5 Steps to a Healthy and Orgasmic Pelvic Floor

The pelvic floor. You’ve probably heard this term and it certainly doesn’t sound sexy. However, this area of your body is key to sexual health, sexual performance and your enjoyment of sex. Now I’ve got your attention, right? Here we’ll take a look at the pelvic floor, how it works and what you can do to keep yours as healthy – and orgasmic – as possible.

What’s the Pelvic Floor?

The pelvic floor is a layer of muscles that span the bottom of the pelvis and support the pelvic organs. That means the bladder and bowel, or bladder, bowel and uterus, depending on your genital configuration. This sort of muscular trampoline spans between the pubic bone and the tailbone. This layer also includes all your, well, holes. So, the urethra and anus, or urethra, vagina and anus. The muscles wrap around these holes to help keep them shut, along with the help of the anal and urethral sphincters.

You with me? We’re currently on a big, bouncy trampoline of muscle just under your pelvic organs. So what’s happening here? Well, these muscles are helping to control your bowels and bladder, which is definitely cool. But they also control sexual function. In people with penises, the pelvic floor muscles are important for erectile function and ejaculation. In fact, strong pelvic floor muscles can help people gain more control over their ejaculation – and delay it as desired. Stronger pelvic floor muscles also mean stronger contractions during orgasm, which translates to a bigger, more powerful O.

For people with vaginas, it’s those pelvic floor muscles that cause the inside of the vagina to contract during orgasm. And – it’s really as simple as this – the stronger these are and the harder they squeeze, the more intense that orgasm will be. Plus, strong pelvic floor muscles help prevent things that can cause serious problems in the bedroom, such as pelvic organ prolapse, when pelvic organs such as the vagina, rectum or uterus protrude into or even outside of the vagina. (Yikes!)

How to Keep Your Pelvic Floor Strong, Healthy and Orgasmic

So, now that you have a bit of an understanding of how the pelvic floor muscles work and why they matter to your sex life, what can you do to keep them strong and healthy? Here are few key tips. Note that if you have a penis, only the first one here will apply to you. That’s because female bodies - thanks to the way they're laid out and the effects of childbirth - are more prone to pelvic floor problems.

Do Your Kegels

This one’s simple – and it applies whether you have a penis or a vagina. In other words, if you have pelvic floor muscles, you should exercise them. How do you do that? It’s as simple as isolating the muscles that help you control the flow of urine, and then contracting and releasing them. Do a set (or two or three) of 10 every day and you should feel a difference in a couple of weeks. You may even start having more powerful orgasms as a result. Easy peasy!

Read: Why Kegels Are the Key to Greater Sexual Pleasure - for Everybody

Try a Kegel Exerciser

If you have a vagina, strengthening the pelvic floor is especially important. The way the female body is designed puts more pressure on the pelvic floor. Plus, for those who bear children, that can really weaken and distend the pelvic floor muscles, causing sexual dysfunction, incontinence and even pain.

Because the pelvic floor is made of muscle, you can train it just like any other muscle. Fortunately, there is an increasing number of products that make this form of exercise simple, challenging and fun.