It carries you through life, stabilizes every step and every squat — and yet hardly anyone trains it deliberately: the pelvic floor. For a long time, pelvic floor training was seen as a topic for women after childbirth. In reality, everyone benefits — women at every stage of life, men, female strength athletes and male runners alike. This article explains the anatomy in simple terms, shows five exercises to get started and clears up the biggest misunderstanding: pelvic floor training is not only about contracting.
What is the pelvic floor?
The pelvic floor is a multi-layered sheet of muscle and connective tissue that closes the pelvis from below — spanned between the pubic bone, the tailbone and the two sitting bones. It consists of three layers that work together and perform four central tasks:
- Carrying: It supports the bladder, the bowel and, in women, the uterus — against gravity and against every rise in pressure inside the abdomen.
- Closing: It secures bladder and bowel continence — when you cough, sneeze, laugh and lift.
- Letting go: When passing urine, during a bowel movement and during birth, it has to be able to release in a targeted way.
- Stabilizing: As the floor of the trunk it works together with the diaphragm and the deep abdominal and back muscles — it is a silent contributor to good posture and to every heavy exercise.
Why pelvic floor training concerns (almost) everyone
Women
Pregnancy and birth stretch and heavily load the pelvic floor — which is why training after pregnancy starts precisely here. But the training is worth it independently of that too: hormonal changes during menopause weaken the tissue further, and even young, very athletic women (trampoline, running, strength sports) report stress incontinence surprisingly often — a training topic, not a taboo.
Men
Men have the same muscular apparatus and benefit twice over: pelvic floor training is the standard measure after prostate surgery, but it also improves continence and sexual function in general. In strength sports, a well-functioning pelvic floor helps to manage high intra-abdominal pressure safely.
Athletes
Squats, deadlifts, jumps: every big exercise generates pressure in the abdomen that the pelvic floor has to absorb. If you're reflexively stable here, you lift more safely and are less likely to suffer from compensation patterns through the lower back.
Step 1: feeling the pelvic floor at all
The biggest hurdle is awareness — you can't see the pelvic floor, and many people tense their glutes or abdominals instead. Two proven ways in:
- The stop image: Imagine stopping the flow of urine while gently drawing the sitting bones towards each other. That feeling of "closing and lifting slightly" is the basic tension. (Use it as a mental image — don't actually practise it on the toilet on a regular basis.)
- Linking it to the breath: The pelvic floor moves with your breathing: as you inhale it lowers and relaxes, as you exhale it lifts slightly. Every good exercise makes use of this natural connection.
5 exercises to get started
- Awareness while sitting: Sit upright on a chair and feel your sitting bones. As you exhale, gently close and lift the pelvic floor; as you inhale, let go completely. 10 repetitions, 2 to 3 rounds daily.
- Glute bridge: Lie on your back with your feet planted. Activate the pelvic floor as you exhale, then lift your pelvis; hold briefly at the top and lower it under control as you inhale. 3×10.
- Quadruped with arm and leg lift: From all fours, extend one arm and the opposite leg while keeping your trunk still — the pelvic floor stabilizes automatically. 3×8 per side.
- Holding a deep squat: Sink into a comfortable deep squat (put something under your heels if you need to) and consciously breathe into the pelvic floor — this trains the often forgotten skill of letting go, plus mobility.
- Quick, powerful impulses: Before a simulated cough or before lifting a load, pre-activate the pelvic floor briefly and firmly (a quick "snap" rather than a permanent clench). 3×5 impulses.
Important: quality before quantity — and letting go is half the exercise. A permanently clenched pelvic floor causes just as many problems as a weak one.
The pelvic floor in strength training: breathing is decisive
When lifting heavy, a simple coupling applies: inhale before the effort and build trunk tension, then exhale during the effort or hold the tension under control — and consciously include the pelvic floor as part of the "lid from below". If you strain under load without the pelvic floor going along with it, you risk prolapse symptoms or incontinence over time. It's also worth looking at the pelvic floor when training around your cycle: in phases with softer connective tissue, the load may be adjusted.
Course tip from update Akademie: Trunk centring, breathing and conscious body work are the heart of the Pilates method. In the Pilates Instruktor programme at update Akademie, you'll learn to teach exactly these qualities in classes and one-to-one sessions — with the powerhouse, the interplay of the deep abdominal, back and pelvic floor muscles, at the centre of it all.
Frequently asked questions about pelvic floor training
How often should I train my pelvic floor?
For noticeable effects: briefly every day (5 to 10 minutes) or in a structured way at least three to four times per week. Improvements in continence typically show after 6 to 12 weeks.
Will I notice whether I'm contracting correctly?
Typical mistakes: holding your breath, squeezing the glutes, pulling the belly in. Done right, it feels like a gentle closing and lifting between the sitting bones — with calm breathing. If in doubt, it's worth seeing a specialist (a physiotherapist specialized in the pelvic floor) who can check with biofeedback.
Does pelvic floor training help with back pain?
Often indirectly, yes: the pelvic floor is part of the deep stabilization system. But it's no substitute for comprehensive trunk and strength training — the combination is what works, as our article "Back pain — stretching or strength training?" shows.
Does pelvic floor training make sense for men too?
Yes — the same exercises work in exactly the same way anatomically. After prostate procedures the training is standard; as a preventive measure it improves continence, stability under load and sexual function.
Conclusion
The pelvic floor is the foundation of your trunk — invisible, but involved in every movement. A few minutes of conscious training per day improve continence, posture and stability under load, for women and men alike. And as with every muscle, one rule applies: being able to contract is one half, being able to let go is the other.
