Are You Doing Enough for Your Pelvic Floor?
What the Research Says — and Why “More” Isn’t Always Better
If you’ve ever wondered “Am I doing enough for my pelvic floor?” — you’re not alone.
Most women I work with are so usy, over 40, and either managing pain, recovering from injury, or trying to prevent symptoms from coming back. What they don’t need is more squeezing, more rules, or more pressure. They need clarity.
So let’s talk about what the research actually shows about the minimum effective dose for pelvic floor function ~ and why how you do the work matters just as much as how often.
Pelvic floor: how often is “enough”?
Pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) is one of the most well-researched areas in women’s health rehabilitation. Across major clinical guidelines and large reviews, a clear pattern shows up.
During a rehab or rebuilding phase:
Pelvic floor work is most effective when practiced most days.
That doesn’t mean long sessions or intense squeezing. In fact, most successful research protocols use:
8–12 slow contractions
8–12 quick contractions
Often split into 2–3 very short sets per day
Total time: around 2–4 minutes
This near-daily approach is typically followed for 8–12 weeks to see meaningful changes in symptoms such as leakage, confidence, and pelvic support.
Why so often?
Because the pelvic floor behaves more like a postural and endurance muscle group. It responds best to frequent, low-dose practice rather than occasional hard efforts.
The nuance many women are missing
Here’s the part that often gets left out:
More pelvic floor strengthening STRAIGHT AWAY is not always the answer.
The pelvic floor is part of a wider pressure system ~ working alongside the diaphragm, ribcage, and abdominal wall. If pressure isn’t being regulated well, simply adding more contractions can increase symptoms rather than resolve them.
Signs you may benefit from release or down-training before strengthening
You might recognise some of these:
a constant feeling of tension or “holding on”
difficulty fully relaxing after a contraction
pain
constipation or straining
urinary urgency or frequent urination
symptoms that worsen when you do Kegels
jaw, neck, or shoulder tension during exercise
breath-holding or abdominal gripping when moving
These signs don’t mean your pelvic floor is “weak”.
They often indicate an overactive or poorly coordinated pelvic floor ~ one that needs to learn how to relax before it can strengthen effectively.
In these cases, evidence-informed practice supports starting with:
breathing and ribcage movement
gentle pelvic floor lengthening
mobility that reduces over-bracing
Only once the system can relax does strengthening tend to feel helpful, and stick.
This is why some women feel worse when they’re “doing everything right”, but skipping this foundational step and not seeing results.
Try this move, taken from “Ab Rehab”:
What happens after symptoms improve?
Once coordination and relaxation improve, pelvic floor work doesn’t need to be daily forever.
The research-informed shift is toward maintenance, which usually looks like:
pelvic floor practice 2–4 days per week
pelvic floor function integrated into daily movement and exercise
So no — you don’t need to do pelvic floor work every single day for life.
But near-daily practice is evidence-based during a rebuilding phase, when you need your pelvic floor function to match the demands of your daily life.
Why a guided approach can make all the difference
This is exactly why I designed Ab Rehab.
Rather than guessing whether to…:
release or strengthen
slow things down or build up
focus on the pelvic floor or the wider system
Ab Rehab guides you through:
restoring breath and pressure control
improving pelvic floor and abdominal coordination
then gradually rebuilding function in a way that doesn’t flare symptoms
We’re exploring it inside the membership this month, or you can access Ab Rehab as a stand-alone program if you want a more targeted, supported reset.
Because doing enough for your pelvic floor isn’t about squeezing harder ~ it’s about doing the right thing, at the right time, for your body.
The takeaway
If you’re showing up consistently, even briefly, you are on the right road.
You don’t need:
endless Kegels
long sessions
or to push through discomfort
You need:
pelvic floor work that eases your symptoms
space to relax as well as strengthen
and guidance that removes the guesswork
If this blog has been useful, let me know, as I have so much to share (must be something in the air!) Have a fab week, Jana xx
