Pelvic floor exercises are simple squeezes of the muscles that hold up your bladder, bowel and womb. Done regularly for at least three months, they can reduce or stop leaking when you cough, laugh, sneeze or jump. They are useful for every woman, and especially after pregnancy and around menopause.
What is the pelvic floor?
Your pelvic floor is a hammock of muscles stretching from your pubic bone at the front to your tailbone at the back. It supports your bladder, bowel and womb, and helps you control when you pass urine and wind. Like any muscle, it can become weak or stretched, and like any muscle, it can be trained.
Signs your pelvic floor needs attention
- Leaking when your bladder is under pressure, such as when you cough, laugh, sneeze, lift or jump. The NHS calls this stress incontinence.
- A sudden, strong urge to pass urine, and sometimes leaking before you reach the toilet (urge incontinence).
- Leaking wind, or difficulty holding it.
- A feeling of heaviness, dragging or a bulge in the vagina. See a doctor about this.
The NHS describes urinary incontinence as a common problem affecting millions of people, and advises seeing a doctor for any kind of leaking, without feeling embarrassed. “Thoda leak ho jata hai” is not something you have to accept.
Who is more likely to have a weak pelvic floor?
The NHS lists these risk factors:
- Pregnancy and vaginal birth.
- Being overweight.
- A family history of incontinence.
- Getting older. Leaking is also among the menopause and perimenopause symptoms the NHS lists.
Straining on the toilet, a long-term cough (for example from smoking) and heavy lifting also put strain on the pelvic floor.
Step 1: find the right muscles
Sit or lie comfortably with your thighs, buttocks and tummy relaxed. Imagine you are trying to stop yourself passing wind and stop the flow of urine at the same time. You should feel a squeeze and a gentle lift inside.
- Keep breathing normally. Don’t hold your breath.
- Don’t pull your tummy in hard, squeeze your buttocks or press your thighs together.
- Don’t practise by stopping your urine mid-flow; just imagine it.
If you can’t feel anything, don’t worry: many women can’t at first. A women’s health physiotherapist can check that you are using the right muscles.
Step 2: the daily routine
Slow squeezes (strength)
Squeeze and lift your pelvic floor, hold for a few seconds, then let go fully and rest for the same time. Build up to holding for up to 10 seconds.
Quick squeezes (fast reaction)
Squeeze and lift quickly, then let go straight away. These help your muscles react fast when you cough or sneeze.
How many, how often, how long
The NHS says a pelvic floor muscle training programme should include at least 8 squeezes, at least 3 times a day, for at least 3 months. Its post-pregnancy advice suggests building up to 10 repeats of each exercise, at least 3 times a day. Linking them to daily habits helps: after brushing your teeth, while the chai brews, while feeding the baby.
Step 3: progress and use it in daily life
- Start lying down, then move to sitting, then standing, as the squeezes get easier.
- Squeeze just before you cough, sneeze, laugh or lift something. This becomes automatic with practice.
- Once you are confident, keep doing a few squeezes every day for life.
The NHS-approved Squeezy app can remind you and guide your squeezes if you like using your phone for this.
Does it really work?
Yes, for many women. A Cochrane systematic review of 31 trials involving 1,817 women in 14 countries concluded that pelvic floor muscle training can cure or improve symptoms of stress and all other types of urinary incontinence. It reduced how often and how much women leaked and improved their quality of life, and the authors suggest it should be part of first-line treatment. Results depend on doing the exercises correctly and regularly.
Daily habits that protect your pelvic floor
From the NHS’s advice on stopping leaks:
- Treat constipation: straining weakens the pelvic floor. Eat fibre (sabzi, fruit, dal, whole grains) and drink enough water.
- Drink 6 to 8 glasses of fluid a day. Cutting down on water makes your bladder hold less.
- Cut down on caffeine, which irritates the bladder. That includes strong tea, coffee and cola.
- Cut down on alcohol and go easy on very spicy and acidic foods if they make things worse.
- Lose excess weight, which presses on the bladder. Our Indian diet guide shows how.
- Swap high-impact exercise such as jogging and jumping for strengthening exercise while you rebuild. Our strength training guide has low-impact moves.
- Avoid heavy lifting where you can, and squeeze before you lift.
- Stop smoking: coughing strains the pelvic floor.
After pregnancy and C-section
The pelvic floor carries the weight of pregnancy whatever kind of birth you had. You can usually start gentle squeezes soon after the birth if they are comfortable; follow your doctor’s or midwife’s advice. Pelvic floor work goes hand in hand with healing tummy muscle separation: see our diastasis recti guide, our postpartum exercise guide and our C-section guide.
Around menopause
Leaking and urine infections are among the symptoms the NHS lists for menopause and perimenopause. Daily pelvic floor exercises help, and your doctor can discuss other treatments. Read more in our perimenopause guide.
When to see a doctor
- Any leaking of urine or wind. Ask about a referral to a women’s health (pelvic health) physiotherapist.
- A feeling of heaviness, dragging or a bulge in your vagina.
- Pain, burning or blood when you pass urine, or urine infections that keep coming back.
- You can’t feel your pelvic floor squeeze at all, or the exercises haven’t helped after 3 months.
- Sudden changes in your bladder or bowel habits.
How FunDa helps
Dr. Jyoti’s Trim Tummy & DR Healing program builds the deep core and pelvic floor first, before harder tummy work, with low-impact workouts at home and a team that checks in every day. We coach exercise and habits alongside your doctor’s or physiotherapist’s care; we don’t diagnose or treat incontinence or prolapse, and results vary from person to person.
Sources
- NHS. Urinary incontinence (reviewed 15 June 2023).
- NHS. Urinary incontinence: treatment (reviewed 15 June 2023).
- NHS. 10 ways to stop leaks (reviewed 15 June 2023).
- Cacciari LP, Dumoulin C, Hay-Smith EJ. Pelvic floor muscle training versus no treatment, or inactive control treatments, for urinary incontinence in women: a Cochrane systematic review abridged republication. Braz J Phys Ther. 2019;23(2):93-107.
- NHS. Your post-pregnancy body (reviewed 20 July 2026).
- NHS. Menopause and perimenopause: symptoms (reviewed 19 May 2026).
How we write our guides: read our editorial and evidence policy.