What Is Reverse Kegel, and What Are its Benefits?

Reverse Kegel has been gaining increasing popularity, as it increases strength and gives a well-rounded workout of the pelvic floor muscles.

Weak pelvic floor muscles can cause several problems, including lower back pain and urinary incontinence. In this article, we will discuss more about the reverse kegel along with the benefits it provides.

---

What Is Reverse Kegel?

Kegels (Image via Pexels/Mart Production)

Reverse Kegel is a lengthening and relaxation technique for pelvic floor muscles. Both men and women can do Kegel exercises for contraction and relaxation of pelvic floor muscles to get a full range of motion.

However, there're precautions you should keep in mind before doing the reverse kegel. You should also consult a physical therapist or urogynecologist to understand the problems with your pelvic floor muscles.

Along with relaxation techniques and exercises, you should also take a supplemental approach such as massage or physical therapy. If you have weak pelvic floor muscles, a contraction exercise alone might not help build strength.

---

Benefits of Reverse Kegel

Here're a few:

#1 Healthy Sex Life

Reverse kegel is beneficial for women experiencing painful sex, as it helps in relaxing the pelvic floor muscles. It also allows you to experience a better sex life along with providing other benefits.

---

#2 Stronger Pelvic Floor Muscles

Regardless of gender, the reverse kegel helps build stronger pelvic floor muscles. That helps avoid problems like constipation and reduces fecal or urinary incontinence.

Regularly doing this exercise prevents muscular imbalance, provides hip stability, relieves pelvic tension, and builds lower back strength. Strong pelvic floor muscles also help in better functioning of the organs in terms of normal sexual function, stool elimination, and urine storage.

---

#3 Beneficial for Pregnant Women

The reverse kegel is beneficial for pregnant women, as it helps reduce tension from the pelvic floor muscles.

It might also come in handy during child birth. Regularly doing this exercise helps avoid prolapse of pelvic organs, which is common after pregnancy. The reverse kegel can also be helpful for men in increasing their sexual stamina and strength along with reducing risk of premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction.

---

How to Do Reverse Kegel Exercise?

Kegel can be done both standing and sitting (Image via Pexels/Maksim Goncharenok)

Start by doing the normal Kegel exercise. Identify and focus on your pelvic floor muscles before taking a deep breath. Release before focusing on stretching your pelvic muscles as much as you can. You should feel your muscles elongate.

Hold the position for five seconds before releasing and repeating. Make sure to take deep breaths while you are doing the exercises, and do not overexert the muscles. However, you should release it immediately if feel any kind of pain to give your body rest. You can also consult a medical professional to avoid any problems.

---

Difference Between Reverse Kegel and Regular Kegel

Reverse kegel is simply the opposite of standard kegel exercises. Doing both exercises can provide the pelvic floor muscles with a complete workout due to the opposite motion involved.

The combination of both forms will allow you to achieve a better outcome in a shorter time. Normal kegel helps tighten the pelvic floor muscles, while reverse kegel relaxes and lengthens the same muscle groups.

---

Reverse kegel benefits include increased control over pelvic floor muscles and strengthening them. These are simple exercises that do not require much time.

A combination of both reverse and normal kegel can help build resilience and strength in no time. However, it's also important to increase the frequency and intensity of these exercises gradually to prevent the muscles getting rigid, sore, and tired.