I need some guidance…..
It is regarding the pelvic floor and the issue of whether men and women have the same anatomy and then therefore does the contraction of the pelvic floor different between men and women and does it essentially feel different.
I guess my take/my understanding that was realistically men have pelvic floor muscles and women have pelvic floor muscles…they are relatively in the same area for men and women and ultimately function the same way but how we describe it to men might be different than how we describe it to women…I know that men have a the cremaster muscles (which women do not have, right?) but other than that, is there really that much difference……
I recently heard that men and women cannot be told to “kegel” engage their pelvic floors the same way and this just seems a bit silly to me……but maybe I am missing the mark on something…
Any clarification on this and HOW we should be explaining this to our training students would be greatly appreciated. It is a question that often comes up in training courses especially if there are men in the group….
Thanks!
Kelly Dormady
SweatShop Health Club, St Paul, MN LTC
Response from Melanie Byford-Young:
Hi Kelly!
Good question. Indeed men and women have essentially the same muscles (except for the cremaster) and those muscles do both stabilization of the pelvis and sacrum, movement of the sacrum, and closure of the orifices with the sphincter muscles. They work the same. For guys, the feeling is often said to be the same feeling as pulling up their genitals like when walking into cold water. Often the cue I use is indeed very vague ‘your abs and pelvic floor will gently draw in/lift like walking into cold water’. Make sure of course that it is gentle and hardly done with any force at all. The other visuals like ‘an elevator shaft’ can work. One thing I like is to really get to the heart of what we are doing and why; we are trying to stabilize using all of our muscles together, drawing them in towards our center, which sits just in front of the S2. So if you can get the idea that the center of gravity of the body sits just in front of the sacrum, protecting the spine is done by engaging each of the stabilizers together or having them draw in towards that center of gravity.
There are some clients who I just do not talk about the pelvic floor muscles initially because it would be too awkward and detrimental to the session. This can especially be the case if there is an older gentleman working with a younger instructor. If a client has back pain, SIJ pain, asymmetrical pain, has had prostate radiation, grips a ton in the QL or erector spinae, or has some specific pathologies, you need to determine if the pelvic floor is working effectively or not.
Let me know if this works well enough.
All the best
Melanie
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Melanie, I love all your tips & cues about teaching Pilates. I have a question, do you teach plevic floor muscles & transversus abdominal together or which one do u teach first? Is that matter which one to engage first?
thanks
Hi Jeff! I think it is important to teach clients how to engage the pelvic floor and the transverse abdominal muscles at the same time. Of course initially I teach them how to do a good lateral costal breath pattern first and then I start to talk about the core muscles. For some clients, it is easier for them to feel and to connect to the appropriate amount of pelvic floor engagement sitting upright rather than lying on their back. Other clients may be more comfortable on their back and be able to engage those muscles easily. I use different cues for different clients. Many women, especially if they have had children, are familiar with kegel exercises so they are already familiar with some of these concepts. For male clients, I describe where the pelvic floor attaches and how it lifts up like a hammock when it engages. Using the image of walking into a cold pool of water is often a very effective cue for men! Melanie, who is Canadian, (and can therefore get away with a cue like this!) has been known to cue male clients to pull up their “bits and bobs”. The important thing to watch for when teaching pelvic floor engagement is the over engagement of posterior pelvic floor and glute muscles. We shouldn’t see any posterior pelvic tilting when engaging PF and TA, or any signs of overgripping in the “bum” muscles. Remind them to try to keep the sit bones wide while lifting the pelvic floor should help them avoid the bum gripping issue.
Thanks and hope to see you again soon!