Episode 398: How To Optimize Your Pelvic Floor

May 20, 2025

Sara Reardon, a board-certified pelvic floor physical therapist and founder of The V-Hive, dives into the importance of pelvic floor health for sexual well-being. She discusses the proper techniques for Kegel exercises and emphasizes the need for pelvic floor relaxation. Reardon shares how these practices can relieve sexual pain and enhance pleasure, particularly after childbirth. The conversation also touches on common pelvic health issues, strategies for improvement, and the significance of openly discussing these topics for better wellness.

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ADVICE

Know If Kegels Suit You

Determine if your pelvic floor has weakness or tension before doing Kegel exercises.
If you experience pain or tightness, focus on relaxation rather than strengthening.

ADVICE

How to Do Kegels Right

Use cues like stopping urine stream once or feeling a lift during contraction to do Kegels correctly.
Kegel devices can help beginners but practice in different positions to strengthen pelvic floor functionality.

ADVICE

Pelvic Floor Relaxation Tips

Practice pelvic floor relaxation through posture correction and deep diaphragmatic breathing.
Balance tightening exercises like Pilates with stretches, yoga, and softening techniques.

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If you want to maintain your sexual function and wellbeing, it’s important to pay attention to your pelvic floor! In today’s show, we’re going to talk about how to keep your pelvic floor in shape and resolve common problems with it. It turns out that optimizing your pelvic floor can help with a wide range of issues, from dealing with painful sex to having more (and better) orgasms.

I am joined once again by Sara Reardon, a board-certified pelvic floor physical therapist and founder of The V-Hive, an online, on-demand pelvic floor fitness platform. She is author of the new book FLOORED: A Woman’s Guide to Pelvic Floor Health at Every Age and Stage.

Some of the specific topics we explore include:

How do you know whether Kegel exercises are right for you, and how do you do them correctly?
Why is learning pelvic floor relaxation just as important as strengthening?
What are some things we can do in everyday life to improve pelvic health?
How can pelvic floor training help relieve sexual pain?
What are some of the other benefits of pelvic floor training?

You can check our Sara’s website to learn more about her work.

Got a sex question? Send me a podcast voicemail to have it answered on a future episode at speakpipe.com/sexandpsychology.

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Credits: Precision Podcasting (Podcast editing) and Shutterstock/Florian (Music). Image created with Canva; photos used with permission of guest.