The Kegel Project is officially over! What you want to know is whether the participants improved and by how much. The following is an individualized explanation of the improvements from each volunteer. At the end of this post is a quick list of all the improvements reported.
K (That's me)
On
the first day of this project, I could barely squeeze and hold for 5
seconds. I really struggled to get there, but by the end of the
first week, I was able to squeeze and hold for 30 seconds
comfortably. By the end of the second week, I was able to get to 40
seconds. In the third week I started my period and discovered my
MoonCupUK stayed in place so much better than before and I no longer
had any urinary leakage during hard sneezes. At the end of fourth
week, I was able to squeeze and hold for 2 min 20 seconds before I,
quite frankly, got bored and stopped timing. That's quite a far cry
from the short 5 seconds that I was able to do in the beginning.
Stronger
muscles has led to changes in the bedroom. Husband can feel my
muscles tensing so much more now and I can achieve vaginal orgasms easier than before (although there was no change in clitoral
orgasms). And—get this—I now have mini-orgasms (minigasms?) from
just squeezing my PC muscles. Talk about a bonus!
Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock
By Day 3 of the first week, Princess CBH was having less accidental urinary leakage during workouts. That's only three days
in. By the end of the second week, she was having even less
accidental leakage with less effort and felt that she could squeeze
her muscles “closer.”
Since starting the project, she has
much less urine leakage when sneezing, coughing, and exercising.
Although she still has to remember to squeeze her muscles when she
has to do any of those things, she doesn't have to work as hard at
it.
Princess CBH would like to add that
during the project, she started a diet and exercise regimen and lost
10lbs by the time the experiment was over. It's unclear whether the exercise
and weight loss affected her Kegel strength, but for thoroughness
let's include it.
Sassy
At
the beginning of the first week, Sassy could only squeeze and hold
her PC muscles for 3-5 seconds, sometimes even just 1-2 seconds.
During the second week, she'd try to squeeze and hold for 5 seconds,
but when she relaxed her muscles, she found that her
muscles had already released. By the end of the third week, she was
able to hold for 10 seconds, but the hold weakened over the seconds.
The third week was also when she discovered that working the PC
muscles during intercourse gave pleasant sensations, where there was
no difference in sensations before the project. By the end of the
fourth week, she was able to hold fully for 10 seconds.
Ivana
Meisterkegel
When
Ivana started, she was only able to squeeze and hold for 3 seconds,
but by the end of the first week, she had jumped up to 5 seconds.
Halfway through the second week, her muscles were feeling tighter and
her hold time jumped to 7, which then jumped to 15 by the end of the
fourth week. She reports that her muscles feel much firmer during
intercourse and she feels like it's easier to pull the muscles up
“higher.”
Vixenish
Kitty
Vixenish had what the other
volunteers called “PC muscles of steel.” In the first week, she
was already able to squeeze and hold for over a minute, when the
other volunteers could only make it to a few seconds. Even though
she was starting from a place where other volunteers were hoping to
eventually be, she still showed fantastic improvements from that
first week.
During the second week, Vixenish and her husband
experimented with her muscles by seeing if she could use her muscles
to keep him from pulling out during sex. Her husband reports that he
could definitely feel the muscles. In the third week she tried to do
her Kegel exercises during sex which in turn gave her husband
pleasurable sensations. The third week is also when she found that
she could use her exercise trampoline with no leakage for the first
time. She did another muscle test and found she could now squeeze
and hold for 2.5 minutes. That's more than double the time from the
first week!
Vixenish reports that she was
surprised at how fast improvements came with what felt to her to be
little effort. She had thought that doing your PC exercises was like
working out 5 times a week. We're all supposed to do it,
but...[insert the excuses we all have here.] Kegel exercises,
though, were quick, easy, and simple to work into a schedule.
Pepper
Pepper was another volunteer that
was starting from a place of strength in comparison to some of the
other participants. She started out being able to squeeze and hold
for a full minute, and in the second week she tried to squeeze during
sex and discovered it produced strong orgasms. By the end of the
fourth week, she no longer experienced urine leakage when sneezing
and her
DivaCup stayed in place better during her period.
Elasta
O'Kegel
In
the first week, Elasta could only hold for 3-4 seconds. By the third
week she was able to squeeze for 5-6 seconds. During that week, she tried to Kegel
during intercourse, but didn't notice a difference. By week four,
she was up to 7-8 seconds. Like Vixenish, she was also surprised at
how fast improvements came.
Honey
Ryder
Honey's results were a little
different than the other volunteers. She was able to squeeze 2-5
seconds at a time during the first week and stayed at that level all four
weeks. She was never able to squeeze any longer and got even weaker
during her period week.
Sounds pretty bleak, right? Well,
it's not. Honey did
show improvements, they just didn't manifest as longer squeeze times.
She reports that she's had a weak pelvic floor all her life, and
working her muscles produced a really strange sensation. If you
remember what it felt like when you started doing your Kegels (or if you haven't started, try it now), you
know what sensation she's talking about. She felt this sensation for
almost all of the project, but by the end, that strange,
uncomfortable sensation vanished because she is, in fact, getting
stronger. In addition, she feels she can lift her pelvic floor
“higher.”
Final thoughts:
I'm amazed at the improvements everyone has shown. Every single person showed improvements from that first week. In addition, I've compiled a list of every improvement reported at least once:
- Being able to squeeze muscles longer and harder
- Being able to squeeze "higher"
- Being able to squeeze "closer"
- New, pleasurable sensations for the female participant during intercourse
- New, pleasurable sensations for the male partner during intercourse
- Easier orgasms
- Better orgasms
- Reduced or eliminated urinary incontinence during exercise
- Reduced or eliminated urinary incontinence when sneezing or coughing
- Reduced feeling of weakness in the PC muscles
- Menstrual cups fitting better
If you haven't started a Kegel regimen, this list and the above explanations should give you a reason to start. Better sensations and orgasms? Reduced, eliminated, or prevented urinary incontinence issues? Better fitting menstrual cups? Ridiculously easy to fit into your schedule??? You have no reason not to start. Put an alert on your phone. Add it to your calender. Leave a note on your bathroom mirror. Whatever it takes to remember to do your Kegels!
