Kegel exercises: a pelvic floor muscle trainer

An online Kegel exercise trainer for the pelvic floor muscles. It sets the rhythm of squeezes and rest, cues your breathing, runs a week-by-week programme and counts your sets. Before you begin it asks one question, and if your answers point to a tight rather than weak pelvic floor it switches to a relaxation programme — because with a hypertonic pelvic floor, ordinary Kegel exercises usually make things worse.

How to train

1

Answer the question about pain and urination — it decides whether to strengthen or relax.

2

Read the technique section and find the right muscle: a lift up and in, belly and buttocks still, breathing free.

3

Press Start and follow the circle: squeeze, hold, let go — and let the rest phase run in full.

4

Do three sets across the day — morning, afternoon and evening; the counter marks each one.

5

Stay with it for three to four months: the hold grows on its own as trained days accumulate.

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Train to a timer with breathing cues and a technique breakdown

This is a trainer, not treatment. It sets the rhythm and counts your sets, but it cannot examine you or diagnose anything. If you have pain, leaking or a feeling of something bulging, see a urogynaecologist or a pelvic health physiotherapist — an in-person assessment shows what no app can.
One question before you start
Do you have pelvic pain, pain during sex, trouble starting to urinate, or a sense that exercises make things worse?
Tick anything that applies:
And separately — these:
Get ready
—
How to know you are squeezing the right thing

In a study where women were given ordinary verbal instruction, fewer than half produced a correct contraction, and one in four moved in a way that would more likely worsen incontinence. So start by finding the muscle, not by counting reps.

  1. Imagine holding in wind and, at the same time, drawing something up and inwards. The movement goes into the body, not down.
  2. Put a hand on your belly. In a correct squeeze the belly does not push out or harden, and the buttocks and thighs stay relaxed.
  3. Keep breathing. If you have to hold your breath to hold the squeeze, the squeeze is too strong — halve the effort.
Bearing down
The most common error: instead of drawing up, people push down as if opening the bowels. That is pressure on the pelvic floor rather than training — this is exactly how the exercise starts doing harm.
Holding your breath
If you could not speak during the hold, you are holding air rather than muscle. Breathing should stay free through the whole hold.
Buttocks and abs doing the work
Clenched buttocks, squeezed thighs and a sucked-in stomach feel like effort, but the pelvic floor may not be taking part at all.
A ten-second self-check
Squeeze and hold for five seconds with one hand on your belly and the other on a buttock. Both hands should feel stillness. If something tensed or you held your breath, use less effort: a correct half-strength squeeze is worth more than a maximal one done wrong.
Check the release as well
After a squeeze the muscle must let go completely, not partly. If a gripped feeling stays between reps, you are training tension rather than strength. That is why the rest phase in this programme is twice the hold — it is not there to be shortened.
If you cannot feel the muscle

This is common and not a sign that it will not work for you: in a study with ordinary verbal instruction, fewer than half produced a correct contraction. Below is the sequence that helps find the sensation when it is missing.

  1. Lie on your back with knees bent. In this position the muscle works without body weight, and the sensation is easiest to catch.
  2. Put a hand on your lower belly. Squeeze as if holding in wind. If the hand feels the belly push out or harden, the wrong muscle is working — halve the effort.
  3. Try on the out-breath. The pelvic floor lifts with the exhale by itself — on the in-breath the movement is harder to catch.
  4. Do not test yourself by stopping the flow of urine. It does show the muscle, but regularly interrupting urination gets in the way of emptying the bladder — as a one-off check it is acceptable, as an exercise it is not.
When to see a specialist
If after two weeks the movement still is not felt. A pelvic health specialist finds and shows the muscle in a single appointment, while guessing alone can take months and lock in the wrong technique.
The trick that works before strength arrives

While the programme builds up, leaking can be reduced today by bracing ahead of time. The point is to tighten the pelvic floor before the load, not after it.

  1. Feel a cough, sneeze or laugh coming — squeeze first.
  2. Hold the squeeze through the whole cough or lift.
  3. Let go afterwards. Within a couple of weeks it starts happening on its own.
Set options

One switch: sound off, vibration on, screen stays awake. The three toggles below still work on their own — this one just sets them together.

Rest between reps is worked out automatically and is twice the hold: the muscle needs time to let go, otherwise the next squeeze starts from an already tense state. The defaults match your current week — only change them if a specialist told you to.

When to start and when to see someone

After birth. After an uncomplicated vaginal birth, gentle squeezes can usually begin within the first days as soon as they are not painful — starting early helps recovery. After a caesarean, third- or fourth-degree tears, an episiotomy, or while a catheter is in place, timing is decided by your clinician.

When to expect results. Clinical programmes run for three to four months, not two weeks. First changes are usually noticeable after six to eight weeks of regular practice. When the programme ends, the exercises do not: strength built this way is lost like any other.

When not to postpone an appointment. Pain during or after the exercises, blood in the urine, being unable to pass urine, a growing sense of bulging, or no improvement at all after three months of regular practice — these are reasons to be seen, not reasons to add load.

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What it does

Checks the direction before training
One question, and where needed a short symptom review, separates a weak pelvic floor from an overly tense one and picks the matching programme.
A relaxation mode
A separate programme with no squeezing at all: ten cycles of breathing with a lengthened exhale, for people who should not be strengthening.
The three technique errors
Bearing down, holding your breath and using the buttocks instead of the pelvic floor — each described, with a ten-second way to check yourself.
A week-by-week programme
The hold grows from three to ten seconds, and the week advances on days actually trained rather than on the calendar — a gap does not punish you with extra load.
Three sets a day
The counter shows today’s sets and your streak, and reminders can be switched on for morning, afternoon and evening.
Discreet to use
Sound can be turned off, leaving vibration; the screen can stay awake. Nothing needs installing on the phone.

Frequent questions

How do I know I am doing it correctly?

Put one hand on your belly and the other on a buttock, then squeeze. Both hands should feel stillness and your breathing should stay free. The sensation should be a lift up and inwards. If the belly hardens, the buttocks clench, or you hold your breath, use less effort: a correct half-strength squeeze is worth more than a maximal one done wrong.

How often and for how long?

Three sets a day is the working figure. The programmes studied clinically run for about three months for incontinence and four for prolapse. Two weeks tells you nothing: if nothing has changed in that time, it does not mean the exercises are not working.

How soon will I notice a difference?

First changes are usually noticeable after six to eight weeks of regular practice, with a settled effect around three to four months. Meanwhile, bracing before a cough or sneeze helps sooner than strength does — it is described in its own section of the tool.

Kegels made me worse. Why?

Usually one of two reasons. Either the movement is being done as a downward push instead of an upward lift, in which case it presses on the pelvic floor rather than training it. Or the pelvic floor is already too tense: then squeezing increases pain, and the skill to learn is letting go. Getting worse with Kegels is itself a reason to suspect the second case and get assessed.

Can I train after birth or after a caesarean?

After an uncomplicated vaginal birth, gentle squeezes usually start within the first days as soon as they are painless. After a caesarean, third- or fourth-degree tears or an episiotomy, timing is decided by your clinician. Training during pregnancy is also appropriate unless your maternity team has said otherwise.

Is this only for women?

No. Everyone has a pelvic floor, and this training is used for incontinence after prostate surgery and other male indications. The movement and the programme in this tool are the same; only the reasons for arriving here differ.

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