One of the great sexual myths is that Kegel exercises are only for women. Not enough men and women know the sexual health and pleasure benefits of doing Kegel exercises and having strong pelvic floor muscles, but men especially have been kept in the dark.
Your pelvic floor muscles are a series of muscles connected to your pelvic bone and internal genitalia. When a man stands up, they act as a safety net that holds the internal organs inside. But as with all muscles, they stretch and lose muscular tone over time. Doing Kegel exercises involves locating the pubococcygeus muscles (PC muscles) in your pelvic region and strengthening your muscle tone.
How Do We Locate Them?
Without even knowing, you may already be working out your PC muscles. When you are pushing out those last drops of urine or that amazing, rhythmic “squeeze” that occurs as you ejaculate, that’s you contracting your PC muscles. Because most men don’t urinate or ejaculate enough to give their PC muscles the workout it needs, it’s important to work these muscles out separately.. To locate your PC muscles:
- During urination, squeeze and hold back or slow down the flow or urine
- While erect, simulate the urination squeeze and you’ll notice your penis flinch upwards
- Squeezing or puckering your anus to improve the muscle tone of the rear PC muscle
You may be wondering why I snuck in the anus squeeze. According to Jack Morins’s book, Anal Pleasure and Health, contracting the anus can help to improve fecal incontinence. Also, the anus Kegel exercise can help strengthen the rear portion of the PC muscles near the coccyx.
Sexual Health Benefits of Kegels
Pleasure
Strong PC muscles can also help improve our sexual pleasure in addition to the functioning described below. Strengthening our pelvic floor muscles has been shown to increase orgasmic and ejaculatory power, meaning our orgasms may feel stronger and more intense. Lastly, for more advanced pleasure, Kegel exercises are a common method on the path towards learning male multiple orgasms, which separate orgasm and ejaculation. This can allow a man to have orgasm after orgasm without that annoying refractory period that comes with ejaculation.
Urinary Incontinence
Strong PC muscles can help manage a variety of sexual health concerns. One of the main benefits is to help manage or alleviate urinary incontinence. It’s inevitable that our bodies change with health issues or age. For many men, their urinary sphincter weakens and this can lead to urine leakage. While some urologists will prescribe medication to manage this, many patients can treat this issue with Kegel exercises and strengthening their PC muscles. In addition, anus Kegel exercises combined with your standard penile/pubic focused Kegels, can help create an balanced muscular tone in both the front and rear pelvic floor muscles.
Premature Ejaculation (PE)
Early ejaculation affects approximately 1/3 of men across age groups. There are numerous origins, ranging from previous PE sexual experiences and performance anxiety to speedy masturbation sessions that teach our bodies to ejaculate quickly. One of the most common behavioral treatment interventions for early ejaculation difficulties is strengthening the PC muscles. Consistent Kegel exercise routines and stronger pelvic floor muscles can help aid in ejaculatory control.
Erectile Dysfunction (ED)
Erection difficulties affect millions of men of all ages, yet we often don’t associate ED origins with weaker PC muscles. More often, ED is associated with medical issues such as diabetes, medication side effects, and high blood pressure or psychological concerns like performance anxiety. Like PE, erection difficulties can be positively affected by PC muscle training, as circulation can improve with increased muscle tone. Better circulation can mean stronger erections.
Training Regimen
Like any other muscle in your body, your PC muscles need to be worked out and rested. Designing your own Kegel exercise regimen and sticking with it is essential to reaping the benefits described. They aren’t hard to do and don’t take much time to accomplish. It just takes discipline and consistency.
One example of a training regimen is doing your Kegel workouts 3 times per week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This allows your muscles some rest time. Each day, make the time to workout three times per day (morning, middle of the day, evening). Try doing 3 sets of 20 repetitions during each session. Essentially, you’ll be doing 60 repetitions 3 times per day.
Because we want to include anus Kegel exercises, make that last set of 20 repetitions focused on your anus Kegels.
- Monday: 60 morning reps, 60 afternoon reps, 60 evening reps
- Wednesday: 60 morning reps, 60 afternoon reps, 60 evening reps
- Friday: 60 morning reps, 60 afternoon reps, 60 evening reps
Remember we are trying to isolate the PC muscles, so be aware of your body and don’t tense other muscles in the body, such as the thighs, buttocks, abdominals, and core muscles. Aim for body relaxation, PC muscle contraction.
It’s best to begin with flaccid penis Kegel exercises and work your way up to erect PC muscle training. For advanced erect PC muscle training , a man can place a small hand towel at the base of his penis. Over time, he can move the towel towards the head of his penis for more resistance, even using a wet hand towel for the additional weight resistance when he feels ready.
With all the products developed for female Kegel exercise training, from insertable training wands and Kegel balls to Dr. Emily Morse’s “Kegel Camp” IPhone App, the market for male Kegel training is scarce.
A new product on the market, Private Gym, is the first FDA-approved male Kegel exercise product. It offers men and penis owners a Kegel exercise training kit, complete with a visual training DVD for set/repetition guidance and penile weight system for added resistance. It comes with a book written by a qualified medical doctor, focusing on male pelvic health and the importance of information on PC muscle strength. In addition, the book shows pictures of stretches and exercises to improve male pelvic fitness. Having researched this product, I’m intrigued! I’m going to test it out and offer feedback in a future article.
Why can Kegel exercises change a man’s sex life? As this article points out, it can help you last longer, be harder, not leak, and send orgasmic shivers through your spine. For many men, that can be a game changer. While I don’t think erection and orgasm is everything during sex, I like having the option of including them. The way I see it, caring for your penile and pelvic sexual heath now is an investment into your sexual future.
