medium weights.
Kegel Training Sample Programs
Easy basic, super beginner program
If you’re just starting out or can’t be bothered with the complications of exercise variations and sets and reps and all of this, then the most basic thing you can do is a simple 20- 30 minute Kegel workout:
- 100 standard full range of Kegel contractions per day at a moderate pace
- 4 sets of 25 reps
- 1-3 minutes of rest between sets.
- Optional: switch positions for every set
- standing
- sitting
- lying down
- quadruped (on all fours)
- Repeat for 5-7 days per week
If you do this 7 days a week, then rest for a full 7 days with no exercise during each monthly menstrual period.
This can be done with or without added resistance but use resistance that is challenging in the 20-30 rep range for the most benefit.
Optimal Kegel Program
To put together an optimal training program, select one exercise from each of the following 3 categories and then perform 1-3 sets of each exercise for anywhere between 8-30 reps per set, depending on the exercise.
- Isometric Kegels- choose either static or overcoming isometrics for that day’s workout
- Static isometrics
- use Kegelmaster at a level that is challenging to hold for 10 – 60 seconds or use jade egg with or without external weight attached (or bodyweight)
- 10 seconds to 1 minute = 1 rep
- Rest 15 seconds between reps
- 5 reps per set
- 1 set per workout
- Overcoming isometrics
- use Kegelmaster at a level that is impossible for you to close, or use a jade egg with an impossibly heavy external weight attached (or maximum effort with bodyweight kegels- make the “ugly face”)
- 10 -30 seconds = 1 rep
- 5 reps per set
- Rest 15 seconds between reps
- 1 set per workout
- Standard full ROM Kegel (Activators)
- Use a weight or Kegelmaster resistance level that is challenging in the 8-12 rep range (no less than 6 reps and no more than 15)
- 6-15 reps per set
- 1 rep = 2-3 second contraction and 2-3 seconds full release
- 2- 4 sets per workout
- Rest 1-2 minutes between sets
- Rapid Kegels or Partials- choose one per workout
- Rapid Kegels with Full ROM
- bodyweight, Kegelmaster, or jade egg
- use resistance that is challenging for 20-30 reps (no less than 15 and no more than 30)
- 20-30 reps per set
- 2-3 sets per workout
- 60-90 second rest between sets
- Rapid Lengthened Partial Kegels
- Use bodyweight, Kegelmaster, or girthy dildo
- use resistance that is challenging for 20-30 reps (no less than 15 and no more than 30 or bodyweight only if you do not have any equipment)
- 20-30 reps per set
- 2-3 sets per workout
- 60-90 second rest between sets
- Rapid Shortened Partial Kegels
- Use bodyweight, jade egg (with external weights attached), or Kegelmaster
- use resistance that is challenging for 20-30 reps (no less than 15 and no more than 30 or bodyweight only if you do not have any equipment)
- 20-30 reps per set
- 2-3 sets per workout
- 60-90 second rest between sets
Be sure to stretch for 5 minutes following every workout.
This should take you anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes depending on the number of reps, sets, and rest time between sets. Rest for 1-2 minutes per set, ideally no more than 2.5 minutes at the most since pumper-style exercises work best with shorter rest times.
You can also switch positions for the exercises between standing, sitting, lying down, and quadruped (on all fours) after every set for more of a challenge.
Select different exercise variations for different days. Repeat your workout 5-7 days per week.
Optimal Vaginal Fitness Pelvic Floor Sample Program
Beginners should focus on full ROM through each contraction and proper Kegel form more than strength or speed. It’s ok to not go all-out with maximum contraction force or to go a little slower. Beginners should also perform kegels in a position that is easy, comfortable, and allows for performing the exercises with proper form. Proper form is the priority so if you’re having a hard time kegeling while standing, lie down with your knees bent and feet on the floor and vice versa; if you get a better mind-muscle connection and better form when standing, then stand.
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayIsometric KegelStatic Kegel holds:
1 set
5 reps for 10-60 seconds per rep
Rest 15 seconds between reps and 1-2 minutes after the setOvercoming isometric kegel (max effort, make “ugly face”)
1 set
5 reps
10 -30 seconds per rep
Rest 15 seconds between reps and 1-2 minutes after the setStatic Kegel holds:
1 set
5 reps for 10-60 seconds per rep
Rest 15 seconds between reps and 1-2 minutes after the setStatic Kegel holds:
1 set
5 reps for 10-60 seconds per rep
Rest 15 seconds between reps and 1-2 minutes after the setOvercoming isometric kegel (max effort, make “ugly face”)
1 set
5 reps
10 -30 seconds per rep
Rest 15 seconds between reps and 1-2 minutes after the setStatic Kegel holds:
1 set
5 reps for 10-60 seconds per rep
Rest 15 seconds between reps and 1-2 minutes after the setRestStandard full ROM Kegel (activators)2-3 sets
8-15 reps
1-2 mins rest2-3 sets
8-15 reps
1-2 mins rest2-3 sets
8-15 reps
1-2 mins rest2-3 sets
8-15 reps
1-2 mins rest2-3 sets
8-15 reps
1-2 mins rest2-3 sets
8-15 reps
1-2 mins restRestRapid Kegels/ Partials (pumpers)Shortened Partial Rapid Kegels
2-4 sets
20-30 reps
60-90 second restFull ROM Rapid Kegels
2-4 sets
20-30 reps
60-90 second restLengthened Partial Rapid Kegels
2-4 sets
20-30 reps
60-90 second restShortened Partial Rapid Kegels
2-4 sets
20-30 reps
60-90 second restFull ROM Rapid Kegels
2-4 sets
20-30 reps
60-90 second restLengthened Partial Rapid Kegels
2-4 sets
20-30 reps
60-90 second restRestStretching5 minutes stretching5 minutes stretching5 minutes stretching5 minutes stretching5 minutes stretching5 minutes stretching5 minutes stretchingSample program for 6 days per week and 1 rest day
This is obviously only a sample program and you’re free to tweak things so it suits your schedule and also how you feel. Some people do better with higher volume, high-frequency pumper exercises, and some people will do better with the isometric contractions and bastic kegel activators. Find what works for you.
And if you find that you reach a plateau, know that you have options.
You can try adding in more pumpers or doing them exclusively every day for 3-6 sets per day for 7 days a week for a month (with a full rest week during your period). And vice versa- if the pumpers aren’t doing it for you anymore, you can try training just 3-5 days a week using the isometrics and the standard Kegel activators.
I wish I had known exactly how and why to switch up my training when I reached a plateau a year ago with the overcoming isometric kegels I was doing rather than just getting discouraged and not training. But I suppose it’s better late than never and now that I know this, I can share it to help others.
The Gohddess Pompoir Training Program
Now I have no clue if the creator of the Gohddess pompoir program knows all of this stuff in the article or not, but I realized as I was typing this out that the Aphrodite pillar of the program is essentially structured with the exact type of exercises that I describe.
The program starts out with basic kegel contractions, isometric kegels, rapid kegels, and rapid bodyweight lengthened partials. Only it doesn’t call them that, the program calls each of these exercises something different. But, they’re still the same exercises.
And the advantage of my sample program and of the Aprodite Pillar in the course compared to the basic 4×25 program I wrote is that it contains a variety of dynamic movements. The dynamic movements train the pelvic floor in different ways so that it is well equipped to handle all of life’s stressors and the dynamic movements of pompoir. (If you want to purchase the Gohddess pompoir program, you can use my link and get $100 off the purchase price at no extra cost to you.)
In soccer or football, you have to be able to run for long periods (endurance), sprint to the ball when you need to (speed and power), be able to do the fancy footwork (neuromuscular coordination), and also have the muscle mass to support all of these dynamic activities.
Pompoir, just like soccer, is a functional and dynamic skill set. It’s about strength, power, endurance, speed, muscular coordination, and having a foundation of sufficient muscle mass to do all of those things.
I never thought of myself as an athletic girl.
I know there are a lot of wonderful things that people get out of playing sports aside from just the physical fitness, such as a personal sense of achievement, reaching a flow state, etc., I just never thought that sports or athletics was for me.
I did dance, equestrian, and figure skating when I was younger but I never thought of them as “sports” even though there are competitive sporting events for all three of those activities. So I never thought of myself as an athletic or sports girlie.
And until writing this article and thinking about this a lot, I hadn’t ever thought of pompoir as a sport. It’s not a team sport like soccer and pompoir is not an organized and competitive sport but in terms of physical fitness, it has all the same functional and dynamic components of a sport like soccer. The only real physical difference is that pompoir uses the pelvic floor more than the legs and feet.
I don’t know if competitive pompoir or competitive vaginal weightlifting will ever be a thing. And I don’t know if I would want to participate in that. My interest in pompoir began with wanting to improve my sex life and to be a sex goddess. But seeing it now more as a sport, I’ve come to realize that this really is something that I do for myself and for my own fitness and a personal sense of accomplishment rather than for anyone else’s sexual pleasure. I can confidently say that pompoir is great as a hobby and as a solo sport; it’s become more than just a bunch of sexual tricks for me.
Stretching
For the love all that you consider holy, you must stretch after training. Stretching is not optional, it is required which is why it is on the sample program chart every day.
You must stretch or else your pelvic floor will become hypertonic and this is not a good thing.
There are several stretches for the pelvic floor and each should be held for about 1 minute with 360-degree breathing:
- Deep squat/ yogi squat with a wide stance
- Happy baby
- Child’s pose, sink your hips down to the floor between your feet
- Butterfly stretch
- Frog stretch
Breathe into each stretch and release the muscles with each breath. Towards the end of the 1 minute, gently attempt to do a basic kegel contraction while in the stretched position. Gently contracting any muscle through a stretch will help it to be functional to work through its newfound range of motion rather than being weaker at stretched positions. The key word here is gently! This should be a gentle hug with the pelvic floor with bodyweight only.
You can also sit on a tennis ball under your perineum and breathe deeply with a 360-degree expansion of the rib cage in all directions for a sort of myofascial release of the pelvic floor if you find you need more release than just stretching. This may feel uncomfortable at first but it should never be excruciatingly painful. Remember to breathe and let the muscles release; don’t fight the discomfort by clenching even more. If a tennis ball is too hard, use a squishy stress ball. If the tennis ball feels too soft, use a baseball.
Cautions
Always consult your licensed healthcare provider before beginning any exercise program.
If undertaking any piece of advice from this article, you do so at your own risk.
Children and persons under the age of majority in their legal jurisdiction should receive full consent from a parent or guardian before beginning any exercise program.
Also, a word of causing regarding isometric kegels:
Having a jade egg with weight drop to the floor and rip itself out of your vagina because you were doing an isometric contraction and reached muscular failure is a good way to land in the hospital with perineal tears and vaginal trauma. This is basically what happens when a large baby is birthed by a mother with a hypertonic pelvic floor that can’t relax and work through a full range of motion.
You have been warned.
Be careful and keep yourself safe.
Go lighter if you need to, especially on the isometric contractions and release the weight safely before well before reaching failure if you need to.
Don’t try to ego lift the most weight for the longest or set a PR in a risky way and end up hurting yourself and then not being able to lift at all.
Make sure you don’t drop the weight on your feet. Take a wider stance to avoid your feet, or else wear boots when doing vaginal weightlifting with heavy, large weights attached to the jade egg.
I recommend using a strong guyline to thread through the hole of your jade egg. Be sure the guyline has been rated for heavy loads. Use thick straps and heavy-duty carabiners that have been rated to support heavy loads to attach the external weight to the guyline. You can likely find carabiners, guyline, and straps wherever climbing and hiking equipment is sold.
The safest way to do isometric kegels is with the Kegelmaster. It has the safety control knob for a reason so it won’t pop open more than is comfortable for you once you have reached muscular failure. This isn’t a KM ad but I highly recommend it if only for its safety features when performing isometric kegels.
Conclusion
In hindsight, maybe I should have just kept at my training rather than getting discouraged and stopping for months at a time. Or I should have just followed the Aphrodite Pillar of the Gohddess Pompoir program and that would have likely given me the results I was looking for a nd prevented me from hitting any lengthy plateus.
However, I’ve learned a lot and I’m so pleased that I get to share it. Now I know exactly why certain exercises, rep ranges, training volumes, and training frequencies work best for the pelvic floor.
Training the pelvic floor is slightly different from training any other muscle group simply because of how the resistance is loaded. I was wrong- training the pelvic floor is not just like powerlifting or weightlifting. The pelvic floor is under peak tension when it is shortened, not lengthened, which is why doing certain rep ranges and training volumes are more effective than the ones advised by most training programs. With other muscle groups, there is the option to choose heavy load stretcher exercises where there is peak tension on the muscles when they are lengthened.
This simply is never the case for the pelvic floor.
Stretchers are great exercises and I’m not saying they’re bad, simply that the pelvic floor is unable to perform them under a sufficiently heavy load to cause muscle growth.
And it’s not because the pelvic floor can’t get really strong- it’s because the nature of the pelvic floor being where it is in the body and the limited angles we have to target the muscle group.
The only exercise options for the pelvic floor are activators and pumpers, which require different rep ranges, training volumes, and training frequencies.
I feel more confident now than ever that I know how to train my pelvic floor optimally and get the results that I am looking for. I will definitely be updating the blog more frequently as my training progresses.
If you’ve made it all the way through this behemoth of a blog post, I salute you. Thank you for reading. I hope that you have learned from this article exactly what exercises work best for training the pelvic floor when the goal is hypertrophy and strength and also how to work those exercises into an effective training plan.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment and I’d be happy to answer.
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