Strong pelvic floor muscles are vital for both men and women. They support our internal organs, keep us continent, and help with sexual function. And while exercises that isolate them in sitting or laying down are valuable, you can also put them in your workout. Here’s how to activate your pelvic floor muscles with squats.
Understand the Role of the Pelvic Floor with Breathing
Take a deep breath in. You should feel your lower ribs expand. As you do this, the diaphragm flattens and presses down. During an inhalation, the pelvic floor muscles should relax slightly and lower. Then, as you exhale, the pelvic floor muscles should tighten and lift in conjunction with the diaphragm. Think of your lower trunk as a cylinder that rises up and down beneath your lungs with each breath. The pelvic floor and diaphragm work in tandem to help with this movement.
Why Squats?
For most of human history, toileting and childbirth have been performed in a deep squat. With a deep squat, your pelvic floor muscles need to relax for these functions. As you come up to standing from a squat, you contract your pelvic floor muscles for organ support and breathing.
Before You Start
If you’ve never done pelvic floor exercises before or if it’s been a while, take some time to coordinate the movement. You can think of stopping the flow of urine, trying not to pass gas, or pulling your sit bones together as you draw the pelvic floor muscles in and up. Practice contracting the muscles, holding them, and then relaxing them. Initially, they may feel weak. Keep at it and you’ll master the coordination of the movement and strengthen the muscles.
How to Activate Your Pelvic Floor Muscles with Squats
Tightening pelvic floor muscles in sitting and laying down is helpful, but you also want those muscles to work in standing against gravity. Squats are a great way to incorporate them into your workout.
It’s okay if you can’t do a deep squat. Just work in your available range of motion and follow these three steps:
- Start with good form and maintain it throughout.
- Coordinate your breathing. Inhale as you squat down and exhale as you come back up.
- Relax the pelvic floor muscles slightly as you squat and then strongly contract as you rise.
Follow along with this video:
Note that you can change your breathing pattern if you change the focus of your squats. For example, if you’re working on eccentric strength (lowering down) you probably want to exhale on the downward motion and inhale as you come up. That’s fine. Just keep breathing and match it to where you put your focus.
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