Archive for the ‘Body After Baby’ Category

For those of you who decline the invitation to Soukous your way to core phitness rapture, (http://www.theperfectphit.com/blog/2010/04/who-said-kegels-arent-fun-wind-your-way-to-kegel-glory/) grab a self-lit, hand held mirror, get comfy on the bed, and start your first Kegel lesson as follows:

-PHIT WHY NOTS AND HOW TO’S-

 Do I really need to  Kegel? In a word, yes! Kegels strengthen your pelvic muscles, which wrap around the vagina in women and urethra and rectum in both men and women, contribute to pelvic organ support in women, reduce premature ejaculation in men, and enhance sexual pleasure on both sides of the equation. Do you do crunches for your abs? Same thing, hotter rewards.

What to do: To double-check yourself when Kegeling for the first time, lie in bed with a mirror and look at your perineum (skin between anus and vagina in women, anus and scrotum in men). When you Kegel (named after the California doctor who rediscovered this ancient Tantric exercise and it’s benefits for women), the perineum will appear to retract, or pull into, your body.

How often: Let me begin by stating clearly and repeatedly that there is NO EXACT NUMBER OR BEST WAY TO KEGEL, any more than there is one best way or optimal number of repetitions for ripping your six pack, firming thighs and buttocks, pumping up your “guns” , or any other method of exercising your body to optimal fitness.

What’s the physiology? That said, muscle physiology plays a role.  Every muscle that you can move contains two basic fibers, those being fast twitch and slow twitch.  They develop in response to demands placed upon the muscle group, and were we to biopsy the quadricep muscle of a sprinter, we’d see a preponderance of fast twitch, and in a marathon runner, a predominance of slow twitch muscle fibers.  In the core muscles, the slow twitch contribute a lot to support and body control during sustained activity, like standing, sitting, walking, carrying and running. Fast twitch reacts reflexively with coughing and sneezing or any abrupt motion, in addition to being center stage during orgasm. http://www.theperfectphit.com/blog/2010/04/male-and-female-orgasm-not-so-different-by-alan-fogel/

Make it happen: Experts who do lots of research on the utility of Kegel exercises recommend doing two kinds of “sets” a day, to strengthen the 2 types of muscle fibers. For your slow-twitch, do a set of 10 contractions in which you hold each for a count of 5 seconds twice a day and a set of 30, one-second quick squeezes twice a day. With both exercises, there is no need to take a big break in between, just go smoothly from one to the next, exactly as you do crunches, push ups and curls. Once you have it down in the mirror on your bed, you have my permission to change up your game and do them anywhere, any time.