Four weeks to a sculpted body! Five tips for chiseled abs! Social media, magazines, and commercials shout at us about the aesthetic benefits of exercise on a daily basis. While exercise certainly is the path toward a trim waistline, there are many other benefits to establishing a sustainable, varied, and consistent movement practice.
Function Over Form
Popping biceps are flashy, but when was the last time you thought about your pelvic floor strength? Record scratch. Yes, you heard me. I’m talking about that humble hammock of muscles in your pelvis. They are quiet and unassuming but pretty important if you enjoy things like not leaking urine when you sneeze or having great sex.
But Isn’t Pelvic Floor Stuff Just for New Moms?
Hate to break it to you, but the recently pregnant are not the only ones who need to think about pelvic floor health. Obesity, chronic constipation (and the straining you need to do to get things moving), and high intensity exercise can all negatively affect your pelvic floor function.
Ugh, I Don’t Have Time for This
The good news is that working on pelvic floor health does not require specialized equipment or doing endless rounds of Kegel exercises (essentially contracting the muscles that help you stop the flow of urine, over and over…and over). In fact, what many of us lack is not Popeye sized pelvic floor muscles but instead the responsiveness of those muscles. We need to have strength, yes, but we also need to be able to relax and contract these muscles without even thinking about it.
So, What Can I Do?
Come to Pilates classes! No, really, Pilates is amazing in that you are working on your pelvic floor each and every time you come to class. The breathing patterns that your teacher cues are not just a distraction technique. Matching breath patterns to muscular effort allows you to train your pelvic floor to do its job more effectively. And, how many times have you heard a Pilates teacher tell you to get in a certain position and stabilize everything while doing one small (but freakishly difficult) movement? That’s often pelvic floor training in disguise!
See you on the Mat!