What is the Pelvic Floor?

There is a TON of talk about the pelvic floor in the fitness world right now. But what is the pelvic floor exactly?

"Your pelvic floor muscles help stabilize your core while assisting with essential bodily functions, like pooping, peeing and having sex." – Cleveland Clinic

Glamorous, I know.

For a biological woman, Your pelvic floor muscles:

• Support your bladder, urethra, vagina, uterus, bowel (large intestine), rectum and anus.

• Squeeze and relax so that you can control when you pee, poop or pass gas.

• Help with blood flow and vaginal contractions during sex and orgasm.

• Support vaginal delivery during childbirth.

For a biological man, Your pelvic floor muscles:

• Support your bladder, urethra, prostate, bowel (large intestine), rectum and anus.

• Squeeze and relax so that you can control when you pee, poop or pass gas.

• Help you get an erection and ejaculate during sex.

---

After I gave birth...

I had pelvic floor rehabilitation sessions with my midwife (which is the standard protocol postpartum in France btw 🙌). She had a great analogy for understanding the role of the pelvic floor. She said that you can think of your pelvic floor as a hammock that runs from your tailbone to your pubic bone and holds everything above in place. So no, this may not be super glamorous but wow is it important.

Having a pelvic floor that is too tight or too weak can cause all kinds of issues in the body - from an unstable core, to a leaky bladder, to having trouble orgasming. And this doesn’t only apply to momma’s.

Your pelvic floor is essentially the base upon which your center and your core is built.

Pilates, yoga, and ballet conditioning are all great exercises for strengthening and lengthening the muscles in the pelvic floor because in these practices…

• We are focused on lifting the energy up and that starts by engaging the pelvic floor.

• Movements are low impact and therefore do not put excess pressure on the pelvic floor (like when we do with high-intensity workouts with lots of jumping)

• We are highly focussed on the breathe, body awareness, and control. This allows us to move mindfully and avoid clenching or disengaging the pelvic floor muscles.

The Takeaway

The pelvic floor is the foundation, the hammock that holds us up and we need it to be strong and flexible for it to offer us optimal support. The best tool I have found for this has been low impact, mindful movement like pilates, yoga, and ballet or ballet conditioning.

📹Want to join me for some pelvic floor friendly workouts? Sign-up for my newsletter for workout inspo and to stay up to date on new class releases!

(P.S. If you decide it's not your jam you can unsubscribe anytime)

Sources:

https://theeverygirl.com/pilates-moves-for-core/

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/22729-pelvic-floor-muscles